Living wages

We commemorate May 1, Labor Day with a mixture of resignation and disappointment following reports that both national and local government employees will receive substantial pay increases ahead of the private sector.

Who wouldn’t be envious over President Aquino’s pronouncements of  a wage hike for government workers with  “a substantial number of zeroes”?  They deserve it in keeping with the Salary Standardization Law implemented nationwide.

The private sector has to slug it out in wage board hearings.

Central Visayas, whose labor groups were the first to file a wage increase petition after spikes and dips in fuel prices and fare rates, have pending proposals deliberated on by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB).

Next week, the board is scheduled to compare notes on the inflation rate and other factors to determine whether they are “supervening factors” that  justify another wage increase earlier than the one-year bar against.

It’s a May 1 ritual to wait for the government to announce “good news” for the labor sector but given the tight economic situation, nothing earth-shaking comes out of that.

The hard decision-making about wage increases fall on regional wage boards, not the national government.

Ever since the 2008 global economic crisis, the labor sector and companies have tangled with more vigor over the daily minimum wage.  The actual increase ranged  from P5 to P20.

The  process is lengthy.   Labor unions  aren’t happy with the role of the  National Economic Development Authority (Neda) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the 7-member wage board.

They view the two agencies as biased towards management.

That’s not altogether fair or true to the agency directors, whose offices are the source of much of the economic statistics on inflation rate, cost of living, etc. that go into the deliberations.

But what the public would appreciate is more transparency and a clear explanation of how the board comes up with their result – how they reached the present P305 a day minimum wage in Metro Cebu.

What we usually see is just the final voting results.  Not the real how or why an amount of P20 for an increase is achieved after labor groups file for a   P100 increase, making the petitions more a gesture of bravura.

There is some merit to labor’s position that the DTI and the NEDA should be present only to present verified data on actual economic conditions in the region.

The main bone of contention is determining what salary increase could be granted at this time and whether it would help cushion the rising costs of living for the workers, who remain the backbone of the economy.