For Central Visayas workers: Labor groups to meet on wage hike amount

Last October 10, 2015, the wage board decided to integrate the P13 in the minimum wage, so that no private sector workers in Metro Cebu received a salary less than P353 per day. Philstar.com/File

CEBU, Philippines - Labor coalition Nagkaisa will have a consultation this week with various labor organizations as to how much increase they will be asking for workers in Central Visayas.

Dennis Derige, Nagkaisa convenor and Partido ng Manggagawa-Cebu spokesperson, said whether they would seek a wage increase or not is no longer an issue for them.

“The issue that will be tackled is how much is the amount,” he said.

Aside from PM, Nagkaisa includes SENTRO ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Kilusan-Makabayan, Alliance of Genuine Labor Organization, PS-Link, Alliance of Progressive Labor-Central Visayas, among others.

It can be recalled that the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board-7 did not grant any wage hike last year; instead, it gave a P13-per-day increase in the Cost of Living Allowance for minimum wage earners in the private sector but for Metro Cebu only.

Last October 10, 2015, the wage board decided to integrate the P13 in the minimum wage, so that no private sector workers in Metro Cebu received a salary less than P353 per day.
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Prior to that, the Living Wage Coalition and ALU-TUCP filed for a wage adjustment of P145 per day and P92 per day, respectively, for all workers in Central Visayas. Both petitions did not prosper.

“We will fight that by this time, there should be an increase in the worker’s wages,” Derige said. — By Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/RHM (The Freeman)