Workers eye new wage hike petition

MANILA, Philippines — Dissatisfied with the P25 pay hike, labor groups are planning to file another petition seeking wage adjustments.

Alan Tanjusay, spokesman for the Associated Labor Unions (ALU), said labor groups will no longer appeal the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPBs) decision and instead file a new wage petition in the coming months.

“We plan to file another wage hike petition in December to the first week of January 2019 by citing supervening condition,” Tanjusay said. “It is useless to file an appeal... so we will not appeal at this time.”

According to Tanjusay, there has never in the history of the RTWPBs that a wage order has been reversed after filing of an appeal.

National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) executive director Criselda Sy had said an appeal has reached the Supreme Court but it upheld the decision of the RTWPB.

Sy stressed that the RTWPBs consider different criteria in determining the amount of wage hike, not just the demand of workers.

Workers want a P334 adjustment in their daily minimum pay, but the RTWPB in Metro Manila granted P25 and ordered the integration of P10 cost of living allowance (COLA) to the basic pay.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said aside from Metro Manila, two other RTWPBs issued new wage orders granting pay hike for workers in their areas of jurisdiction.

Bello said RTWPB granted P10 pay hike and P10 COLA for workers in Cagayan Valley, while workers from Mimaropa are getting an adjustment ranging from P12 to P20 a day.

Except for Caraga, all the other RTWPBs nationwide have already issued new wage orders as of the end of October, Bello said.

The Partido Manggagawa (PM), however, is pushing for the implementation of a national minimum wage and demanding the abolition of the RTWPBs.

PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza said President Duterte should abolish regional wages and endorse a national minimum wage.

“Since the President expressed disgust at provincial wages, he apparently knows that the policy of wage regionalization started in 1989 has led to the cheapening of labor,” Fortaleza said.

“An evaluation of the policy performance of wage regionalization will show that it has consistently resulted in measly salary hikes that are below inflation rates and disregards economic growth,” he said.

Vice President Leni Robredo lamented the P25 wage increase is not enough.

“For me it is never nearly enough. It’s not enough because the increase in prices was more than the increase of salary,” she said.

While the additional P25 could help ordinary workers, it would not be able to ease the hardship of those don’t receive regular salary.

Robredo reiterated her call for the government to increase the P200 monthly subsidy being provided to the poorest Filipinos.

Militant lawmakers also criticized the P25 wage increase that they branded as measly and paltry.

“P25 is not even enough for a kilo of rice from the National Food Authority (NFA),” Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao said. 

Casilao and his colleagues in the leftist Makabayan bloc are pushing for a national daily minimum wage of P750.

Colmenares said the wage hike “would definitely not address nor even dent the massive poverty and hunger being experienced by our people.”?“Based on a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from Sept. 15 to 23, 52 percent of respondents or 12.2 million families believe they are poor. This is a four-point increase from the 48 percent recorded last June,” he said.

Rep. Antonio Tinio of party-list ACT Teachers stressed the increase will not be enough to compensate the price hikes from the TRAIN law.

A good help

Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo said the P25 wage increase was not enough to offset inflation but “will lift some of the financial burden resulting from inflation since last April.”

“If a minimum daily wage earner works 20 days in a month, the P25 increase means about P500 for the month. Critics would say that it is too little. Yet, P500 is still P500 and it helps our workers recover some of the purchasing power consumers lost when inflation rose,” he said. Salo’s Kabayan is pushing for a minimum daily wage of P600.

As increased, the wage in Metro Manila is now P537.

Administration lawmakers also hailed the decision of the RTWPB to increase the minimum wage of workers in Metro Manila by P25 a day, making it P537 daily from the current P512. 

“It’s nice that the wage increase was approved. It will be a good help to our countrymen,” Rep. Mikee Romero of 1Pacman party-list said.

Romero added that while it’s still “not enough, it can minimize the problem of our fellow Filipinos.” 

“We will still find ways to make it better, specially to the less fortunate,” said Romero, one of the richest members of the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reminded private sector employers to observe the proper payment of wages, even on regular and special non-working holidays.

DOLE said workers are entitled to receive double pay during the regular holiday if they opt to report for work.

“If the employees did not work during regular holidays, they shall be paid 100 percent of their salary for that day,” Bello said.

Employees who will work in excess of eight hours during holidays they shall be paid an additional 30 percent of their hourly rate on that day.  – with Jess Diaz, Delon Porcalla, Helen Flores