Central Luzon wage board sets hearing on proposed P75 wage hike
The Philippine Star
SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The regional tripartite wage board is set to hold a public hearing here on July 13 on the proposed P75 minimum wage hike for minimum wage earners in Central Luzon.
"We expect a huge crowd from the labor and management sectors which are expected to present their position papers on the wage hike issue," said Lourdes Santiago, officer-in-charge of the wage board’s secretariat.
The public hearing will start at 1 p.m. at the Partyland Restaurant here.
The wage board is about to wind up its labor-management consultations in various provinces in Central Luzon to pave the way for the July 13 public hearing.
While the Trade Union Council of the Philippines (TUCP) has proposed a P75 minimum wage for Central Luzon workers, the management sector has so far not presented any proposal and is expected to do so on July 13.
"The (regional wage board) will again meet the following day to study the submitted position papers," Santiago said.
Earlier, the wage board in Metro Manila granted only a P25 increase in minimum wage. Santiago said historically, the minimum wage adjustment granted in Central Luzon never went higher than Metro Manila’s.
Aside from the wage hike issue, the proposed simplification of the "wage structure" in the region will also be tackled during the public hearing.
At present, Santiago said workers in hospitals, cottage and handicraft industries, service outfits, and agricultural and agricultural enterprises receive varying minimum wages.
"Under the simplified proposal, wages will be given according to whether they work in agricultural or non-agricultural firms," she said.
She said non-agricultural employers, as proposed, would be categorized into large, small and medium, micro, and cottage and handicraft.
"Hospital workers are no longer classified separately as they can fall in any of the four categories," she said.
On the other hand, the agricultural sector would have only two categories — plantation and non-plantation.
The regional wage board has conducted consultations with the management and labor sectors in Pampanga and Tarlac last June 27, in Bulacan last June 29, and in Zambales and Bataan last July 4. The last will be for Nueva Ecija and Aurora on July 11.
Representing the labor sector in the regional wage board are the TUCP and the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), and the management sector, the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, and the Metro Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Santiago said the FFW has yet to submit any wage hike proposal.
She declined to comment on feedback gathered from the public consultations so as not to preempt the final deliberations on the wage adjustment, expected to be announced later this month.
The last wage hike in Central Luzon took effect on June 16 last year. According to the law, any minimum wage increase cannot be enforced within one year after the last adjustment unless there are "supervening circumstances" that justify it.
At present, the highest minimum wage in Central Luzon is P243.50 for non-agricultural workers in companies with more than P30 million in investments in Bulacan.
In the rest of Central Luzon, except Aurora, the highest minimum wage is P239.50 (the rate in Aurora is P197).
"The wage earners are also entitled to P20 cost-of-living allowance daily," Santiago said.
She cited reports from the Department of Trade and Industry indicating that neither the series of increases in fuel prices nor the imposition of the 12 percent reformed value added tax had significantly increased the prices of basic commodities in Central Luzon.
"But since the last wage hike (turned) one-year-old (last month), the (regional wage board) will meet motu propio to tackle the possibility of granting another wage increase for our workers in Central Luzon," she said.
Earlier, the House of Representatives approved a P125 legislated wage increase nationwide, but Malacañang junked this as monetary and economic officials insisted that the adjustment, if passed into law, would adversely affect the economy, triggering runaway inflation and higher unemployment. - Ding C ervantes
SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The regional tripartite wage board is set to hold a public hearing here on July 13 on the proposed P75 minimum wage hike for minimum wage earners in Central Luzon.
"We expect a huge crowd from the labor and management sectors which are expected to present their position papers on the wage hike issue," said Lourdes Santiago, officer-in-charge of the wage board’s secretariat.
The public hearing will start at 1 p.m. at the Partyland Restaurant here.
The wage board is about to wind up its labor-management consultations in various provinces in Central Luzon to pave the way for the July 13 public hearing.
While the Trade Union Council of the Philippines (TUCP) has proposed a P75 minimum wage for Central Luzon workers, the management sector has so far not presented any proposal and is expected to do so on July 13.
"The (regional wage board) will again meet the following day to study the submitted position papers," Santiago said.
Earlier, the wage board in Metro Manila granted only a P25 increase in minimum wage. Santiago said historically, the minimum wage adjustment granted in Central Luzon never went higher than Metro Manila’s.
Aside from the wage hike issue, the proposed simplification of the "wage structure" in the region will also be tackled during the public hearing.
At present, Santiago said workers in hospitals, cottage and handicraft industries, service outfits, and agricultural and agricultural enterprises receive varying minimum wages.
"Under the simplified proposal, wages will be given according to whether they work in agricultural or non-agricultural firms," she said.
She said non-agricultural employers, as proposed, would be categorized into large, small and medium, micro, and cottage and handicraft.
"Hospital workers are no longer classified separately as they can fall in any of the four categories," she said.
On the other hand, the agricultural sector would have only two categories — plantation and non-plantation.
The regional wage board has conducted consultations with the management and labor sectors in Pampanga and Tarlac last June 27, in Bulacan last June 29, and in Zambales and Bataan last July 4. The last will be for Nueva Ecija and Aurora on July 11.
Representing the labor sector in the regional wage board are the TUCP and the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), and the management sector, the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, and the Metro Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Santiago said the FFW has yet to submit any wage hike proposal.
She declined to comment on feedback gathered from the public consultations so as not to preempt the final deliberations on the wage adjustment, expected to be announced later this month.
The last wage hike in Central Luzon took effect on June 16 last year. According to the law, any minimum wage increase cannot be enforced within one year after the last adjustment unless there are "supervening circumstances" that justify it.
At present, the highest minimum wage in Central Luzon is P243.50 for non-agricultural workers in companies with more than P30 million in investments in Bulacan.
In the rest of Central Luzon, except Aurora, the highest minimum wage is P239.50 (the rate in Aurora is P197).
"The wage earners are also entitled to P20 cost-of-living allowance daily," Santiago said.
She cited reports from the Department of Trade and Industry indicating that neither the series of increases in fuel prices nor the imposition of the 12 percent reformed value added tax had significantly increased the prices of basic commodities in Central Luzon.
"But since the last wage hike (turned) one-year-old (last month), the (regional wage board) will meet motu propio to tackle the possibility of granting another wage increase for our workers in Central Luzon," she said.
Earlier, the House of Representatives approved a P125 legislated wage increase nationwide, but Malacañang junked this as monetary and economic officials insisted that the adjustment, if passed into law, would adversely affect the economy, triggering runaway inflation and higher unemployment. - Ding C ervantes
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