CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Central Luzon’s Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has approved a P13 increase in the daily basic pay of workers in the region.
“The increase will become effective 15 days from its publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the region,” the RTWPB announced here yesterday. The new minimum wage in the provinces of Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales will range from P342 to P349 for workers in the non-agriculture sector, P303 to P319 for workers in the agriculture sector, and P324 to P338 for workers in retail and service establishments.
In Aurora, the new minimum wage will be P298 for non-agriculture workers, P271 to P283 for agriculture workers, and P228 for workers in retail/service establishments per day. “The new wage order allows financially distressed establishments, retail and service establishments employing not more than 10 workers and establishments affected by natural and human-induced calamities to apply for exemption from the payment of minimum wages,” the RTWPB added.
Covered by the new wage order are minimum wage workers and employees in the private sector, regardless of position, designation or status of employment, and irrespective of the method by which wages are paid. The RTWPB noted, however, that the wage hike does not cover household or domestic workers and persons employed in the personal service of another, including family drivers and workers of Barangay Micro Business Enterprises with Certificates of Authority.
Among the factors considered by the RTWPB in adjusting minimum wages include the region’s poverty threshold, average wage, and impact of changes in the consumer price index or the inflation rate and on workers’ purchasing power.
The increase came after the Indo-Phil Textile Workers’ Union-Philippine Trade and General Workers’ Organization filed a petition last May 20 for the wage increase, citing increases in prices of basic goods and services. Even before the petition, the RTWPB had already conducted a series of consultations in all seven provinces in Central Luzon and saw justification for the wage hike.
