On one hand are the petitions from labor groups demanding a considerable increase in pay hike after three years of stagnant minimum wage rates amid rising prices of basic goods and commodities.
Some lawmakers and labor groups are now calling for the abolition of the RTWPBs and reverting to a national wage, supposedly for failing to come out with a substantial pay hike. Ofreneo explained that such a trend is unsurprising, considering the composition of the regional wage boards. The localized negotiation is less likely to cause region wide to nationatiwide inflation, but will be much more demanding for both employers and workers.
Based on the 2017 Integrated Survey on Labor and Employment of the Philippine Statistics Authority , Sy said over half or 17,563 of the 32,288 of the surveyed firms have a productivity improvement program . “We are really facing a big challenge when it comes to using bipartite mechanisms to provide better terms and conditions of work for our workers…and yet the labor code states the primacy of bipartite mechanism as the main mode of setting better terms and conditions for work,” Sy said in a virtual press conference on Monday.
“This initiative must not only be for the department [of labor] but the entire tripartite sector since it will involve strengthening the tripartite mechanism rather than looking at minimum wage as the main policy to increase the welfare of workers,” Sy said.The practical application of productivity-based incentive schemes to minimum wage-fixing is encapsulated by NWPC’s Two-Tiered Wages System .