BACOLOD City – The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will discuss a possible wage determination on May 12.
Negros-based labor sector representative to the board, Wennie Sancho, said the action is supported by a resolution unanimously approved by the board itself on April 23.
Under the Omnibus Rules on Minimum Wage Determination, the commencement of the minimum wage determination process may be done motu proprio by the RTWPB or by petition of any party.
During the board’s April 8 meeting, management sector representatives Luis Estrella and Reynaldo Ambao manifested their disapproval of the manifestation of the labor sector for a P20 to P25 per day Pandemic Emergency Relief Allowance (PERA) as an immediate economic relief.
Sancho and fellow labor representative Hernani Braza submitted the manifestation on Oct. 19, 2020 yet after which the issue was referred to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) for clarification as to whether the manifestation was valid for the board to take appropriate action.
NWPC executive director Maria Criselda Sy clarified in a reply letter that the board may take action.
The labor sector previously pushed for a minimum wage increase of P100 per day if RTWPB-6 would not grant its request for relief allowance.
The current minimum wage rate in Western Visayas is from P310 to P395 per day, depending on the industry classification, based on Wage Order 25, which took effect in November 2019.
Sancho, also the secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Associations, said the NWPC explained that the labor sector manifestation and submitted position paper could not be likened to a petition.
This was because the labor representatives were merely seeking the board’s discussion on the propriety of granting PERA, he explained.
Sancho said the NWPC supported the conclusion in the submitted position paper that “the 10 percent erosion on the value of the purchasing power of the nominal wage can be used as a warning signal to review whether the prevailing minimum wage still serves its purpose in protecting the vulnerable workers from the vagaries of the market.”
The NWPC also advised the RTWPB-6 by way of policy direction that it may convene and review whether the regional socioeconomic conditions could support the granting of the proposed PERA.
The board will then decide as a collegial body whether it will commence the wage determination process motu proprio, Sancho said. (PNA)
