Minimum wage earners in Central Luzon will receive an additional increase in their daily pay effective January 1 next year.
This, after the National Wage and Productivity Commission (NWPC) affirmed the newest wage order by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-3 (RTWPB 3) that raises by PHP20 per day the minimum wage in Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales and Aurora.
Under Wage Order RB III-22, the new rate will apply to minimum wage earners or workers and employees in the private sector in Central Luzon regardless of position, designation, or status of employment and irrespective of the method by which their wages are paid.
However, those who are not covered in the said wage order are household or domestic helpers and persons employed in the personal service of another, including family drivers and workers of Barangay Micro Business Enterprises with Certificate of Authority, pursuant to Republic Act 9178.
“We are happy to inform our workers all over the region that a new minimum wage is taking effect January next year. This means that the additional daily wage increase will enable them to provide more take home pay for their families,” DOLE Regional Director Zenaida Angara-Campita, who chairs the RTWPB-3, said.
Under the new wage order, minimum earners in Central Luzon in the non-agriculture category and establishment with total assets of PHP30 million or more will receive a PHP420 basic pay per day.
On the other hand, employees working in the non-agriculture category and establishments with assets of less than PHP30 million will have a PHP413 basic pay per day.
This new wage hike adjustment applies for minimum wage earners in the provinces of Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan, Zambales, Bataan and Nueva Ecija.
For the province of Aurora, the daily minimum wage will be PHP369.
Under the agriculture category, the new wage hike for plantation and non-plantation workers in Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales, will be PHP390 and PHP374, respectively.
Workers in the plantation and non-plantation in Aurora, on the other hand, will be PHP354 and PHP342, respectively.
Meanwhile, for the retail or service category, with 16 or more workers — PHP409 and with less than 16 workers — PHP395, for both six provinces; and PHP304 in Aurora.
The new wage order is a result of the RTWPB 3’s consultations with labor and management representatives from different industries in most parts of the region.
The regional public hearing was held in Pampanga last September 20.
The RTWPB saw the need to help workers in the region to cope up with the rising cost of living and at the same time, promote the productivity of business enterprises as providers of employment opportunities.
“The Board deemed it just and equitable to increase the minimum wage, considering the amount needed to restore the purchasing power of the workers’ wages, the need to share the fruits of the regional economic growth and development and further intensify the promotion for the installation of the productivity-based incentive schemes under the Two-Tiered Wage System,” the RTWPB 3 said.
In issuing the wage order, the RTWPB 3 has encouraged establishments to adopt productivity improvement schemes, such as time and motion studies, good housekeeping, quality circles, and labor management cooperation, as well as to implement gain sharing programs.
The RTWPB added that any person, corporation, trust or firm, partnership, association, or entity which refuses or fails to pay the prescribed wage rates in accordance with Wage Order RB III-22 shall be subject to penal provisions under Republic Act 6727, or the Minimum Wage Fixing Law. (PNA)
