Labor union seeks P90 wage increase

CEBU, Philippines -  The Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) has filed a P90 daily wage increase for all workers in Central Visayas.

In a petition before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RWPB) 7, the group said all workers, those receiving the minimum and above the minimum wage, are disadvantaged by price wage developments - are subject to the same prices in the market and the same increases in prices of commodities.

"The P90 daily increase is essential if workers are to cope with the increasing prices of commodities and cost of living, if they are to meet the basic needs of their families, even if only partially, and if the country is to give meaning and substance to the policy of equitable distribution of income and wealth," the petition reads.

The petition added that workers and their families, despite gains in the economy and productivity, have not been granted a single peso in real wage increase since 1989.

It added that due to the continuing increases in deregulated oil prices, automatic adjustments in rates of utilities (electricity, water), and the resulting general increases in prices, among others, consumer prices are expected to rise further by another nine percent, something that would require an additional adjustment in wages.

The increase is needed not only to keep their wages in step with price increases but also for workers to improve their standard of living.

"Workers have not raised their living standards for living while other sectors have accumulated more and more of the country's income and wealth," the petition reads.

ALU-TUCP, the country's biggest labor federation, said workers have done their share in improving the standards of living in the country, but the workers' own standard of living, have not improved.

"It is about time that overall improvements in standards of living in Region VII be reflected in real gains in the minimum wage," the petition reads.

Early this month, the labor groups, who recently formed the Living Wage Coalition-Cebu, filed a P132 daily wage adjustment for all workers in the region.

Metodio Belarmino, spokesperson of Cebu Labor Coalition, earlier presented statistics to back their petition. He said that if their demand for a P132 across-the-board wage adjustment to the present minimum wage of P347 is granted, it will only raise the minimum wage to P459 per day in Metro Cebu.

Among the grounds cited for the P132 wage hike petition are the insufficient increases from the past, the reduction of the purchasing power of the peso, oil price hike, inflation rate, increases in the prices of basic commodities, tuition fee, power rate, and living wage.

The presentation, dubbed as "rationale for the wage adjustment," argued that every year prices of basic commodities soar and cripple the purchasing power of the workers.

"This has eroded the real wages of workers making it necessary to adjust the minimum wage to meet the basic needs of workers and their families. In real terms, the P327.00 minimum wage is only P241.98," the petition reads further. — (FREEMAN)