Board set to decide on wage hike issue

The wage board will decide this week on whether there is  a “supervening condition” to implement a wage increase in Central Visayas.

The ALU-TUCP asked for a P75 increase.

Lawyer Ernesto Carreon, labor representative of the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB-7), said that he would block a proposal from business sector to delay the approval of the wage hike when the board would decide on the issue this week.

Carreon was referring to the business sector in Dumaguete, which was against the board deciding that there is supervening condition to implement the increase.

They wanted the wage board to decide on the wage hike petition on September or a year after the last wage increase was implemented.

Based on their public hearing with the business and transport sector from Cebu City,  Dumaguete, Siquijor and Tagbilaran since last month, Carreon said the P285 minimum wage should be increased.

“ If we can do this now, why not. The laborers should get the wage they deserve,” Carreon said.

Under the Labor Code, no new wage hike can be implemented within a one-year reglementary period unless “supervening” factors justify one.

Last september 2010, the RTWPB approved a P7 wage increase for Central Visayas. The wage board is trying to determine whether there is a “supervening condition” to grant a wage increase earlier than a one-year limit from the last wage order./Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya