The regional wage board is now considering a P1,500 monthly wage increase for household service workers (HSW) in Metro Manila.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III announced the proposed raise was contained in the draft wage order of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR).
He lamented this was still below his expectation that the new wage adjustment will raise daily minimum-wage rates in NCR from P3,500 to P6,000, or an increase of P2,500.
“I think if you could hire a household service worker, you can pay them P6,000. But I cannot dictate this to the regional tripartite wage board, which recommended for a P1,500,” Bello said.
If approved, the new daily minimum-wage rate for HSWs in NCR will be pegged at P5,000, considered as the highest rate nationwide.
The RTWPB-NCR earlier said it will hold a meeting on November 28 to deliberate the final amount of the possible minimum-wage hike for HSWs in its jurisdiction.
Once the RTWPB-NCR wraps its deliberation, it will then submit its new wage order to the National Wages Productivity Commission (NWPC) for consideration.
“The commission cannot change the decision of the board [RTWPB-NCR]. What the commission will do is to check if the provision of the wage order is compliant with the law,” Labor Undersecretary Ana C. Dione said.
Under process
IN a related development, Dione said the RTWPB-NCR is not likely to complete its deliberation for the possible pay hike for minimum-wage earners in Metro Manila within the year.
This, she said, was because the RTWPB-NCR only started accepting new wage petitions last week after the anniversary date of its previous wage order.
RTWPBs cannot adjust wage rates in their respective jurisdiction more than once within the year unless it could identify a supervening condition.
“I doubt it [minimum-wage hike] will be in 2019 since they have yet to start with the deliberation process,” Dione said.
It usually takes several weeks before a RTWPB comes out with a wager order since it has to conduct stakeholder consultations, public hearings, and board deliberations for it.
As of Monday, RTWPB-NCR already received the unified wage petitions from Unity for Wage Increase asking for a P213 minimum-wage hike.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) immediately thumbed down the proposal, saying it was too expensive for employers.
Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) slammed Ecop for opposing the wage petition, which it said is justified.
“Minimum wage in NCR is very low to start with, and has been prevented from substantially increasing throughout the years. And the culprit behind that is Ecop itself,” KMU Secretary-General Jerome Adonis said in a statement.
Historically, minimum wage hike in NCR only range between P8 to P56.