MINIMUM WAGE earners in the private sector in Central Visayas will get a P42 daily wage increase starting mid-October after the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) affirmed the wage order issued by the region’s wage board.
The increase will bring the daily minimum wage to P582 for Class A areas and P542 for Class B areas, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said in a statement Sunday.
The NWPC unanimously affirmed the order, with five commissioners present voting in favor and two absent, during its Sept. 26 deliberation at the DoLE Regional Office VII in Cebu. Labor Secretary Francis N. Tolentino confirmed the action during the deliberation.
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board VII will proceed with publication of the order following the NWPC affirmation. The new rates are expected to take effect after the required publication period, expected on Oct. 14.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Sunday criticized the P42 hike, saying the adjustment remains inadequate amid elevated prices and the region’s cost-of-living pressures.
In a statement, the group said the wage increase highlights the need for Congress to pass House Bill No. 88, which seeks a P200 legislated increase in the daily minimum wage.
The increase does not sufficiently address workers’ needs, TUCP said, noting that Central Visayas recorded the highest inflation rate last July and that annual poverty incidence in the region was more than eight times that of Metro Manila.
“This severely lacking and grossly insulting P42 wage hike does not make any sense because Region VII just recorded the highest inflation rate last July,” the group said.
TUCP also cited an estimated regional family living wage of about P1,400 per day, saying the new minimum wage remains far below this level.
The group said the P42 increase would translate to roughly P1,092 in additional monthly income, but argued that the amount remains insufficient for a family’s needs.
They also questioned the wage classification system in Central Visayas, particularly the distinction between Class A and Class B areas.
“Why should a worker in one municipality be worth less than a worker doing comparable work elsewhere in the same region?” TUCP asked. —
It also pointed to the gap between the new minimum wage and the estimated regional family living wage, saying the monthly increase would still fall short of what a family needs to live on for a single day.
WAGE DISPARITIESMeanwhile, labor group Federation of Free Workers (FFW) said the adjustment highlighted what it called persistent regional and provincial wage disparities, calling for a uniform P200 wage increase nationwide.
“Workers from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi sweat just the same. Why, then, is their work not valued equally?” FFW President Jose Sonny G. Matula said in a statement in Filipino on Sunday.
The group said regional wage-setting should not become a permanent reason for keeping wages low in poorer regions, while acknowledging the need to consider regional economic conditions, productivity and businesses’ capacity.
“It is as if wages come with a distance discount. The farther from Manila, the cheaper labor becomes. But workers in Cebu, Samar, Leyte, Batanes, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi are not second-class Filipinos,” Mr. Matula said.
The FFW cited the P755 minimum wage for non-agricultural workers in Metro Manila, compared with about P440-P470 in Eastern Visayas and P460-P480 in Cagayan Valley. It said wages in Tawi-Tawi are lower, depending on the sector.
It also pointed to differences in the cost of rice, electricity, transportation, medicine and tuition, arguing that workers outside Metro Manila do not necessarily face proportionately lower living costs.
The group urged the government, Congress, employers and labor groups to reform the regional wage-setting system and establish a stronger national wage floor or benchmark to gradually narrow regional wage gaps and bring wages closer to the cost of decent living.
“If development is the reason for regional wage-setting, then the wage gap should narrow as the country develops. If the gap remains so wide year after year, we need to ask: what are we really rationalizing — the wages or low wages?” Mr. Matula said. — Mark Joseph M. Sanchez and Pexcel John Bacon