Calabarzon workers get P18 wage hike

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz

   Good labor day news for minimum wage earners in Region 4-A or Calabarzon (Cavite,Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon)!

   The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is now implementing the P18 raise on daily minimum wage and the P12.50 daily productivity allowance in Calabarzon under the two-tier wage system, a new scheme the labor department is pilot-testing in the region.

   Under the new wage order that the labor department announced Monday, the highest minimum wage rate, which is Tier 1, is set at P349.50 in non-agriculture establishments; P324.50 in agriculture-plantation (for example, sugarcane plantations); P304.50 in agriculture nonplantation or farms under 24 hectares; and P250 in the retail and service sector.

   That means an additional P12.50 for workers in the nonagriculture sector; P5-P18 in the agricultural plantation; P9-P18 in agricultural nonplantation; and P18 per day in the retail and service establishments.

   “The amount adjustment is to uplift the standards of living of workers. A wage level that takes into account the region’s poverty threshold, average wage and related socio-economic parameters,” the DOLE said in a statement.

   Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board approved the wage hike for workers in privates establishments in Calabarzon.

   The salary increase takes effect on May 15. 

   The new wage order grants an adjustment in the basic pay of minimum wage earners by as much as P18 per day, especially those below the floor wage of P255 per day.

   With the new wage order, the highest minimum wage will be set at P349.50 per day in non-agriculture establishments.

   For those in the retail and service establishments employing not more than 10 workers, the increase will be P18 per day.

   Those working in the agriculture sector, will get an increase of between P5 and P18 per day.

   The productivity-based allowance, or Tier 2, is set at P12.50 per day for those earning P255 a day and above. This amount could go higher depending on the productivity improvement and incentives committee (PIIC), which is composed of both the management and workers’ representatives.

   But according to Rovelinda dela Rosa, secretary of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board, not all companies have the PIIC yet asthey have to form it within three months from May 15.

   Baldoz added that the wage adjustments are granted in keeping with the policy of uplifting the standards of living of workers to the level of a set floor wage, a wage level that takes into account the region’s poverty threshold, average wages, and related socio-economic parameters.