P13-P21 wage hike eyed for Metro Manila workers

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Thursday said that workers in Metro Manila may only look forward to a wage increase ranging from P13 to P21 to help them cope with inflation.

“If you just use the inflation rate of three percent to five percent, that could be computed to a low of P13 and a high of P21. In February, the wage board’s projection was 2.3 percent, which is not within that range,” Baldoz told reporters at the sidelights of a forum organized by the Philippine Association of Local Service Contractors in Manila.

Earlier, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) filed a petition for a P90 across-the-board-hike in the daily minimum wage of workers in the metropolis. However, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board said there was no justification for the increase at this time although it added that hearings would be conducted after May 26, the anniversary of the last wage hike.

Baldoz said she was leaving it to the wage board to determine if the increase would be included in the workers’ basic salary or in their cost-of-living allowances.

TUCP advocacy officer Alan Tanjusay, meanwhile, criticized Baldoz and President Aquino for their refusal to concede that there was a need to raise wages by P90.

It cited government data that showed that a family of five in Metro Manila needed to earn P915 daily to survive and that the current minimum wage of P426 was not enough, especially if there was only one breadwinner in the family.

“We dare President Aquino and Secretary Baldoz, the capitalists and high government officials who are earning way, way beyond minimum wage and who have their own allowances to try to live with the minimum wage rate with their families so that they can understand the sufferings and pains of those whose plights are not being heard,” Tanjusay said.

He added that the TUCP recognizes the right of capitalists to fair return on investments and the duty of the government to provide a conducive environment for the economy to grow.

“However, workers have the right to humane conditions [at] work to be productive and to live decent lives. Redistribution of growth has to be addressed and not just positive macroeconomic development and company profits,” he said.

Meanwhile, members of the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno picketed the labor department’s office in Manila to condemn the government’s refusal to increase wages.