Saturday, July 07, 2007 Business asks RTWPB 7: Reject wage hike petition or many factories will close By Elias O. Baquero Sun.Star Staff Reporter
DON’T raise wages now if you want to save jobs, business representatives told the regional wage board yesterday.
The business sector appealed to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 7 to dismiss the petitions for wage increase filed by the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Unions Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) and the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL).
“We fear that an across-the-board wage increase this time will drive the final nail into the exporters’ coffins,” said Philexport Cebu president Jay Yuval-los, in a letter to the RTWPB 7.
The effects of a strong peso and competition abroad are hurting exporters, he added.
In yesterday’s public hearing, two associations from the Mactan Economic Zones also submitted a joint resolution opposing the petition for an increase in minimum wage in Central Visayas.
Exporters in the region have been shutting down operations, retrenching workers and asking others to work fewer days or hours to help the companies deal with currency exchange losses, Philexport said in a position paper.
At least 35 export companies have shut down due to huge losses and high cost of production, Yuvallos said.
“Another increase in the minimum wage in the region will only worsen the situation. More companies will be forced to reduce the number of working days, retrench more employees or worse, shut down operations,” Yuvallos said.
The wage board has granted an increase four times since 2001, but the amounts were always less than one-fourth of what labor groups asked for. The latest increase took effect last Aug. 1, 2006 and ranged from P10-P18 a day, depending on location.
The daily wage in Metro Cebu stands at P241, the highest in the region.
In its petition, ALU-TUCP said the previous raises have been overtaken by “extraordinary increases” in the prices of petroleum products, transport and basic goods and services.
APL, on the other hand, said the “insufficient increases” in the minimum wage have helped widen the gap between “minimum and living wage.”
Inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the peso to P0.69, while the prices of commodities and utilities have gone up, the APL added.
But the groups Mepzcem and Mepz-HR cited, in their opposition, factors such as a strong peso (P46.33 as of June 29, 2007 against P53.51 on same date last year), high prices of raw materials, high cost of water and electricity, bureaucratic delays and high cost of doing business due to new government regulations.
“These factors directly impact (in terms of) increased operational costs and ultimately the company’s competitiveness,” read the joint resolution.
Mepzcem is an association of companies in the Mactan Economic Zones 1 and 2, the Cebu Light Industrial Park in Lapu-Lapu City and special economic zones in the cities of Naga and Danao and Balamban town. Mepz-HR is the association of HR practitioners in these zones.
Collectively, these economic zone locators have at least 80,000 direct employees and thousands more indirect employees who are hired by suppliers, contractors and subcontractors.
All the comments from both labor and employers were recorded during the hearing by RTWPB 7.
The wage board is composed of labor representatives Jose Boquecosa Jr. and Marianito Ventura; management representatives Charles Streegan and lawyer Hidelito Pascual; Director Marlene Rodriguez of the National Economic and Development Authority; Director Asteria Caberte of the Department of Trade and Industry; Director Elias Cayanong of the Department of Labor and Employment; and Exequiel Sarcauga, board secretary.
