RTWPB awaits NWPC to start wage hike hearing

CEBU, Philippines - A confirmation from the National Wages and Productivity Commission on the declaration of supervening condition in Central Visayas by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-7 is needed before the board can start deliberating the two pending petitions for wage hike.

The clarification was issued yesterday by RTWPB-7 legal counsel Glenn Tabon.

Tabon said it is not automatic that the pending wage petitions will be deliberated upon by the members of the board following the declaration of the supervening condition.

He said the NWPC has to confirm first the declaration before a public hearing can be set for the wage hike petitions.

Tabon said the RTWPB-7 has initially set to conduct the public hearing on August 15. This will however depend on how soon the confirmation from the NPWC would come. Tabon however said that the members of the NWPC are scheduled to meet next week.

So far there are two pending wage petitions for RTWPB-7 to consider. One was filed by the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Congress of the Philippines seeking for a P100 across the board daily wage increase for workers in Central Visayas.

The other one was filed by the Alliance of Progressive Labor seeking P120 across the board increase. The amounts petitioned upon, however, are not likely to be approved because of the perceived anti-labor stand of the majority of the members of the board.

In fact, even the determination of the so-called “supervening condition” was strongly debated by the seven members of the board. — (FREEMAN)