The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in the National Capital Region has prescribed a package of wage adjustments that included the integration of the P10 cost of living allowance into the basic pay of Metro Manila workers, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III announced on Monday.
Upon its effectivity, the new minimum wage rates shall be P537, reflecting an increase in daily basic pay of P25. Non-agricultural workers in the national capital currently receive a P502 basic wage a day plus a P10 daily COLA.
In Wage Order No. NCR-22, the RTWPB also mandated that workers in the retail and service establishments employing 15 workers or less, and those in the manufacturing business that regularly employ less than 10 workers shall receive a minimum wage of P500 a day.
Bello said the order was submitted to the National Wages and Productivity Commission for validation and affirmation.
“Upon the effectivity of the Wage Order No.NCR-22, the new minimum wage rates in Metro Manila shall be P500 to P537 across different sectors,” Bello said. The new wage rates will take effect 15 days after the wage order is published in a newspaper of general circulation.
“This wage order is a product of the NCR Board’s careful study and series of tripartite consultations and public hearings. This order is meant to provide minimum wage earners in the National Capital Region the capacity to cushion the impact of higher consumer prices. This has also taken into particular consideration the economic implications of wage adjustments and their effects on business and industry,” Bello said.
National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) Executive Director Maria Criselda Sy said that the decision factored in the respective positions labor and management representatives from different industries in the national capital.
“Our primary concern is the capacity of the economy to absorb the increases in consideration with the position of both labor and management. We must always consider the impact of raising wages in the economy and its capacity to absorb the increase,” Sy said.
Sy also said the regional wage board also took into consideration the cost-push-inflationary effect wage adjustments, a situation in which the overall price levels go up due to increases in the cost of wages and raw materials.
“The new order is already 80 percent of the P667 Philippine Statistics Authority-prescribed average wage in NCR. We do not want to crowd out that 20 percent because we leave that to the collective negotiation at the enterprise level because we acknowledge the primacy of the collective negotiation or bargaining as the primary mode of setting a better terms and condition at work,” Sy added.
