RTWPB sets aside wage hike in Cordillera

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The Cordillera Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWBP) here decided to hold in abeyance the granting of a wage increase for daily wage earners in the region because of the absence of a supervening event that could warrant the same to come out with a new wage order even before the lapse of the mandatory one year period when a previous wage order was implemented.

The board decided to set aside the petition filed by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) for an P80 daily wage increase for workers in the private sector around the region since the members could not decide whether or not to declare a supervening event that will mandate the mandatory wage increase.

The law mandates the grant of a wage increase to deserving workers even within the one year period since the implementation of a previous wage increase if there is a so-called supervening event which is solely characterized by a sudden increase in the inflation rate to double digit.

Last January, the RTWPB-Car approved the implementation of an additional P12 Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) to the minimum wage of workers which increased the prevailing daily wage in the region from P260 to P272 per day. –DEXTER A. SEE, Manila Bulletin