Central Luzon workers to get wage hike

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines – Minimum wage earners in Central Luzon will get an increase of P16 in their daily salary starting May 1, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board announced yesterday.

“The board deemed it best to increase the minimum wage at a reasonable and equitable level in light of the regional poverty threshold level...as well as the need to promote performance-based incentive schemes under the two-tiered wage system,” Wage Order RBIII-20 read.

In Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales, the minimum salary of workers in non-agriculture companies with total assets of P30 million or more will be pegged at P380; those in non-agricultural firms with less than P30 million in assets, P373; plantations, P350, and agriculture non-plantations, P334.

Those in retail firms with 16 or more employees will get P369 while those with less than 16 employees will get P355.

In Aurora, the minimum wage of workers in non-agricultural firms will increase to P329; plantations, P314; agriculture non-plantations, P302, and retail and service firms with less than 16 employees, P264.

Household or domestic workers and persons employed in the service of another, including family drivers, and those in barangay micro business enterprises are not covered by the wage hike.

Any person or entity that refuses or fails to implement the wage order shall be penalized under the Minimum Wage Fixing Law.  – With Ric Sapnu