Other Visayas wage boards order raises

Cebu City/Bacolod City -- The Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) of Central and Western Visayas have approved increases in daily minimum wage ranging from P10 to P18, and from P17 to P20, respectively, starting August 1. In Central Visayas, the P18 increase will be for workers in the four cities and eight municipalities in Metro Cebu which fall under Category A in Region 7. Hence, minimum wage workers in Metro Cebu will earn P241 a day, from the prevailing P223, starting next month. Minimum wage earners in Bohol, Oriental Negros and the rest of the areas of mainland Cebu, which belong to Category B, will get a P15 increase in daily minimum wage. Workers in Siquijor province and those in the Bantayan and Camotes Island groups in Cebu, under Category C, will get a P10 increase. Director Elias Cayanong of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) 7, concurrent RTWPB chairman, admitted that the increases the board approved last Sunday afternoon are "very small" but that that the additional amount should help workers cope with the 7% inflation rate projected this year. The approved adjustments are neither what the management nor the labor sector has been pressing for. During the last of a series of public hearings the wage board conducted, some representatives of the management sector suggested that wages be set at the company level through collective bargaining agreements. The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) proposed an adjustment of P75, while the Alliance of Progressive Labor pushed for P95. Marianito Ventura, one of two labor representatives to the wage board, had said he would fight for a P35 increase during board deliberations. Joy Go, spokesperson of ALU-TUCP Visayas, said they will inform their head office in Manila for inclusion in an appeal that ALU will file on the P25 increase approved for workers in the National Capital Region, as Metro Manila is technically designated. Minimum wages in Central Visayas were last increased on June 16, 2005 with Wage Order No. 11. Minimum pay for workers in Metro Cebu was set at P223 and P220 elsewhere. The approved increases then were P15 and P12. In Bacolod City, the Western Visayas wage board approved an increase of P17 to P20 starting August. The new daily minimum wage for workers in the sugar mills is P235. Workers in agricultural plantations with capitalization of more than P3 million will get P203, while those working in plantations with capitalization of not more than P3 million will get P185. Workers in non-plantations will get P180. Workers in the industrial/commercial establishments with capitalization of more than P3 million will get P222, while those in establishments with capitalization of between P1 million and P3 million will get P212. Workers in establishments with less capitalization will get P199. Carlos Boteros, Labor regional director and wage board chairman, said the new rates apply to all minimum wage earners except household or domestic workers, family drivers and those employed by registered barangay micro-business enterprises. "We were able to come up with this kind of agreement based on the series of public hearings that were attended by all sectors," he said. - Karen Flores-Garcia in Cebu and Robert Leonoras in Bacolod