PANGASINAN CONSULTATION RESULT

RTWPB: Wage issue up by month’s end

MEMBERS of the labor sector in Pangasinan sought a P20 increase in their daily take-home pay but management sector seems unwilling to grant it.

    Elmer Licayan, representing a labor union at the Pacific Farm in Bolinao, called for P20 percent daily wage hike to be added to the basic pay and not to the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

    Licayan pointed out that the P20 increase should be added to the basic pay because the latter is used as the basis for computing the workers” Christmas bonus.

    But lawyer Cesar Junio, representing both labor and management that comprise the Regional Tripartite Industrial Peace Council which he heads, called for P12 increase.

    However, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines and Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines chapters, both headed by Dr. Angelo Juan, opposed any increase.

    Juan, president of the Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation, said any wage increase at this time can lead to retrenchment of workers.

    He warned that if workers are laid off, the capacity of industries to produce would be greatly reduced, thereby affecting their production output.

    Representatives of labor and management issued their respective positions during a consultation conducted last Tuesday by the Regional Tripartite Wage Productivity Board at the Pangasinan Merchant Marine Academy Audio Visual Room.

    Department of Labor and Employment Regional Director Guerrero Cirilo, RTWPB chairman, said the wage board decided moto proprio (by its own initiative) to hear calls for wage increase as its latest wage order anyway was already one year old  last July 7.

    In calling for a freeze in wage levels, Juan suggested that the government should instead give non-wage benefits to workers, like tax credits and exemptions, and such other benefits that will enable the workers to cope with the increasing costs of living.

    Citing the increased costs in production caused by higher costs of  electricity and fuel, a wage increase would be an added burden for the management, and will simply force many employers to violate labor laws since they will not be  in a position to pay their employees more at this time.

    Cirilo said the wage board will meet starting next week to finally decide on the wage issue after they shall have completed their region-wide consultations.

    In the public consultation held in Pangasinan, representatives of the management outnumbered representatives of labor by a ratio of 9-1.

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