Proposed wage system to raise workers' risks, NGO says

A non-governmental organization, the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (Eiler), said the government's proposed two-tiered wage system would raise risks to workers. Anna Colina, Eiler executive director, said the proposed wage system of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) could undermine the collective bargaining agreements of various unions. “The system will erase workers’ gains in collective bargaining agreements especially on wage increases, and discredit workers’ right to collective bargaining, as productivity becomes the sole measure of any wage increase that will be implemented above anything else," she said in an article posted on the Eiler website. Earlier, the National Wages and Productivity Commission proposed a two-tiered wage system involving a basic wage hike and an added hike based on productivity. Colina said the proposed system would strip workers of their role in the wage-setting process because productivity is based on external factors such as technology, machinery, and capital investment. "DOLE’s idea to shift to a two-tiered wage system essentially makes the goal of achieving decent wages more impossible, as it places premium on productivity over decency of livelihood and workers’ survival under the declining living standards in the country." Under the current system, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) adjust the minimum wages on the basis of a wage petition or on its own. Colina said the proposal will further skew the highly varied wage levels across the nation, since productivity levels vary per region, industry and company. "The proposed system will further divide workers further not just at the regional level but also at the company level, pitting worker against worker even as living conditions essentially remain backward anywhere in the country," Colina said. “In the first place, our country generally has low productivity levels as reflected by poor economic development, ranking third among Asian countries with the lowest productivity levels. Essentially, the productivity-based wage system bodes more depressed wages for Filipino workers," she added. Colina also lamented that with the proposed labor system, workers of big companies would get higher salaries compared to their counterparts in smaller companies. “For instance, an NCR worker in a small enterprise with low productivity will receive a smaller wage hike compared to a fellow NCR worker employed in a big company, if the two-tiered system is approved. Under the current system, they stand to receive the same amount of wage increase as approved by the regional wage board," she said. Eiler also cited research indicating the two-tiered system is deemed as a failure in the United States. –VVP/RSJ, GMANews.TV