Aquino urged to stop introducing another wage freeze scheme
“Under the new wage system, companies get more freedom to tinker with
workers’ wages in the guise of raising productivity levels.” – EILER
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – In a country where the working people’s real minimum pay has
flattened over the past decade (see chart from Ibon Phils.), a new wage
system about to be introduced by the government is currently spooking
labor advocates.
Given that the Philippines already has hundreds of minimum wage
levels nationwide, not to mention that a fifth or more of inspected
establishments are, on the average, reported as not paying the
prescribed minimum wages, plus, there are exemptions granted for some
establishments in paying the minimum wages, more wage levels seem to be
still in the works.
In another looming wage system, another tier will be added to
regional (and sometimes provincial) minimum wages, which also
differentiate rates between agricultural and non-agricultural workers,
plantation and non-plantation.
The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER), a
labor think tank, cautioned the Department of Labor and Employment
(DOLE) and business groups against pushing the two-tiered wage system,
saying it could pull down the already meager incomes of Filipino workers
instead of raising compensation levels.
Chart courtesy of Ibon Phils.
The Region IV-A wage board has recently granted a P2 to P90 ($2.13) wage increase with “productivity allowance,” a mode which EILER warns as a “transition to the new wage system that is primarily based on productivity.”.... MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/05/04/aquino-urged-to-stop-introducing-another-wage-freeze-scheme/