Workers seek P100 per day Metro Manila wage hike

MANILA, Philippines — Labor groups yesterday filed a petition for a P100 daily wage increase for Metro Manila workers with the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB).

The workers’ organizations were led by the Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa.

Kapatiran chairman Rey Almendras said they filed the petition on behalf of minimum wage earners in the agricultural and non-agricultural sector as well as retail, trade and manufacturing groups in the National Capital Region (NCR) whose salaries were diminished by the soaring inflation rate.

“The petition to increase the minimum wage stems from the need of employees to recover the lost value of their salaries, cope with the rising cost of living and afford a dignified life as a common worker,” said Almendras, who is also the president of Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp.’s labor union.

Kapatiran asked the RTWPB to come up with a new wage order as the inflation rate increased from 2.5 percent in October 2021 to 7.7 percent last October.

“And just before the actual filing of the wage hike petition, inflation rate climbed further to 8.2 percent last month,” Almendras said.

The group said the daily minimum wage of P570 in Metro Manila translates to only P11,400 per month for a laborer who works five days a week.

“This is not enough to keep up with the average expenses in their income class,” Kapatiran said.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, a household needs at least P12,030 a month to survive the poverty threshold.

“Evidently, minimum wages fall below the poverty threshold and way too far from achieving living wage as provided under the Constitution,” the petition read.

“The current NCR rate, in fact, constitutes a measly 10 percent of the Filipinos’ dream for a simple and comfortable life as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority in 2015,” Almendras added.