The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Western Visayas will start a motu proprio (or on its own initiative) review on Nov. 26 of the current wage order in the region to determine if there is a need to issue another one.
Workers’ representative to RTWPB 6, Wennie Sancho, told the Negros Now Daily and Negros Weekly that Wage Order No. 25 will lapse on Nov. 26, so petitions for wage increase can be filed.
We are no longer barred from filing petitions for wage increase. The Board can also hold a motu proprio review to decide if another wage order is needed, Sancho said.
Wage Order No. 25, that took effect on Nov. 26, 2019, provides for a P395 minimum daily salary to be paid by non-agriculture/industrial/commercial establishments employing more than 10 workers, P310 for those with 10 workers and below, and 315 for workers in the agriculture sector.
Sancho, also the secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Associations (GAWA) based in Negros Occidental, said the labor group has proposed a Pandemic Emergency Relief Allowance (PERA) of P20 to P25 a day for workers in the region amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
He said he raised the proposal when the RTWPB 6 met on Friday, but this was not discussed because they are still waiting for a list of workers affected by the pandemic.
He said they already requested concerned agencies, like the Department of Labor and Employment, and the Department of Trade and Industry, as well as establishments that closed or retrenched workers to submit a complete list of workers affected by COVID-19.
There is no compliance as to the number of establishments that shut down and the employees affected. So we do not know the workers who will benefit from PERA if it is approved, Sancho said.
The PERA, he added, is a temporary relief.
What is more important is to raise the purchasing power of workers, and to ensure that those who received, and will still get assistance from the national government are really deserving.
He said that because of COVID-19 and the restrictions imposed to prevent its spread, “there was transfer of high-paying to low paying jobs”, aside from a number of workers who lost their source of livelihood.
In the 2020 Second Quarter Regional Economic Situationer of the National Economic and Development Authority in Western Visayas, it showed that 198 establishments with 1,798 employees were affected, either by retrenchments or shutdowns, from April to June this year.
The data provided by DOLE 6 showed that there were 134 retrenched establishments affecting 1,207 employees while 64 establishments shut down, affecting 591 employees, the NEDA report added.
Sancho said they requested NEDA, DOLE, DTI and local government units to provide the RTWPB with an updated list of affected employees. This is important in evaluating the need for a new wage order.
The Board is mandated under Republic Act No. 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act, to periodically assess the wage rates and to conduct continuing studies in the determination of minimum wage rates applicable in the region. – CGC
