RTWPB-7 to discuss wage hike on Thursday

By Eli C. Dalumpines

CEBU CITY, Apr. 26 (PIA) --- The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Central Visayas is scheduled to meet this Thursday, April 28. to assess if there already exists a “supervening condition” in the region that can be used as a basis for an increase in the salaries of workers.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) - 7 Acting Director Exequil Sarcauga, in an interview this afternoon, said they are now preparing the report on the economic condition of the region which they will present before the board on Thursday.

Sarcauga said the report will provide the board with a grasp of the region’s prevailing economic situation that will become their basis of determining whether the three to five percent target inflation rate set by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas(BSP) has already been reached.

Once the inflation rate has reached the target level, the board can have a free hand to decide for any wage increase, the DOLE-7 official declared.

 
As of today, only the National Capital Region (NCR) and Western Visayas have declared to have reached the target inflation rate, among the 16 regions in the country, Sarcauga bared.

Meanwhile, Sarcauga informed that they have already received the petition for a P100-wage hike by the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).

He however, expressed reservations whether the board will be able to decide on the petition on that same day saying that it will still pass through rigorous discussions, including possible opposition from the business sector.

“The most difficult task of the board in this aspect is how it can approximate the need of the different sectors. That is, we can implement an increase in the salaries of workers while at the same time we do not hurt the industrial or business sector,” he said. (FCR/ECD/PIA 7-Cebu)