MILITANT workers rally last Sept. 18 to continue to press for higher wages. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The P30-increase in the daily basic pay of minimum wage earners in private companies in Central Luzon is not enough to cover the P36 in price increases of galunggong (round scad) from January 2007 until September, a labor leader in the region said.
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) approved an increase of P6, through Wage Order No. 17, and allowed the integration of P24 in cost of living allowance into the basic pay for workers in the region.
But Ludy Hamor, head of the trade union political center Makabayan chapter in Central Luzon, said the additional pay was small because, based on records of the National Statistical Coordination Board, a kilogram of galunggong fetched P104.74 in January 2007 and P129.40 in December 2011. Its current price, she said, is P140 a kilogram.
“The P6 increase is too small as this is not enough to cover the inflation rate ranging from 2.8 percent to 3.8 percent,” Hamor said.
The wage increase pegged the minimum wage rates in Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales at P336 for companies with assets of P30 million or more, and P329 for assets less than that amount. Nonagriculture workers in Aurora stand to get P285.
In the agricultural sector, workers in plantation and nonplantation areas in the six provinces are set to receive P306 and P290, respectively. The rates in Aurora are fixed at P270 and P258, respectively.
In the retail and service sector, firms with 16 or more workers are required to pay P325 while those with less than 16 workers should pay P311. In Aurora, the rate is P215.
But Hamor said Central Luzon workers should get more because the region contributes about 10 percent to the gross domestic product.
“Workers of Central Luzon must be awarded an equal share of the fruit of their labor, at least 5 to 8 percent,” she said.
The wage board said the mandatory wage adjustment “[took] into account the interest of both labor and management as well as the continued and sustained viability of business and industry.”
The board is expected to issue an advisory on performance-based incentive pay.
Raymundo Agravante, regional wage board chair and regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment, said he expected the new wage increase to further boost productivity in the region. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon