Mall owners’ input on wage increase issue sought

CEBU CITY – Before acting on two different petitions for a wage increase in the Central Visayas region, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 7 is set to hear the side of department store owners and similar businesses on the impending salary increase issue.

RTWPB Chairman and Department of Labor and Employment 7 Director Elias Cayanong said members of the RTWPB will meet this week to schedule a meeting with department stores representatives and get their inputs on the P100 and P128.60 wage increase petitions.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has filed a P100 across-the-board wage increase while the Cebu Labor Coalition proposed a P128.60 increase in wages.

The TUCP filed its petition in view of the increasing prices of goods, fuel, and basic commodities.

TUCP party-list representative Raymund Mendoza told reporters that it has been two years since the RTWPB increased the minimum wage in Metro Cebu from P250 to P267 per day.

“A wage increase is badly needed with the rising prices of common food items, gas pump prices, and basic commodities,” he said.

Mendoza pointed out that in 2009, no wage increase was sought because of the global crisis. But with the increasing prices of basic commodities today, there is a need for another wage hike, he stressed.

He also said that the TUCP will also ask the wage board to review the salaries of househelpers, citing that some of them only receive P500, P800 or P1,000 a month salary.

The Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), however, warned the labor group that another round of increase will surely hurt businesses as the economy has not yet fully bounced back to life.

Instead, MCCI President Eric Mendoza urged Government to focus more on improving job competitiveness and skills training to give workers more job options instead of increasing the minimum wage.

Sammy Chioson, President of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that increasing wages at this point would only result in the retrenchment of many workers. –MARS W. MOSQUEDA JR., Manila Bulletin