Motion for recon to delay wage hike hearing–exec
A public hearing on two pending wage increase petitions will be delayed pending resolution of a motion for reconsideration filed by a management representative in the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB).
Regional Director Ma. Gloria Tango of the Department of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas (DOLE-7) said lawyer Hidelito Pascual filed the motion to a resolution declaring supervening conditions in the region as grounds for a wage hike.
As a result, the resolution won’t be forwarded to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) which should approve it to allow public hearings on the wage increase petitions.
Labor sector representative Ernesto Carreon described the motion as just a dilatory tactic by the management sector. “Being a member of the wage board, Pascual could not file a motion for reconsideration,” he said.
Tango said they will take up the motion in their Aug. 23 meeting. She said Pascual’s motion stated that there’s no basis yet for the declaration of the supervening condition, among others.
Carreon said the wage board should have sent the resolution together with Pascual’s motion for reconsideration.
The declaration of the supervening condition would allow the board to entertain the two pending wage hike petitions without waiting for the lapse of the one-year period since the last wage order.
RTWPB-7 issued the last wage order on Sept. 22, 2011, raising the minimum wage for Metro Cebu workers from P285 per day to P305.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Congress of the Philippines filed a P90 per day wage hike while the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) filed a daily P121.84 wage increase.
