Zamboanga workers get P13 pay hike

MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of workers in Zamboanga Peninsula will get a P13 additional pay, a labor leader announced during the celebration of the 111th Labor Day.

Philippine Integrated Industries Labor Union (PIILU) president Jose Suan said the increase will take effect "in the middle of the day" of Labor Day.

Suan said that the regional wage board ordered the salary hike even without a pay increase petition from labor groups.

Suan, who sits in the wage board as one of the two representatives for the labor sector, said that the board deemed the P13 pay increase a "a very reasonable amount."

He said that the workers in the non-agricultural sector in the region will now receive a daily wage of P267 while those in the agricultural sector will receive P242 for plantation and agricultural enterprise and P222 for non-plantation and non-agricultural enterprise.

The salary in the Retail Service/Establishment employing not more than 30 workers will be P247 daily and P222 for Cottage/Handicraft.

Meanwhile, workers' groups in Metro Manila and other areas launched protests during the Labor Day celebrations to push their petitions for wage increase.

President Aquino, after meeting with businessmen and labor leaders at the Palace on Tuesday, declared that he will have to turn down proposals to push for the passage of the Security of Tenure bill submitted by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines in the House of Representatives.

The President also declined requests from labor groups to provide a wider tax amnesty for workers.