TUCP expresses no opposition in P1 PUJ fare hike

A jeepney driver gives the passenger a change after paying bigger amount for the fare while playing along Taft avenue, Manila on Thursday. The LTFRB approved the provisional P1 jeepney fare hike, effective July 6. INQUIRER file photo / EARVIN PERIAS

One of the country’s largest labor organizations sees no need to oppose the P1 provisional fare hike for public utility jeepneys (PUJs), but stressed the need to increase the minimum wage.

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), however, said the current P512 minimum wage rate should be adjusted by the National Capital Region (NCR) Wage Board.

READ: P9 jeepney minimum fare starts July 6

“(We) have no objection to the P1 provisional fare increase for PUJs in NCR and Regions 3 and 4-A,” ALU-TUCP Spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said in a statement on Friday.

“We recognize that our jeepney drivers who are part of the informal sector economy workers also need to recover their lost income due to extraordinary rise in prices of fuel and basic commodities and other services,” he added.

But a wage hike was urgently needed for workers to cope with increases in the price of goods and services, along with the “forthcoming increases in public utility buses and train fares,” Tanjusay stressed.

The LTFRB released an order on Friday, July 6, to effectively increase the minimum jeepney fare by P1.

The fare from the current P8 minimum was raised to P9 in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon. /jpv