Thursday, January 25, 2007 Regional boards study wage hike impact
THE labor department on Friday convened the 17 regional tripartite wages and productivity boards to study the impact of a possible wage increase this year, as calls heightened for the passage of a bill mandating a P125 across-the-board hike.
"Labor Secretary Arturo Brion gave marching orders to the regional wage boards to look at the impact of the P125 legislated wage hike if it would be approved in Congress and also the possibility of granting another round of wage hike in case the bill is not approved," Romeo Lagman, Labor undersecretary for social protection and legislative affairs, told reporters.
"I think it's time, and appropriate, that the wage boards determine whether a new increase would be feasible," Lagman added.
He said the wage boards were given a week to submit their reports on the possible impact of the P125 legislated wage bills pending separately in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The reports will be submitted to the Senate.
Asked on the likelihood that the regional wage boards would grant a salary hike this year, Lagman said: "I'm sure (there would be a wage hike)."
He noted that in the past 17 years, it was only in 2003 that the regional wage
boards did not grant a salary hike.
The minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) is P350 per day. It is slightly lower in the provinces.
Lagman added that the Department of Labor and Employment is not against a wage hike but is opposed to the mode by which it would be granted. The Arroyo administration has insisted that a wage increase be coursed through the regional wage boards and not through legislation.
Esther Guirao, officer in-charge of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), said the proposed P125 legislated wage would result in retrenchment.
Of the more than 30-million-strong work force, Guirao said only 12.46 million workers stand to benefit from a legislated P125 wage hike, while 23.35 million government and informal workers and the unemployed would suffer.
"In the long run, it may work against the workers' benefit," Guirao said.
She added that a P125 legislated wage hike would mean higher cash outlay since this would affect the mandatory benefits such as the 13th month pay and paying social security and health premiums.
"For the add-ons, the employers would have to pay P1.21 for every P1 wage increase," Guirao said.
The productivity council OIC said that in the version of the Senate, the P350 existing minimum wage would be jacked up to P544.50, while the House version would raise the workers' salary to P574.75. (PIA)
