BACOLOD City – In the coming weeks the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Western Visayas will hold public consultations on the proposed Pandemic Emergency Relief Assistance (PERA).
The body will set the schedule of the consultations at their next meeting on March 11.
The granting of a P25 PERA for each worker was manifested in the labor sector’s position paper dated Oct. 19, 2020.
RTWPB labor representative Wennie Sancho said the rising cost of living – as evidenced in the unabated increases in the prices of basic goods and services – is the primary reason for the workers’ demand for another round of wage adjustment.
“It is only proper that the Wage Board heed the plea of the workers for amelioration or we will be engulfed by the economic recession,” said Sancho, also the secretary-general of the Negros-based General Alliance of Workers Associations.
Earlier, the labor sector announced a plan to push for a P80 to P100 increase in the daily minimum wage if the RTWPB won’t grant the proposed emergency allowance.
The current minimum wage in Western Visayas ranges from P310 to P395 per day, depending on the sectoral classification.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Sancho also said the purchasing power of the peso dropped to P0.77 as of January this year.
He said this means that the nominal daily wage of P395 for commercial and industrial workers is worth or equivalent to only P304.15 in terms of real wage.
A worker in the private sector is losing about P90.85 per day due to the erosion of his purchasing power, which is about a two percent reduction from his daily income, Sancho added.
The RTWPB is composed of the Department of Labor and Employment regional director as ex-officio chairman; regional directors of the National Economic Development Authority and Department of Trade and Industry as ex-officio vice-chairmen; and, two representatives each from the worker and employer sectors as members. (PNA)
