The members of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Western Visayas will meet Tuesday, Dec. 15, at the Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office in Iloilo to discuss the request for Pandemic Emergency Relief Allowance submitted by the labor sector.
DOLE Regional Director Cyril Ticao said the proposed PERA is an additional allowance for all minimum wage earners in the region affected by the pandemic.
Ticao said the RTWPB members will present their respective status report on employment and economic conditions of workers and that of the business sector, particularly, those that have re-opened.
While the management is expected to oppose any additional allowance, Ticao said their data will only be evaluated in the meeting. Also expected to join the meeting are the regional directors of the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Economic Development Authority, and the Philippine Statistics Office.
The PERA proposal was submitted by Hernani Braza and Wennie Sancho during the virtual meeting last month of the RTWPB. They appealed to the employers to set aside a small amount for workers’ allowance since wage adjustment discussions are off the table due to the pandemic.
Earlier, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Officer Frank Carbon expressed opposition to the PERA proposal. He said labor leaders should be part in re-building the economy since most of the small businesses in the region had infused additional capitalization through bank loans just to re-open business. — MML
