THE Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Western Visayas approved on Thursday, May 12, a P55 to P110 per day salary hike for minimum wage workers in the region.Wennie Sancho, labor representative to the RTWPB-Western Visayas, said commercial and industrial or non-agricultural workers will be receiving P450 per day under Wage Order 26, or an increase of P55 from the existing rate of P395 per day.For those working in the establishments employing 10 workers or less, the approved wage increase is P110 per day. This means that from P310, the daily minimum wage in this category will be P420.Sancho, also the secretary general of the General Alliance of Workers Associations (Gawa), said that for the agricultural sector, workers will receive a P95 per day increase.So from the existing rate of P315, the new rate is P410 per day.”The new wage rate is now subject to the review and approval of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC),” he said, adding that the effectivity of the new wage order will be 15 days after its publication.Hopefully, it will take effect by the end of May this year, Sancho said.The labor leader said that by experience, the NWPC would usually have revisions on the semantics and legal terms used in the wage order but not on the approved amount of increase.”It is good as approved [by the NWPC] already unless there are oppositions from the management,” Sancho said, stressing that they can no longer question the new wage order once its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) are already signed by the secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).It can be recalled that the last wage order took effect in 2019. It provided a P15 to P30 per day hike for private sector workers in Western Visayas.Under Wage Order 25, a P15 cost of living allowance (Cola) was also given for workers in the non-agriculture sector.Earlier this year, Negros Occidental-based labor group Fishta Union of Employees for Reforms Through Solidarity Actions (Fuersa-Super) filed a petition for a P355 daily minimum wage hike in the region.Sancho said there was no debate on whether to implement a salary hike “as there’s no option but to give the increase.”What the members of the wage board had deliberated is on the amount, on how much should be given, Sancho said.For him, the 14 percent increase on the wage of commercial and industrial sector workers is “not substantial and just enough to keep the head of the workers above the water amid the economic slump.”But for the two other categories, the P95 to 110 increase is substantial and appropriate, Sancho said.”Other labor groups might not agree on the result of the deliberation but we have tried our best to raise the salary of the workers,” he said, adding that “we don’t want to stall the wage hike as this is badly needed by the workers at this point in time.”Meanwhile, the RTWPB-Western Visayas also approved the new wage rate for kasambahays or domestic helpers in the region.From the previous P4,000 monthly, they will now be receiving P4,500 or an increase of P500 per month.