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Wage board yet to decide on minimum pay for E. Visayas workers

By Sarwell Meniano

May 31, 2022, 2:43 pm

<p><strong>WAGE HIKE</strong>. An employer reacts during a public consultation on a possible wage increase in Tacloban City in this May 23, 2022 photo. The Eastern Visayas Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has yet to decide on the proposed daily wage increase for minimum wage earners in the region. <em>(Photo courtesy of Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board Region 8)</em></p>

WAGE HIKE. An employer reacts during a public consultation on a possible wage increase in Tacloban City in this May 23, 2022 photo. The Eastern Visayas Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has yet to decide on the proposed daily wage increase for minimum wage earners in the region. (Photo courtesy of Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board Region 8)

TACLOBAN CITY – After a series of consultations, the Eastern Visayas (Region 8) Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has yet to decide on the proposed daily increase for minimum wage earners in the region.

The board is still reviewing inputs from workers and employers who attended public hearings and consultations in six venues held on different dates from April 22 to May 23.

“We will issue a statement as soon as the RTWPB decides. The review is ongoing, and we don’t know when the decision will come out, but the target is to issue a wage order immediately,” Norma Rae Costimiano, regional information officer of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

DOLE is the agency that chairs the RTWPB, a tripartite body composed of six members -- three representatives from the government, two from the workers' sector, and one from the employers' sector.

On April 22, the RTWPB held the first public hearing in Macrohon, Southern Leyte followed by the same activity on April 27 in Ormoc City for northwest Leyte areas.

From May 16 to 23, similar gatherings were held in Borongan City for Eastern Samar province, Calbayog City for Samar, Catarman town for Northern Samar, and Tacloban City for the northern Leyte area.

The review is in response to the petition for adjustment of the daily minimum wage of workers in the private sector filed by the Solidarity of Unions in the Philippines for Empowerment and Reforms to raise the daily wage to PHP750.

The current minimum daily pay in the region is PHP325 under Wage Order No. 21 issued in August 2019.

As of May 30, five RTWPBs in the country have already ruled on adjusting the minimum daily pay.

These are the boards in Northern Mindanao, Central Visayas, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and Caraga Region. (PNA)

 

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