Thursday, May 08, 2008 Business can survive with P10 in Ecola: Biz groups By Gil Alfredo B. Severino
THE Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (MBCCI) and the Bacolod Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BFCCCI) are jointly pushing for a P10 increase per day on their employees' emergency cost of living allowance (Ecola) but not an additional P50 in the wage rate.
They said the proposed P50 increase, if granted, would adversely affect the profitability, viability and competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which comprise over 90 percent of firms in the country and employing 98 percent of the country's labor force.
Increasing real wages to P50 will further erode the profitability, viability and competitiveness of SMEs, the two business groups said in a statement, adding that in 2006, some 43,704 SMEs closed shops, displacing 1,028,805 employees.
The two groups reiterated their earlier positions before the wage board last October 2007, stating the board should shift from non-productivity-based increases to productivity-based wage hike.
Increased productivity is the only way to avoid adverse effects on inflation, employment and viability of SMEs, they added.
