W. Visayas workers seek more acceptable wage hike

Bacolod City—The Negros-Panay Alliance of Labor is asking President Aquino to intervene on the issuance of a wage board order granting a three-month P12 daily emergency cost of living allowance to Western Visayas workers.

NPAL coordinator Wennie Sancho said they were asking the President to intervene by directing the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board to reconsider its decision and grant a more acceptable increase for the workers.

The NPAL made the appeal in a manifesto issued at a Negros Press Club forum held in Bacolod City on Thursday. The labor groups here had been asking for a P99-daily wage hike.

The labor alliance has also called for the resignation of Labor Regional Director Manuel Roldan, chairman of the Region 6 RTWPB.

On the other hand, Sancho and Hernani Braza, labor representatives on the RTWPB, have refused to sign the latest wage order expected to take effect June 15.

“We do not recognize the wage order,” Sancho said.

The NPAL members in their manifesto said they condemned “in the strongest possible terms the demeaning and disgraceful amount granted them.”

They also criticized Roldan for what they called was his high-handed and overbearing manner in presiding over public hearings and board meetings on the wage issue.

They noted that on May 25, Roldan did not only participate in the deliberation of the wage issue but also even voted in favor of the P12 ECOLA despite the rule that a chairman should not participate in the voting, except to break the tie. Inquirer