Rate is industry-based

WORKERS in Region 1 will get from P3 to P15 daily wage increase depending on the type of industry where they are employed.

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) of Region 1, headed by Department of Labor and Employment Director Henry John Jalbuena, has approved the increase after due public hearings in the Region 1 provinces including Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.

The increase is contained in Wage Order No. RB 1-12, approved by the RTWPB on November 19, 2007 and made public in a press conference in Dagupan on Thursday.

The other members of the RTWPB are National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director Leonardo Quintos Jr. and Department of Trade and Industry Regional Director Florante Leal, vice chairmen; Atty. Amado Adquilen and Professor Demetrio Ruiz, representatives of workers; and Jerry Parlan and Salvador Poserio, representatives of employers.

All the members agreed that wage increases cannot alleviate all the financial woes of workers and their families but the new wage order will provide them some relief to cope with the increasing prices of basic goods and services without risking the viability of industries which generate jobs and employment opportunities.

Under the Wage Order, workers in the agriculture plantation and non-plantation sectors in the Ilocos Region, which is predominantly agriculture-based, will receive the highest increase of P15 per day.

Workers in the secondary (Level 3) hospitals, other non-agriculture and micro-establishments will receive increases of P3, P5, and P10 per day, respectively.

Jalbuena, RTWPB Chair, said the labor sector, through the PepsiCo workers in Rosario, La Union, petitioned for an P18 daily wage increase but this was opposed by representatives of the management in the different public hearings that were conducted.

The PepsiCo worker s’ wage petition was adopted in all other provinces in the region.

With Wage Order No. RB1-12, the new minimum wage in Region 1 is now from P210 P230 t for non-agricultural workers; from P185 to P210 for agricultural workers; and from P185 to P210 for micro establishments.

Jalbuena said the wage adjustments were determined using the Board’s Wage Determination Model based on the International Labor Organization Framework for wage fixing that considered four major criteria.

These are the needs of workers and their families, capacity of employers to pay, comparability of wages and incomes on similarly situated and more developed regions; and requirements of social and economic development.

In deciding the varying amounts of wage increases, the Board also took into consideration the levels of growth and development of the different industry sectors using economic indicators, such as their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GRDP), employment generation and labor productivity.

Jalbuena stressed that wage fixing involves a difficult and intricate task of creating a balance among the divergent interests of labor, management and government sectors.

The new wage order will be submitted to the National Wages and Productivity Commission for Review and shall take effect 15 days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.—LM

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