TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol May 14 (PIA) --Picking on the glaring absence of major employers in Bohol during the recent wage consultation, Central Visayas trade director wished "their absence is not because they do not pay right."
In Bohol, there have been allegations that leading employers: business establishments in Tagbilaran do not pay right, the pay is way below P310 minimum wage as ordered.
Allegations of how employees are forced to sign two sets of payrolls, and are scrimped in their benefits abound, but the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has still to receive complaints of the sort, updates German Guidaben, local DOLE officer in charge.
But, Boholana Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regional director Asteria Caberte, who has been an aggressive in keeping industrial peace in the region openly said she is missing some people at the gathering.
Be responsible, the out-spoken multi-awarded government chief executive dared as she also urged DOLE to do serious implementation of the wage order in Bohol.
At the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) wage consultation at the Jjs Seafoods Village Thursday, DOLE regional director Exequiel Sarcauga also shared knowledge that one resort here that pays only P290, instead of the mandated P310 minimum in Bohol.
Even for an average family of 5, P290 means P19.00 per meal budget for each family member.
Where would the family seek money for education and budget for medicines? Sarcauga asked those present at the wage consultation as he computed from the pay shortchange.
The RTWPB is an attached agency of the DOLE and is mandated to prescribe the minimum wage rates for all private enterprise workers in the region. The rate must not be below the wage as determined by law, according to the RTWPB website.
The RTWPB also seeks ways to promote productivity improvement programs, thus it is mandated to inquire and validate conditions affecting wages in a region so they can fix wages with or without petition.
Aside from data gathered in consultations like this, the RTWPB also studies facts and research findings, and the public hearing set is among the many ways to fix wage rates, DOLE said.
RTWPB uses demand for living wages, the Consumer Price Index, cost of living, needs of workers and their families, the need to induce industries to invest in the countryside, improvements in standards of living, prevailing wage levels, fair return of the capital invested and capacity to pay of employers, effects on employment generation and family income as well as equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic social development as their basis for wage adjustments.
As mandated too, RTWPB rounds the region's provinces and within 30 days from the date of the last public hearing, the Board is required to issue a wage order.
Generally, wage boards can issue wage order within 90 days but only for once a year unless regional conditions warrant otherwise as determined by them.
A wage order takes effect 15 days from its complete publication in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the region. (rac/PIA-7Bohol/PR)
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