BACOLOD City – The militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in Negros Island wants the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) abolished.
KMU Negros claimed that the RTWPB never catered to the interest of low-wage earners in Western Visayas.
Noli Rosales, secretary-general of KMU-Negros, accused members of the RTWPB of favoring the employer sector.
The approval of the P13.50 to P41.50 pay increase under Wage Order No. 24 is not enough to cushion the effects of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, Rosales stressed.
He added that the wage adjustment did not even reach half of the P150 wage hike petition of the labor sector.
Rosales also said to end the clamor of workers, the government must make a P750 across-the-board wage law.
The RTWPB passed Wage Order No. 24 on June 11. The new wage order covers 360,544 business establishments all over Region 6.
It prescribes a daily minimum wage rate of P365 in non-agriculture, industrial and commercial establishments employing more than 10 workers, higher compared to the previous P323.50 minimum daily wage under Wage Order No. 23.
Those employing less than 10 workers are prescribed with a daily minimum wage rate of P295, also higher compared to the previous P271.50.
In the agriculture sector, the minimum daily wage rate is also P295 – both for plantation and non-plantation workers.
Before, plantation and non-plantation workers receive P281.50 and P271.50 daily minimum wage, respectively./PN
