The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) assured the public on Monday, March 21, that its regional wage boards are already expediting the deliberation of wage hike petitions for workers affected by the increasing costs of basic commodities due to continuous oil price hikes.
According to National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) Executive Director Criselda Sy, there were already 10 wage hike petitions filed in six regional wage boards from National Capital Region (NCR), Region 3, 4a, 6, 7, and 8.
“We have already convened our DOLE Regional Directors and invited resource persons from critical agencies that can provide the wage boards a perspective on what is happening in the social, economic environment. These inputs given from the national level will then be disseminated on their respective regions,” Sy said in a statement, referring to the meeting held by wage boards last week.
She explained that the wage board secretariat needs to study the petitions for five days upon receiving the petitions before submitting them to the board. The board will then deliberate whether or not it will hear the proposed adjustments.
If the board decided to hear the petitions, Sy said that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) need to publish a notice of public hearing within 15 days to give stakeholders the chance to participate in deliberations.
She added that the boards would consider the effect of wage order on unemployment, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, prices of basic commodities, and inflation when determining the adjustments.
“We hope the public can understand that we do not want to derail the economic development during this pandemic period. The process for wage adjustment is not easy, and we want to get all of the sentiments of the members of the tripartite group. Although we are aware of the competing nature of this urgency, our focus is really to manage the unintended outcome of the decision of the boards,” Sy said.