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Employers' capacity among factors in considering wage hike: DOLE

By Ferdinand Patinio

July 14, 2022, 5:48 pm

<p>Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma <em>(Screengrab from Laging Handa briefing)</em></p>

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma (Screengrab from Laging Handa briefing)

MANILA – The plight of employers and their capacity to provide an increase in workers' pay is also among the factors being considered for a possible adjustment in minimum wages, the country's labor chief said on Thursday.

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, in a Laging Handa briefing, said this is aside from the prices of fuel, goods and currency exchange rate.

“So, we will study/look at all that, because we must consider not only the demand of the workers, we also need to see if small companies can afford it,” he said.

The grant of a wage hike is within the purview of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board which is under the National Wages Productivity Commission (NWPC).

Laguesma believed that there are other benefits aside from the increase in wages.

“There should be a balance. There is an opportunity to also look at issues related to non-wage benefits, subsidies such as those implemented by the Department of Transportation, like free rides. When that is computed, it also has that value in terms of pesos,” he said.

Laguesma, meanwhile, clarified that there is a need to strike a balance in terms of granting wage hikes.

“I am not prohibiting it and I want it to be clear that our workers also have the right to ask and file their grievances. And based on our existing law system, we have a tripartite body that will look at that,” the DOLE head added.

According to the NWPC, regional wage boards can issue a wage order only once in a given year as a general rule.

Within the 12-month period from the effectivity of the wage order, no petition for a wage hike may be entertained, except when there is a supervening condition, such as an extraordinary increase in prices of petroleum products and basic goods and services.

“That can be seen as a supervening event but the law says, we can only adjust once a year and the reason for that, you can't have adjustments every hour or every month or whenever there is fare hike and increase in prices of basic commodities,” he added.

Laguesma urged the public and other stakeholders to give them a chance to formulate policies that are beneficial to all.

“It won't be too long because we have instructions from our President to prepare our priority programs,” he said. (PNA)

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