Metro workers to get P30 COLA

The government has approved a P30-emergency cost of living allowance (ECOLA) for workers in Metro Manila, acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson announced yesterday.

Imson said the financial grant, to be implemented in two stages, was ratified by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) through Wage Order No. 9.

Labor officials said the new ECOLA was the "best package"the government could give given the prevailing economic conditions.

It will be implemented in two stages, the first P15 to be granted effective Nov. 5, while the remaining P15 will take effect on Feb. 1 next year.

The amount will not be taxable and would not be included in the workers’ basic pay.

Workers in other regions nationwide are also expected to get similar benefits soon as the various RTWPBs were currently deliberating on the pay hike petitions filed by labor unions.

Imson said the new ECOLA will benefit the wage earners receiving not more than P290 a day.

Exempted from implementing the new ECOLAs were small and medium enterprises, or companies employing not more than 10 people, as well as financially-distressed firms.

Meanwhile, the National Wages and Productivity Commission is set to draw up the guidelines for employers to avail themselves of the exemptions from the new ECOLA.

Organized labor has been batting for a P125 across-the-board increase in the daily wage rate to cushion the impact of negative economic forces on the wage earners, including rising cost of basic commodities.

Militant labor federations expressed dissatisfaction over the new ECOLA, branding it "measly, but better than nothing."

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the amount was not even half of their demand for P77 adjustment.

"We are not happy about it, but we will accept it, putting into consideration the prevailing economic crisis in the country," TUCP spokesman Alex Aguilar said.

He said workers were already apprehensive that if a wage hike is not granted this year, they will never get one as the economy was expected to be even worse next year.

Employers were pushing for the deferment of the wage increase until next year, claiming that any salary hikes will trigger massive retrenchments. – Mayen Jaymalin