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BY RESEL JOY TIANERO and GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Friday, March 3, 2017
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ILOILO City – Local businesses are not prepared to grant the P15 to P25 increase in the daily minimum wage in Western Visayas, according to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) – Iloilo Chapter, Inc.
The wage increase may force hard-up businesses to retrench employees, warned chamber president Donna Rose Ratilla.
The hike will also be enforced in Negros Occidental. Although the province is now under the Negros Island Region (NIR), it remains under the jurisdiction of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) of Western Visayas. The wage board in NIR is not yet constituted.
PCCI-Iloilo will be filing an appeal at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 6 and the RTWPB.
Of particular concern to the PCCI-Iloilo are business startups and micro, small and medium enterprises.
The hike is too high, said Ratilla, and may result to increases in the prices of goods and services, too.
Workers, however, welcomed the wage increase. They also disputed Ratilla’s view that it is too high.
“No matter how meager it maybe, it’s still an increase. Yadi pa man na sa tatlo ka sakay sa jeep,” said a 42-year-old office employee of a construction company from Calinog, Iloilo. He asked to be identified only as Arnold.
Harlene Joy Orquista, a 22-year-old office staff of a real estate company from Zarraga, Iloilo, told Panay News: Maski amo lang na ang increase, daku na ina nga bagay. Thankful gihapon kay maski papaano makabulig-bulig sa mga empleyado.”
On the other hand, 35-year-old Girly Diel, wife of construction worker from Antique, said: “Bisan papaano makabulig-bulig man ah. Maayo lang ina sang sa wala ginsaka ang sweldo.”
According to DOLE acting director Salome Siaton, the wage board tried to balance what the workers were demanding and what the employers could afford to give.
Ratilla, however, said they expected an increase of P10 only.
This should have been the better “win-win solution” for employees praying for a wage increase and employers seeking not to hurt their pockets, she stressed.
The increase will take effect on March 16. Siaton said employers or managements with adverse financial conditions, new businesses and those hit by calamities may be exempted from the new wage order.
They must, however, comply with the requirements set by DOLE and the wage board such as financial statements.
In Wage Order No. 23, the RTWPB approved the following new daily minimum wages:
* P323.50 in the non-agriculture / industrial / commercial sector employing more than 10 workers (from the previous P298.50)
* P271.50 in the non-agriculture / industrial / commercial sector employing 10 workers or less (from the previous P256.50)
* P281.50 in the agriculture sector with plantation (from the previous P266.50), and
* P271.50 in the agriculture sector but non-plantation (from the previous P256.50).
“Maayo gid nga balita eh kag madamo nga salamat kay may dugang na sa fare expenses kag budget sa pamalay nga galastuhon sa adlaw-adlaw,” said Ronelyn Maghari, 30, gasoline station attendant from Barangay So-oc, Arevalo, Iloilo City.
The two labor representatives in the RTWPB-6 backed the increase – Wennie Sancho who is from the General Alliance of Workers Association and Hernane Braza who represents the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines – Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.
The basis of the new minimum wage rates shall be the normal working hours not exceeding eight hours of work a day, said Siaton.
The wage hike petition was filed by the Philippine Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Workers’ Union (PACIWU-TUCP) in DOLE Negros Occidental last August 2016. For three months, RTWPB held public consultations.
The last time RTWPB approved a wage increase was on May 2, 2015./PN
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