Wage board reviews wage levels in Ilocos region

By Cherry Joy Discaya-Garma

PIA-Ilocos Norte

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board has started reviewing current wage levels in the Ilocos region despite the absence of a petition for wage increase from the labor sector.

Lawyer Rio Ariel Soriano of the RTWPB said the wage review was prompted by a Department of Labor and Employment directive for a review of the last wage order.

“The basic procedure is that after a year of the last issuance of wage order, there must be a petition from the laborer sector for a public hearing on wage increase. But since there was none, the DOLE initiated one,” Soriano said.

Current daily minimum wage in Region 1 ranges from P205, P223, P244 and P253 depending on the type of businesses.

The last wage order was issued more than a year ago.

Committee chair and DOLE Regional Director Grace Y. Ursua said the review on the last wage order is in response to the increasing prices of basic commodities and workers’ needs

“Public hearing (paves the way) for the interaction of labor and management and the balancing of interest between the workers’ needs and the capacity of the employers to pay,” Ursua said.

"A minimum of 90 days from hearing is given to the Regional Boards to decide on whether or not to increase the minimum wage, in what amount and form, the period includes publication and for counter petition, if any," Soriano said.

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