Ecop says legislated wage

04/19/2008

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) rejected calls by some segments of the labor sector for congressional intervention for the granting of a legislated wage adjustment.

Ecop president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said a wage increase enacted through legislation would, in effect, spell doom for businesses in the country, especially micro, small and medium enterprises which comprise about 99 percent of total establishments or 780,469 establishments out of 783,065 establishments nationwide.

Ortiz-Luis anticipated that if lawmakers proceed in giving in to seemingly “populist demands” for a legislated wage hike, many businesses may have no choice but to trim down their workforce as a pay adjustment coupled with surging fuel prices would impact on business viability.

“Let us not court disaster. A legislated wage increase would do more harm than good as 84 percent of our workforce will not benefit from this and will further create disparity in their incomes,” Ortiz-Luis stressed.

Ortiz-Luis clarified that the business sector is not opposed to a wage increase per se but is in favor of leaving the wage issue to the present mechanism where petitions for wage adjustments go through the process of the regional tripartite wages and productivity boards (RTWPBs) and views and stance of the parties concerned are ventilated.

The wage boards are mandated by law to take into account certain factors and criteria to determine the magnitude of a wage increase which would be fair to stakeholders in the workplace, Ortiz-Luis pointed out.

Instead of riding on the wage issue, Ortiz-Luis broached the need for  lawmakers to focus on safety net measures for workers such as tax shield for minimum wage earners, as well as measures that will help improve food production.

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