Different business chambers in the Visayas regions are asking Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to implement a moratorium on all forms of wage increase because of the two calamities that recently hit the Visayas area.
The appeal came as the wage board in Central Visayas will hold a third and final public hearing this afternoon on the two pending wage increase petitions.
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) is studying the two pending petitions -the P130 wage increase pushed by the Coalition for Living Wage and the P90 increase asked by the the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).
The wage increase is not advisable for the moment after they were affected by the 7.2-magnitude quake last October 15 and supertyphoon Yolanda last November 8, stated a letter from nine business groups based in Western, Central and Eastern Visayas sent to Baldoz, who is chairperson of the National Wages and Productivity Commission.
“Relative to the mandate on minimum wage increase vis-à-vis aftermath of the recent 7.2-magnitude earthquake and supertyphoon Yolanda that struck and devastated the Visayas Region – the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Regions 6, 7 and 8 hereby appeal for a moratorium on all wage increases until all business establishments can fully recover from the mentioned catastrophes,” the letter stated.
These business chambers include those from Cebu, Mandaue, Bohol, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Iloilo and Bacolod.
The business groups said the wage increase at this time is counterproductive because of the effect of the calamities on the people and the business community.
PUBLIC HEARING
They will consider the stand of the businessmen when they deliberate on the wage increase petitions, said Labor Regional Director and RTWPB 7 chairperson Chona Mantilla.
Mantilla encouraged the different sectors such as those from the business, labor and academe to attend today’s public hearing at the Sarrosa International Hotel in Cebu City.
The board has already conducted public hearings in Bohol and Negros Oriental.
After today’s public hearing, the board will convene to deliberate and decide on the wage increase.
Arthur Barrit of ALU-TUCP said he is hopeful that the wage board will decide favorably on the wage hike petitions and that these will be more than a P20 increase. /With Correspondent Fe Marie Dumaboc