A Bayan Negros official yesterday said the compliance by management with the October 2007 wage order implemented in Western Visayas is much lower than the findings of a Department of Labor and Employment partial survey.

Labor Regional Director Aida Estabillo Thursday said a recent survey conducted by the DOLE on 97 Western Visayas establishments shows a 72 percent compliance with the wage order implemented in October last year.

She said inspections are being conducted to ensure compliance with the wage order

But BAYAN Negros secretary general Felipe Levy Gelle claimed the DOLE bureaucrats manipulate the figures to project a good image.

Sales girls in a department store in Bacolod receive P100 to 120 for eight hours of work, and sugar workers receive much lower at P80, he said.

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board last year approved a wage increase for Western Visayas ranging from P13 to P41 that took effect in October, Estabillo said.

Under last year’s wage hike P13 a day was granted to those receiving wages of P222 a day.

The P41 hike was granted to those receiving wages of P194 on a staggered basis. The first P15 daily wage increase took effect on the effectivity of the order in October, another P15 after six months and P11 is to be given on Sept. 30, 2008.

Meanwhile, Roberto Montelibano, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said like the provincial government officials and the Church he agrees with the call for employers to set aside a portion of their land for the food needs of their employees.*CPG

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