DOLE says minimum wage in CV still low

The Department of Labor and Employment admitted that the daily wage in Central Visayas is low if it would be based on the ideal daily living wage for a family of six.

DOLE regional director Rodolfo Sabulao said the present P223 daily minimum wage is still low because the ideal living wage for the family of six in the region is P654 based on the recent survey conducted by the National Wages and Productivity Board.

Because of this, Sabulao said there should be at least three family members who are working to support a family with six.

The August 2005 data of the National Wages and Productivity Commission showed that in Central Visayas, a family of six spends P171 a day for food, P423 for non-food expenditures like fare, electricity and water bills, etc. and 10 percent of total expenditure for savings.

NWPC said "living wage" is defined as the amount of family income needed for the family's food and non-food expenditures with sufficient allowance for savings/ investments for social security so as to enable the family to live.

Sabulao said the workers could file for petition for wage increase at the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board, in which he sits as chairman.

Although the wage board is not allowed to grant two rounds of wage increase in the year, he said that they are open to accept petition from labor groups.

He said there is an exception that if "there is supervening events" such as oil price hikes, the board can order for a salary increase.

But at present, he said they have not received any petition for wage hike. The RTWPB granted wage increase to workers in the region last May 27 from P208 to P223 a month.

However, labor groups representatives have been seeking for higher wage because the P223 a day minimum wage is not even half of the family living wage, especially now that prices of oil products are incessantly increasing. - Wenna A. Berondo