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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Pay hike can worsen unemployment: Tom
HE FINDS the P18 wage increase acceptable, but Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña also warned that a hike in the minimum pay of workers could aggravate the unemployment problem.
In a news conference yesterday, Osmeña said he wished all his constituents would earn much, but employers and laborers should also consider other sectors that stand to be affected by wage increases.
“There is a major group of the urban poor that the labor unions don’t represent—the unemployed. These are people who are worse off. Right now, it’s hard for them to find a job and if we keep increasing the minimum wage, kining mga tawo musamot gyud kalisod (these people will suffer more),” he warned.
Priorities
Osmeña added that Cebu is fast losing potential investors to China and the scenario could get worse because of the increasing minimum pay here, while China’s floor wage remains low.
Pay hike
“I think that (P18) is okay, but there’s something that I usually look at when we talk about wages... What is the ideal wage? We have to be very careful where our priorities lie,” he added.
After voting 4-2, the Central Visayas wage board agreed last Sunday to increase minimum wages by P10 to P18 per day in Cebu. For workers from Danao City in the north to Carcar town in the south, the minimum wage will be P241 by August.
In the rest of the region, the approved increase ranges from P10 to P15 a day, far below the P75-P95 sought by organized labor groups in their petitions. (LCR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 19, 2006 issue)
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