Cebu City – Business groups in Cebu have submitted a petition for a moratorium on wage increase in Central Visayas, while the labor representative to the wage board said workers badly need the increase. Both cited the recent tragedies as reason.
Lawyer Ernesto Carreon, who sits as the labor sector representative at the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 7, said the labor groups have submitted their request for a moratorium on the wage increase to the central office of the Department of Labor and Employment. The request came from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other business groups in the region.
Carreon said the traders used the recent calamities as basis for not supporting the call for an increase in minimum wages, which he deemed inapproriate considering that most of the calamity-affected areas are in Region 8.
“In fact, Cebu traders benefitted from the calamities because people from affected areas went to Cebu to buy goods,” Carreon told reporters yesterday.
Carreon said he and labor leaders in Cebu are ready to face business leaders in a debate to prove that workers in Central Visayas, which have seen continous rise in basic goods, need to have their wages increased.
The wage board is in the process of the discussing the two petitions filed by the labor groups in Central Visayas. The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) is seeking a P130 daily wage increase while the Associated Labor Union – Trade Union Congress of Philippines (ALU-TUCP) is asking for a P90 per day wage increase.
“I believe the series of increases in the prices of fuel and basic commodities will weigh heavily on the decision in favor of the wage increase,” said Carreon.
Another labor sector representative, Jose Tumongha, threatened to resign from the wage board should the increase is lower than what is being asked by the labor groups.
It has already been one year after the last increase was approved and another labor sector representative, Ernesto Carreon, said the wage board will no longer discuss whether or not there is a supervening condition that would warrant the approval of a wage increase.
Under the rules, wage boards are not allowed to adjust worker’s salaries for a year after the last increase unless they find the presence of supervening conditions.
“The one year period lapsed December 8 and the labor groups have agreed to wait until the expiration of the one year period so we won’t have to argue with the management sector on whether or not there is a presence of supervening condition,” said Careon.
Careon said Central Visayas workers will have to wait until this month for the announcement of a wage increase, if there is any.

Source: Manila Bulletin - January 4, 2014