ILOILO City – A labor union in Bacolod City filed a petition for wage increase at the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB).
The petitioner was the New and Independent Workers Organization (NIWO), a rank-and-file union at Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. based in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, according to Ma. Ailyne Valaquio, OIC board secretary of RTWPB.
The wage board received the petition on July 1. Valaquio said it may be discussed during the board’s meeting this third or fourth week of July.
NIWO petitioned for the following increases in the daily minimum wage:
* P50 for workers in agricultural plantations and non-plantations
* P60 for commercial and industrial sector workers
* P80 for workers in Boracay Island
“NIWO wants to restoration the lost value of the peso,” said Valaquio, citing what’s stated in petition.
Only NIWO has so far filed a petition for wage increase this year, she added.
The current wage rates in Western Visayas range from P295 to P365 as mandated in RTWPB’s Wage Order No. 24 that approved an increase of P13.50 to P41.50 in the minimum daily wage. It took effect on July 16, 2018.
The wage order specified the following rates:
* P365 in non-agriculture / industrial / commercial sector employing more than 10 workers
* P295 in non-agriculture / industrial / commercial sector employing 10 workers or below
* P295 in agricultural plantations
* P295 in agricultural non-plantations/PN
