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Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Exporters oppose plan for P75-P95 wage hike
“The timing is wrong.”
This is how Cebu exporters described the proposed P75 or P95 across-the-board daily wage increase, which the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will deliberate on next week.
In a forum with the RTWPB, members of the Confederation of Philippine Exporters Foundation (Philexport) Cebu cited various issues that hound the industry as among the reasons that exporters should be spared from any minimum wage increases at the moment.
Major issues that have put pressure on the industry include: the strong peso; high cost of raw materials, electricity and water; government bureaucracy; and the high cost of doing business brought about by new government regulations and proposed laws that are “detrimental” to the export sector.
Cebu exporters complained about monitoring fees charged by the Bureau of Plant Industry fumigation inspectors, as well as additional brokerage fees, once the Customs Brokers Act is implemented.
Challenge
Philexport Cebu executive director Fred Escalona said the industry faces yet another challenge once the anti-smuggling bill is passed in its present form, where warehousing costs will become very repressive and unaffordable.
Locators in economic zones, on the other hand, expressed their concern over legislated wage increases as these would make export business in the country more uncom-petitive when compared with other Asian countries.
Very high
Lawyer Januario Seno Jr. of Cebu Mitsumi had informed the RTWPB that the daily salary rate in the country is already “very high” at an average of $5 compared to Vietnam’s $2.
Rene Buntol of Pentax Cebu said the operation of Pentax in Cebu is getting smaller due to competition with the company’s plants in China and other Asian countries.
Buntol said Pentax Cebu is only concentrating on high-end electronic products due to higher labor cost in the Philippines.
Uncompetitive
Ed Godinez, who belongs to the garments industry, said he supports the sentiment of economic zone locators.
He told the RTWPB that he once managed a company in partnership with a foreign investor employing about 300 workers.
The company closed shop due to the uncom-petitive labor rates in the Philippines.
His foreign partner had set up a company in another country with cheaper labor, and now employs at least 1,500 employees.
“Our problem is not really low wages but the high number of unemployed Filipinos,” Godinez said.
Exporters also said legislated wage increases undermine a company’s wage scheme, which is based on merit and performance.
A uniform across-the-board wage increase will punish productive workers and reward the unproductive ones, they said.
The RTWPB noted the positions of the employers’ sector for possible integration with those from labor that will present their position in next week’s hearing. (Philexport News and Features)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 14, 2006 issue)
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