TABUK CITY, Kalinga – While there are no complaints regarding employers paying their employees rates below the minimum wage in Kalinga, the employment situation in the province is not good, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) regional office said.
Regional Director Exequiel Guzman said that local skilled workers are migrating to other places where the pay is better.
“We are losing our skilled workers and at the same time profits,” Guzman stated adding that the taxes of the workers are also paid in their places of work instead of in the province.
Guzman said that in an effort to keep local employers and employees alike as well as increase profits in the province, their office has been conducting jobs fairs, employment facilitation referral and the like.
Guzman along with other members of the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB), namely, vice chairman and National Economic Development Authority Regional Director Milagros Rimando, employers’ representative Juan Johny dela Cruz and workers’ representative Milton Balagtey, were here on January 10 for consultations with private employers and employees regarding the need to adjust the minimum wage.
Guzman told the participants that the duty of the RTWPB is to inform them on the economic development not just of the province of Kalinga but the whole region as well as the nation.
He also said that when the RTWPB sits down, they will see to it that CAR will have good prospects despite the problem caused by the disparity of standards of living in the provinces of the region.
He said that the board will inform both employers and employees alike of its decision.
Guzman made it clear that the board’s job is to adjust the minimum wage of employees and not set the standard of wages for everyone.
Guzman also challenged the participants to “collaborate for the improvement of our region, and for the progress of our nation.”**By Edward Joseph Gacuya
