CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board 3 (RTWPB) in Central Luzon has vowed to immediately deliberate on the proposed daily pay increase for minimum wage earners in the region.
DOLE Regional Director Zenaida Angara-Campita on Monday said that labor and management representatives from various firms in the region have agreed to increase the minimum wage of workers due to the price hike on basic commodities.
Campita also said that in the conclusion of the RTWPB’s region-wide consultation on wage adjustment last week, which was attended by 178 labor and management representatives from 130 firms all over the region, the labor sector lobbied for a PHP30 increase in workers’ basic pay while the management sector was amenable to PHP15-PHP20.
She also said that both sectors agreed that the order for the proposed minimum wage increase shall take effect within the third quarter of the year.
“We will immediately deliberate the things we have discussed in hopes to come up with a new minimum wage order agreed by all sectors. We should take care of the welfare of our workers and the viability of the businesses of our employers, this is the balancing act of the labor department in setting a wage order,” Campita said.
The last increase in the daily pay of minimum wage earners in Central Luzon was in May 2017.
At present, minimum earners in Central Luzon in the non-agriculture category and establishments with total assets of PHP30 million or more receive a PHP380 basic pay per day.
On the other hand, employees working in the non-agriculture category and establishments with assets of less than PHP30 million has a PHP373 basic pay per day.
This daily basic pay applies to minimum wage earners in the provinces of Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan, Zambales, Bataan and Nueva Ecija.
For the province of Aurora, the minimum wage rate is PHP329.
Under agriculture category, the present daily wage for plantation and non-plantation workers in Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales, are PHP350 and PHP334, respectively.
Workers in the plantation and non-plantation in Aurora, on the other hand, have PHP314 and PHP302, respectively.
Meanwhile, for the retail or service category with 16 or more workers, the wage is PHP369 and for those with less than 16 workers, it is PHP355 for the six provinces; and, PHP264 in Aurora. (Zorayda Tecson/PNA)
