Press Release
April 15, 2008

CHIZ WANTS RELEASE OF REGIONAL WAGE HIKE ORDERS BEFORE LABOR DAY
He says it should be coupled with the strict implementation of the prevailing rates to blunt escalating prices

Senator Chiz Escudero backs the release of regional wage hike orders which should be coupled with the strict implementation of prevailing rates before Labor Day "so the wage erosion caused by rising rice prices which in low-income households account for a third of food expenses can be blunted."

He rejected proposals by some employers to negotiate wage increased through Collective Bargaining Agreements.

"That is not the route because only 1.8 million out of the country's 33.7 million labor force are unionized and of union members less than 300,000 of them are covered by CBAs. A wage order will benefit those without the backing of union muscle "he said.

Escudero said enforcing wage orders should go hand-in-hand with the move to raise the minimum daily wage, Escudero said today as he noted the alarming level of non-compliance of salary laws in the private sector.

"What's the use of a wage hike order if it can't be implemented? " Escudero said in citing the equal need to "adopt new wage rates and to apply them later."

Escudero said close to 18 percent of the 19,256 firms inspected by Department of Labor and Employment in 2006 were found in violation of the minimum wage law.

In addition, 10 percent and nine percent of the inspected firms either underpaid or did not pay their employees the "cost of living allowance" and 13th month pay , both of which are mandatory .

Due to the regionalized wage-setting process, the legal minimum wage varies by region, with the highest at P362 per day for non-agriculture workers in Metro Manila to as low as P180 a day for non-plantation agriculture workers in Western Visayas.

Escudero said labor laws actually allow small and distressed companies to seek exemption from wage hike orders "and for employers this must be the proper way of seeking exemption, which they can pursue if the application has merit."

"Financially hard up companies should follow the process and not unilaterally deny their workers the pay they deserve under the law, "Escudero said.

Escudero said rising food prices have made a wage hike "imperative"

The value of P1 in 2000 was already 68 centavos even before the rise in the price of rice, he said. "Inflation has stolen a part of the value of wages and part of it can be recovered through a wage hike."

He urged the DOLE to deploy more labor inspectors especially to small firms as 730,000 out of the 783,000 registered companies in the country employ 10 workers or less.

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