Labor group says they will re-file appeal for wage hike

MANILA, Philippines—Alan Tanjusay, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines spokesman, said Tuesday they will re-file their appeal for a wage hike, but said that they would probably ask for a bigger amount compared to their first petition set at P85.

Tanjusay said this step is set to be taken after the National Capital Region Wage Board rejected their first petition last week saying that it hasn’t been a year since the last wage hike in the daily take-home pay of minimum wage earners in the region was implemented.

“Sinasabing wala pang isang taon nung nagtaas ng sahod so hindi pwedeng i-entertain ang aming petition. Ang sa amin naman . . . kapag ang taong bayan ay nagugutom hindi na hinihintay ang isang taon e (They say it’s not even a year when our salary was raised so they couldn’t entertain our petition. But for us, if the people are the ones getting hungry, waiting for another year won’t suffice),” Tanjusay said in an interview with Radyo INQUIRER 990AM. He said they received the rejection notice Friday.

However, since the last wage hike was on June 3, 2011, Tanjusay said they are planning to re-file the plea, but will make adjustments on the amount being asked following better figures in the gross domestic product.

“Sa tingin natin kailangan dagdagan ang P85 pesos kasi sila [workers] ang nag hirap, nag pawis, nag buwis ng dugo para mag create ng ganitong economic growth sa bansa (From our point-of-view, we need to increase P85 because the workers are the ones suffering, sweating up, losing blood to create this kind of economic growth in the country),” Tanjusay said.

He said the plea will be filed within the week or early next week.

For the full interview, listen to the attached audio clip from Radyo Inquirer 990AM.