ON the heels of its dismissal of the wage petition of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the National Capital Region (NCR) wage board yesterday said it has given due course to three other bids to increase the minimum pay rate in Metro Manila.
In a virtual press briefing, Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) – NCR chair Sarah Mirasol said they have acted on the separate wage petitions of Unity for Wage Increase Now (UWIN), Metro East Labor Federation, and Solidarity of Unions in the Philippines for Empowerment and Reforms (SUPER).
“Upon review, we issued a resolution to consolidate the three petitions, and we will proceed with the consultations as well as public hearing,” Mirasol said.
Mirasol said their petitions range from P213 to P250 wage hikes.
This, she said, means that the NCR wage board will be able to set the public consultation and hearing on May 5.
“This is the best we can do. Of course, we cannot disregard the rules, wherein we have to publish the notice of public hearing,” explained the concurrent NCR Director of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
“We are very mindful of the period within which to conduct public hearings. As much as possible, we try to be mindful that we won’t reach 45 days,” added Mirasol.
She also noted that the TUCP has refiled its wage petition, this time sans the bid for an across-the-board wage hike.
Mirasol said this amendment will most likely result to the petition also being given due course.
“We have just received yesterday another petition from TUCP. This petition for wage increase, we will act on it on April 8 since we have a board meeting,” she related.
“It appears that the petition is not for across-the-board, and we might consider it. But we must convene first and discuss the petition of TUCP again,” added Mirasol.
The TUCP on Monday said their wage petition amounting to P470 has been dismissed by the RTWPB-NCR.
