Wage board eyes pay increase in Region 8

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will likely raise the minimum wage for workers in private establishments in Eastern Visayas after conducting a series of public consultations, PNA reported the other day.

The board earlier initiated the consultation in Ormoc City for participants from the western part of Leyte and Southern Leyte province. Another venue was in Catbalogan City in Samar for those in Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Samar provinces.

Department of Labor and Employment-8 Regional Director and RTWBP chairman Elias Cayanong, said the daily wage adjustment proposed by workers ranges from P5 to P266, according to a PNA report yesterday.

The board will hold a public hearing on October 12 at the Leyte Park Hotel, this city, to solicit the stand of the public on the wage issue. The hearing will be the last step before the board deliberates for wage adjustment.

On March 30, 2015, under Wage Order No. 18, the wage body raised the take-home pay of workers by integrating part of the cost-of-living allowance (COLA) into the basic wage in all sectors except the sugar industry.

For the sugar industry, the RTWPB granted an increase of P14.50 to bring the daily minimum wage to P235-P262 from the lowest P221. In Eastern Visayas, a family of five needs P235 daily to sustain their basic needs.

Wage Order No. 18 added the P15 COLA to the basic wage, raising it to P253 a day for non-agriculture workers, P231 for the cottage/handicraft sector, P228 for retail/service employees, and P234 for the non-sugar agriculture sector. The P15 COLA was granted under Wage Order No. 16 issued in May 2011. (FREEMAN)