P150 wage hike pushed in House

In response to the Senate’s earlier passage of a P100 wage hike bill, a labor sector lawmaker called on the leadership of the House of Representatives to pass a bill seeking a P150 across-the-board wage increase nationwide for private sector workers.

In a statement, Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza said the passage of House Bill No. 7871, or any other measure seeking salary increases for Filipino workers, “is no longer a social or economic imperative but a moral and existential imperative for our millions of mostly poor wage earners.”

Mendoza serves as the representative for the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) party list.

“Their honest hard work receives only poverty wages that cannot even sustain the health, productivity and need for a decent life of their families,” he said.

Mendoza is author of HB 7871, or the Wage Recovery Act of 2023. It seeks a wage hike that’s P50 higher than the recently approved Senate Bill No. 2534, which sought a P100 wage-hike increase.

The difference, however, is that HB 7871 offers wage subsidies for micro and small enterprises to allow them to cope with the increased labor costs.

The TUCP said this was in anticipation of protests from employers, especially big businesses, who are “expert scaremongers misleading the people with their myths and fallacies against any wage increase.”

“The swift opposition from employers to the still-pending proposed legislated wage increase does not shock us anymore,” said Luis Corral, vice president of TUCP.

‘Demonized’

“They perennially demonize any and all legitimate wage demands of Filipino workers and their families who just want simple fairness as they struggle to make ends meet,” he added.

These fears prompted the House to pass its counterpart to SB 2534, which was passed on third reading last week.

However, Corral challenged both government and business players to “end the blame-game that workers’ wages will increase inflation and discourage investments because the real culprits are astronomically expensive yet unreliable electricity and soaring food prices, and not the poverty wages further eroded by the rising cost of living.”

READ: P100 daily wage hike bill reaches Senate floor

“Let’s put an end to employer ‘overkill’ on a fair wage because a wage increase actually lifts all boats,” he added.

“All benefit from higher wages boosting consumer demand and driving inclusive and equitable wage-led growth toward a more prosperous and just Philippine society where Filipino workers and their families rightfully reap the fruits of their labor,” Mendoza said.

The last legislated national wage hike was given in 1989, with the enactment of Republic Act No. 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act, that established the regional wage boards.