TUCP presses P50 wage hike

CEBU CITY — The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said yesterday it would press for a P50 across-the-board increase in the minimum wage as part of the Labor Day package it intends to seek from the government.

The TUCP came under fire here from the left-leaning Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), which is demanding a P125 increase in the daily minimum wage under proposed legislation being backed in Congress by the Bayan Muna party-list representatives.

In her speech here Saturday, President Arroyo hailed the TUCP and the Association of Labor Unions (ALU) as labor movements which truly promote and support the welfare and interest of their worker-members by not making "unreasonable" demands.

"As a group, the ALU and TUCP will not make unreasonable wage demands," the President said. "What you like is to create more jobs and not to lose jobs."

"Your understanding of the world situation, the regional situation and your responsible response to that situation is what makes a difference from the 150,000 jobs a year of (ousted) President (Joseph) Estrada to the 1.1 million jobs a year of President Arroyo," she added.

The President made these statements after the ALU-TUCP signed a manifesto of support for the President’s candidacy during their 50th anniversary celebrated at the Cebu Waterfront hotel in Lahug town.

Both the ALU and TUCP are seeking congressional seats under the party-list system and have been declared "coalition partners" by the President.

Meanwhile, former senator Ernesto Herrera, who is taking another shot at a Senate seat in the May 10 elections under the banner of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), denied that the TUCP and ALU have endorsed Mrs. Arroyo’s bid for a full, six-year term.

Herrera is the secretary-general of the TUCP and is concurrently ALU senior vice president. The TUCP has 1.2 million members and 57 federations under its wing, including ALU, Herrera said.

"The TUCP cannot express support for any presidential candidate, according to our by-laws," Herrera said in a telephone interview, "but its members can individually support any candidate of their choice."

He said the Saturday event at the Waterfront Hotel was blown out of proportion to imply that the ALU-TUCP endorsed Mrs. Arroyo, adding that "there’s nothing (for the KNP) to be alarmed about."

He also said Poe had been invited to the ALU-TUCP anniversary, "but Sen. (Edgardo) Angara and Sen. (Vicente) Sotto (III) told me that (Poe) was not able to confirm his attendance at the event because it was in conflict with our sortie in Laguna."

Herrera himself was unable to attend the celebration because of his campaign sortie, which he described as "more important." — With Nikko Dizon