An official of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Central Visayas yesterday said the office will come up with a win-win solution for both the labor and management sectors on the various wage hike petitions.

RTWPB chair Chona Mantilla said they will look into all the evidences and justifications to ensure a fair solution but the seven-member board has yet to meet and decide when to start the deliberation.

The management and labor sectors have presented their sentiments in a recent public hearing.

Art Barrit, spokesman of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, said they filed a petition for a P90 daily pay adjustment to the minimum wage. He said this is a matter of justice for the workers and their families, who are the ones who toil and create money for their employees.

The Living Wage Coalition is asking for a P132-daily wage hike for all workers in the Central Visayas, saying that the soaring prices of basic necessities and prime commodities have been crippling the workers' purchasing power.

The National Economic Development Authority and the Department of Trade and Industry in Region 7 have also presented the economic situationer in the region and the comparative prices of basic and prime commodities, and noted that economic growth in the region is high but inflation rate also went up.

Prices of basic and prime commodities slightly increased from 10 cents to 15 cents.

But Philexport-Cebu branded the wage hike petitions as callous, impractical and reckless. It said the petitioners have no regard for the thousands of workers who lost their jobs due to the two calamities that hit the region last year.

Members of the Mactan Export Processing Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers, an organization of 140 companies and support group, said 2014 is a bad year for the export sector since they continue to suffer from the calamities in 2013.

"We appeal to the wage board for a moratorium for any wage increase or benefits until the situation normalized," their position paper said.

The Cebu and Mandaue chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Hardware Association of Cebu and some independent hotel owners also opposed the wage hike petitions. They call for a moratorium on any wage adjustment since the region was severely affected by super-typhoon “Yolanda” Nov. 8, and the 7.2-magnitude earthquake Oct. 15.

But RTWPB labor representative Ernesto Carreon said calamities also bring good business. The Regional Development Council 7 just approved the release of P27 billion and another P47 billion from the national government for rehabilitation and will be buy cement, steel bars and other construction supplies in Cebu. We can expect Cebu to boom, he said.*PNA

back to top