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Saturday, June 18, 2005
Davao workers get P15 allowance instead of pay hike
By Jenny Molbog-Mendoza
DAVAO CITY -- After a three-day deliberation, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 11 granted minimum wage earners in Davao Region a P15 cost-of-living allowance (Cola).
Under the new wage order, the minimum wage rates prescribed shall be for normal working hours, which shall not exceed the eight working hours a day.
The wage order further stated that all workers paid by results, including those who are paid on piecework, "takay", "pakyaw", or task basis, shall be entitled to receive the prescribed allowance per eight hours work a day, or a proportion thereof for those working less than eight hours.
The decision of the board was anchored on the present inflation rate recorded in the region as of May, which was pegged at 10.4 percent.
"We have a double-digit inflation in the region which justifies the increase," said lawyer Bonifaco Uy, assistant regional director of the National Economic
Development Authority (Neda) 11, during a press conference Friday at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) conference room.
Uy said since the last minimum wage increase implemented in the region on February 5 of this year, RTWPB 11 has already approved an increase of P29, which is 15 percent higher than the previous wage level of P195.
RTWPB 11 chair Ma. Gloria Tango, who is also the regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 11, said the board opted to grant a Cola, instead of increase in minimum basic pay, "considering the capacity of the employers to pay."
"We are not only considering the stand of the workers but as well as of the employers," she said.
Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) president Bienvenido Cariaga said the granting of the Cola "is just enough since the business climate at present is not doing so good."
"Everybody is complaining na mahina ang negosyo (that business is slow). The Davao City business chamber knows our capacity. The multinational corporations and other big companies in the region can afford to give the wage increase, but for the 99 percent of the total members of the DCCCII who are SMEs (small and medium enterprises), I don't think they can afford to," he said.
The labor representatives, Jorge Alegarbes and Virginia Camus, did not attend the press conference Friday.
The new wage order shall take effect on July 1, 15 days after publication of the wage order in a local newspaper of general circulation.
After six months from the date of implementation, Tango said, "the board will review the implementation of the allowance." (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex) |
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