• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A former labor sector representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-Western Visayas (RTWPB-6) described the latest P30 daily wage increase as “not sufficient”, noting that the previous wage order prescribed an increase of P55 per day.
Wennie Sancho, the secretary-general of General Alliance of Workers Association, said on Monday that to issue a wage order with a lower amount “would further erode the purchasing power of workers”.
Sancho said though that the P30 daily wage increase is better than nothing.
“The workers just have to bite the bullet,” he added.
Private sector employees in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, and other parts of Western Visayas will receive a P30 increase in their daily minimum wage – to P480 from the current P450 starting Nov. 16.
In Wage Order No. RBVI-27 approved on Oct. 16 and made public over the weekend, the RTWPB-6 ordered that the new wage rate in non-agriculture/industrial/commercial establishments employing more than 10 workers should be P480 while the rate should be P450 for businesses with 10 or less employees, and P440 in the agriculture sector.
Meanwhile, the new minimum wage of kasambahays or domestic workers is P5,000 a month, with an increase of P500, from the previous P5,000, based on Wage Order No. RBVI-DW-05 also set to take effect next month.
Frank Carbon, chief executive officer of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said they are opposing the wage increase.
He pointed out that small businesses have not yet recovered from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
There is also the increasing prices of fuel and food, he added.
The RTWPB-6 decided on a P30 daily wage increase, following a series of consultations, and considering the existing socio-economic conditions in Western Visayas. | GB
