DOLE: 2-tiered wage system gaining employers' support

A proposed two-tiered wage mechanism is gaining support from employers' groups, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said over the weekend. DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said regional wage boards are also conducting consultations with labor and employer groups to fine-tune the mechanism. “The consultative meetings aim to pursue higher wages based on performance and productivity, and eliminate vulnerability among the working poor," she said in an article posted on the DOLE website late Friday. Under the two-tiered system, government will set a fixed wage for workers, with an added wage depending on the worker's productivity. The DOLE cited that employers from the Ilocos region were among the latest to express support for the mechanism. A report from DOLE-Region I Director Henry Jalbuena said the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines-Philippine Chamber of Commerce, Inc. (ECOP-PCCI)-Pangasinan "strongly supports" the two-tiered wage system proposed by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC). Baldoz said a two-tiered wage policy reform can be initiated within the present system of wage fixing under the Wage Rationalization Act. Under the law, regional wage boards can set the minimum or floor wage rates in the region along industry lines, and promote productivity improvement at all levels. Also, Baldoz said the consultations complement a key item in President Benigno Aquino III's 22-point labor agenda, which seeks to align the country’s labor policies with international treaties and the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions. In his report, Director Jalbuena said ECOP-PCCI advocated the adoption of a firm-level productivity improvement program and gain-sharing mechanism as a primary step to realize the goals of the proposed two-tiered wage policy. Jalbuena added that ECOP-PCCI recommended linking wages and productivity and using enterprise productivity-based approach in determining wages above the minimum. ECOP-PCCI also recommended the review of present minimum wage fixing mechanism and pushed for the assessment of the prevailing Productivity Incentives Act or RA6971, to initiate improvements that would encourage both labor and management to adopt and implement productivity enhancement programs and gain-sharing mechanisms. Jalbuena said the adoption of such measures would translate into positive and sustainable business outcomes. — LBG, GMANews.TV