A LABOR leader in Negros Occidental expressed support to the proposal of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBBCI) to reclassify workers in determining the wage increase in Western Visayas, including Negros Occidental.
MBBCI, during the public hearing on the wage petition filed by the Philippine Agricultural, Commercial, and Industrial Workers Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (Paciwu-TUCP) held at the Sugar Workers Development Center in Bacolod City Friday, proposed the reclassification specifically of commercial and industrial workers, according to the number of persons employed.
The MBCCI, represented by its chief executive officer Frank Carbon, is proposing P10.50 daily minimum wage increase in establishments employing one to 100 workers; P15.50, for 101 to 200 workers; and P42.50, for 201 workers and above.
Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance and Workers Association (Gawa), told Sun.Star Bacolod that MBCCI’s proposal is more acceptable than the P11.50 increase per day proposed by the Confederation of Sugar Producers of Negros Occidental (Confed).
The proposed P11.50 increase of Confed for agricultural workers is derived from the P298.50 existing daily minimum wage multiplied by 3.8 percent consumer price index (CPI), Sancho said.
“The P42.50 proposed increase of MBCCI will result to P341 daily minimum wage in the province, which is near of Cebu’s P353,” he pointed out.
Last September 30, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) Region 6 conducted a public consultation in the city on the P101.34, P90.61, and P86.87 increase under Paciwu-TUCP’s petition.
Sancho, who is also the labor representative of RTWPB-6, said they will further deliberate on these proposals after the series of public hearings to be conducted in Panay Island.
The scheduled hearings are October 21 in Iloilo City; November 16 in Roxas City; and November 17 in Boracay.
The Wage Board is expected to issue the new wage order within 30 days after at the conclusion of the last hearing, Sancho said.
“The workers deserve the wage increase which is necessary mainly due to the impending oil price hike which will also result to high prices of basic commodities, the tax reforms which may diminish the workers’
income, and the delay in the campaign against contractualization,” he added.
