No complaint, no wage hike, says Mindanao labor exec

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Workers in the Central Mindanao region are not complaining about their wages, which is why they will not be getting any increase soon, the regional director of the Department of Labor said on Thursday.

Gloria Tango said the absence of a petition for a wage hike from any of the labor groups in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, North and South Cotabato and Sarangani and the cities of Cotabato, General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong and Kidapawan was an indication they had no complaint about their wages at present levels.

“To date, the (regional wage board) has not received any petition for wage hike from the private labor sector,” she told a local radio station.

Tango said the Department of Labor and Employment even conducted a consultation with the labor sector in General Santos City last week “to assess if there is a need to issue another wage order.”

But, she said, no “supervening condition” was established during the consultation to warrant a wage increase.

“Supervening condition,” she said, meant that the cost of living has tremendously increased and the prices of basic commodities and fuel have risen to a level that a regular wage earner could hardly afford.

“The prices of basic commodities have slightly increased but the purchasing power of the public remains stable,” she said.

The Region 12 wage board, which Tango chairs, last issued a wage order in October 2010, which mandated the granting of P15 in additional cost of living allowance to workers in the private sector.

With the Cola, the minimum daily wage in Central Mindanao became P260 for non-agriculture workers, P240 for plantation workers, P235 for non-plantation workers, P240 for retail workers in service establishments employing not more than 10 workers and P234 for retail workers in service establishments employing less than 10 people.

It covered all minimum wage earners in the private sector in Central Mindanao regardless of their position, designation or status of employment and irrespective of the method by which their wages are paid.