Board tackles P90 pay hike proposal for Metro Manila

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will hold on Wednesday the first of three public consultations on the proposal to raise the daily minimum pay of Metro Manila workers.

According to the Department of Labor and Employment, the consultation will be held at 9 a.m. at the Taguig City University auditorium in Taguig, followed by another one on April 27 at Universidad de Manila auditorium in Arroceros, Manila, and on May 4 at the old city hall in Malinta, Valenzuela City.

At the same time, a coalition group of labor organizations called on Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz not to influence the proceedings.

Alan Tanjusay, policy advocacy officer of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Associated Labor Unions, which earlier sought a P90 across-the-board wage hike, said that Baldoz should take back her pronouncement last month that the most that Metro workers could look forward to was a wage hike ranging from P13 to P21.

“She should retract [her] statement and allow reality to dictate and the truth to come out [in] the public consultations,” he said.

Citing government data, the group stressed that there was a need to raise wages by P90 since a family of five in the National Capital Region should earn at least P915 daily in order to survive.

It added that the current minimum wage of P426 was not enough, particularly for a family with just one breadwinner.