Senate bets cool to legislated wage hike

MANILA, Philippines - With Labor Day barely a month away, incumbent and aspiring senators alike are cool to a legislated wage hike for the country’s work force.

Senate president pro-tempore Jinggoy Estrada said he will just leave it to the regional wage boards to decide.

“The regional wage boards will strike a balance wherein neither the employers nor employees will be shortchanged,” said Estrada, who has been pushing for a P125 across-the-board increase in the minimum wage.

Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., who has also been batting for a P125 across-the-board wage hike since the 14th Congress, has conceded that due to lack of time, his proposal will not be acted upon in June.

He, however, vowed to refile the measure in the next Congress.

Estrada said if he will be retained as chairman of the Senate committee on labor and employment in the 16th Congress, he will file an amendatory measure that will put a timetable and deadline for regional wage boards to decide once a petition for wage hikes is filed before them.

This way, Estrada said, laborers will be able to determine their next course of action once the regional wage boards act on or reject their petitions.

On the other hand, Liberal Party (LP) senatorial candidate Risa Hontiveros said the labor sector has to be more creative in seeking non-wage benefits.

Another LP senatorial bet, former Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., is batting for job creation with millions of students graduating from college every year.

Labor Day protest

Meanwhile, workers are gearing up for a massive Labor Day protest to press for an immediate wage increase.

Alan Tanjusay, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) spokesman, said yesterday that various trade unions are preparing to mount a mass action on May 1 to pressure the government on their demand for pay hike and other labor reforms.

“Members of the TUCP and affiliate unions will be marching from Welcome Rotonda to Mendiola on Labor Day to get the government’s full attention,” Tanjusay said.

Last Wednesday, TUCP formally filed a petition before the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in the National Capital Region (NCR) to seek an P85 increase in the daily take-home pay of minimum wage earners in the region.

Based on a study, TUCP said Metro Manila workers only receive P306 in “real daily wage,” thus the need for an immediate wage increase to help them cope with the rising cost of essential commodities.

Two-tiered wage system

For his part, Labor Undersecretary and National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) chairman Ciriaco Lagunzad III said last Sunday that the government will deploy a team of officers who will train manufacturing firms and hotels on the implementation of the two-tiered wage system.

“About 120 officers are now undergoing training in Singapore to become specialists, who in turn, will educate hotels and manufacturing companies on how to implement productivity programs and performance-based pay hike,” Lagunzad said.

“By the end of the year, we hope hotels and manufacturing companies in Metro Manila are already complying with the two-tiered wage system,” he said.

Lagunzad noted that almost all of the 17 regions in the country have adopted a two-tiered wage system that allows performance-based salary increases.

The NWPC has already issued the necessary guidelines for the implementation of the new wage system.

Based on the guidelines, Lagunzad said the wage boards will be issuing advisories that would guide commercial establishments and workers in the adoption of the two-tiered wage system.

The first tier mandates the setting of a minimum wage rate that should not be lower than the poverty threshold in the region, while the second tier allows voluntary granting of performance-based pay hike.

Lagunzad said that so far, more than 300 companies in the country are already implementing the two-tiered wage system.

Lagunzad expressed confidence that within the next three to five years, the minimum wage will be above the poverty threshold and workers will be able to negotiate for productivity-based pay hike. – With Mayen Jaymalin