Central Luzon wage hike a ‘big insult’--labor leaders

Labor leaders called "big insult" the P14-increase in the daily minimum wage and the P10 cost of living allowance (COLA) for 4.9 million workers in private establishments in Central Luzon.

The P14-wage hike alone is barely enough for a can of sardines and a pack of instant noodles, Emily Fajardo, chair of the Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (Makabayan, Worker for the Freedom of the Country), said.

The P14 combined the P5 increase in the basic wage and the integration of 2007's P9 in daily cost of living allowance (COLA) into the basic pay, a copy of Wage Order No. 14 showed.

The order, approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) on May 21, also approved a P10 daily COLA.

The approved P14-wage increase could actually amount to P19.50 if 30 percent of wage-related benefits, like holiday pay, were factored in, said Nathaniel Lacambra, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment and RTWPB chair.

But Fajardo said the P14-wage increase and the P10 COLA were less than a quarter of the eroded value of wages and salaries as of the last wage order in September 2007.

Workers in Central Luzon lost between P75 and P105 due to the increases in the prices of basic commodities, Fajardo said, citing Makabayan studies.

"The price of gasoline rose by more than P15 per liter or about 40 percent. The price of rice shot up by 50 percent," she said.

Makabayan, she said, would continue to press for a 30 percent across the board wage increase through an executive order pending legislation in Congress.

"If government officials do not want that, they should roll back the prices of gasoline and food items to pre-July 2007 level," Fajardo said.

Angie Ladera, chair of the Workers Alliance in Region 3, said the recent order showed the wage board was "clearly an instrument of capitalists and Malacañang to avert or sabotage the demands of workers for just wages."

Labor leaders in the regional wage board -- Raul Remodo of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and Edgar Ventura of the Federation of Free Workers -- dissented in the order.

"We dissent. [The] amount of increase is insufficient and there should be no exemption," Remodo and Ventura said in footnotes stated in the order.

Wage Order No. 14 set the following basic wages and COLA rates in Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Bataan, Zambales and Nueva Ecija:

• P302 daily for non-agricultural workers in businesses with total assets of P30 million or more;
• P294.50 in firms with less than P30 million in assets;
• P272 for workers in plantations and P256 for non-plantations workers;
• P293 for employees of hospitals with 20 or more beds and P278 for workers of hospitals with less than 20 beds;
• P291 for workers of retail and service companies with 16 or more workers and P277 for workers in retail/service firms with less than 16 workers; and,
• P256 for cottage and handicraft employees are required to pay P291 while those with less than 16 workers must pay P277. Cottage and handicraft employees get P256.

In Aurora, the rates are P251 for non-agricultural workers; P236 for plantation workers and P216 for non-plantation workers.

Those in retail and service firms with personnel of not more than 10 workers get P173. Cottage and handicraft workers must be paid P224.

Establishments in Central Luzon showed compliance rates of 81.4 percent in general labor standards and 91.5 percent in minimum wage payment, a Department of Labor and Employment report showed.

A total of 366 distressed firms closed from 2005 to June 2007, displacing 15,309 workers, the report said. By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk