Tagbilaran City, Bohol May 20 (PIA)—IN the current economic scrimp that affects both labor and management, there are workers who would settle for the P255 minimum wage as long as it is strictly enforced.
Department of Trade and Industry Regional Director Asteria Caberte shared this amidst ripened talks that workers are now goading the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) for another series of wage increase, less than a year after the board set the new increase.
Caberte, who is the RTWPB vice chair added that the board noted a common feeling across the regions that a new series of wage increase may be irrelevant if the P255 minimum wage could not be properly enforced.
It is a common belief that there the enforcement still needs improvement, Caberte said in a radio interview this week.
It is the RTWPB who sets the minimum wage but as to the implementation of and enforcement of the minimum wage set by the board, its is lodged with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The DOLE therefore is directed to direct compliance, she continued.
It is a common observation and it is not just in Bohol, she stressed.
Caberte said their consultations also show that the implementation could be weak in a sense that there are already complaints of non-compliance surfacing.
The RTWPB has been moving across the regions gathering inputs as to the laborer’s demands especially in the fluctuating prices, but hinted that there could be problems of increasing since its has been less than a year since the board recommended the last increase.
On the other hand, DTI, which has been monitoring basic commodity prices every week, said they have noticed a spike in the prices after three months.
These spike may be one of the supervening condition wherein an additional wage increase could be considered even if it would be within a year after the last board recommended pay raise was implemented, she clarified.
Meanwhile, Bohol DOLE Chief, during the recent peace and order council meeting revealed that the RTWPB may still have to fill in a vacancy in one of the sectoral representatives.
The members of the RTWPB are presidential appointees headed by the Regional director of DOLE and with the regional directors of DTI, NEDA and two representatives of the management and another two representative of the labor sector. (Rey Anthony Chiu)