Similar to the broad unity forged in the
fight to end endo, different labor groups are now raising a common demand for a
national minimum wage. The change in wage fixing from regional to national will
be facilitated by a Presidential Executive Order directing the Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE) to review and amend RA 6727 or the Wage
Rationalization Act of 1989.
The Executive Order should direct the
DOLE to draft a new wage fixing bill after consultation with labor, employers
and other sectors. The bill should then be certified urgent to Congress by the
President.
This effort will pave the way for the
realization of PDigong’s promise to labor in their dialogue to end what he
termed as “provincial rates” of worker’s wages.
RA 6727 and its implementing rules and
regulations sets the minimum wage rates by region through the establishment of
regional wage boards and a criteria for the determination of the amount of wage
increases.
Left alone, the regional wage boards cannot
satisfy the demand of workers for a substantial and uniform increase in the
minimum wage as demanded by different labor groups. Historically, for almost
three decades, the wage boards have granted minimum wage hikes that are less
than PhP 1,000 per month. This is a far cry from what is needed today to
augment the lives of low income workers gravely affected by the rising cost of
living.
The root of this cheap labor policy is
that regional wage boards base their determination of minimum wage increases on
employers’ capacity to pay instead on the prevailing cost of living and living
wage.
Meanwhile, aside from ordering the wage
boards to motu proprio conduct public hearings, the President should clarify
that they should base their determination for a minimum wage increase on the
prevailing cost of living and living wage.
May 28, 2018
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