A LAWMAKER on Thursday filed a proposal aimed at establishing industry-based wage standards to eliminate unfair pay gaps among workers performing the same jobs in different regions.
Party-list Rep. Elijah San Fernando of Kamanggagawa filed House Bill 5678, or the Fair Industry Wages bill, to complement the National Minimum Wage bill (HB 94)-both designed to uphold living wages and wage justice.
‘Workers’ livelihoods should not depend on where they were born or where they live,’ San Fernando said. ‘Same work, same pay-not different wages just because of a zip code. Through industry-based wages, we align pay with the value of work, not location.’
San Fernando explained that both the Fair Industry Wages bill and the earlier-filed National Minimum Wage bill (HB 94) build on Kamanggagawa’s campaign for living wages and wage justice and are designed to complement one another.
‘While the National Minimum Wage bill sets the minimum rate, the Fair Industry Wages bill ensures that every industry builds upward from that floor: fairly, transparently, and based on real economic value. The existing regional wage mechanism locks provincial workers in low-wage cycles while prices and profits continue to soar. These bills seek to fix that,’ he said.
Under HB 5678, wage-setting authority will shift from regional wage boards to Industrial Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards (ITWPBs) organized per industry. Each board will be composed of representatives from the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), employers, and workers’ organizations within the same industry, ensuring a balanced and participatory approach to wage determination.
These boards will be tasked to formulate industry-specific minimum wage standards based on productivity, enterprise classification, and cost of living; recommend productivity-based incentive schemes to encourage fair wage progression; conduct periodic industry wage reviews to reflect inflation, sectoral growth, and profit trends; and ensure that no worker earns below the statutory national minimum wage, as set under HB 94.
The bill also mandates Dole, in consultation with Department of Planning, Economy and Development (DEPDev) and the Philippine Statistics Authority, to develop a National Wage and Productivity Index that serves as a data-driven basis for industry-level wage adjustments.
San Fernando said the measure will ‘create a fairer and more rational wage structure’ that rewards skill, productivity, and contribution, instead of being arbitrarily determined by location or political influence.
San Fernando also called for a national shift in how the country values labor: ‘The time has come to rebuild the economy around the dignity of work-not cheap labor, but just wages. True progress is not measured by stock market gains or GDP growth, but by whether workers can live decently from their labor.’