Metro workers set to get wage hike

MANILA, Philippines - Workers in Metro Manila are likely to get the much-awaited increase in their daily take-home pay within the week.

Patricia Hornilla, National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) deputy executive director, said the wage board in Metro Manila is deliberating on the pending wage petition and is expected to come out with a decision this week.

The NWPC earlier said the wage board in Metro Manila was expected to grant a salary increase for minimum wage earners by the end of May.

NWPC officials made the announcement after President Arroyo ordered all the 17

Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards to hasten the process of resolving pending wage petitions.

Mrs. Arroyo said the workers, particularly the minimum wage earners, should benefit from the country’s improving economy and should therefore get a salary increase.

Workers led by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines filed a formal wage petition seeking a P75 across-the-board increase for workers in Metro Manila.

Employers, however, are against any wage hike, arguing that they are just recovering from the global financial crisis.

But Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the wage board would try to find a common ground between the opposing positions of the employers and workers.