Two party-list lawmakers are seeking to set the nationwide daily minimum wage for all private sector workers at P600 from the current P512.
To date, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) pegged the minimum wage for nonagriculture workers at P512 for an average workday of eight hours, or 40 hours a week.
Kabalikat ng Mamamayan (Kabayan) Reps. Ron Salo and Ciriaco Calalang filed House Bill 7527 last April 26, in a bid to “address the prevailing inequality and disparity in income levels of the different regions in the country,” and to disperse workforce out of Metro Manila and into localities.
The bill seeks to amend Republic Act No. 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act, and Articles 121-127 of Presidential Decree No. 442, or the Labor Code of the Philippines.
Apart from this, HB 7527 also seeks to limit the power of the NWPC and the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) to determine incomes and other productivity improvements on top of the national minimum wage.
Under the proposed measure, their duty would primarily involve determining other incomes of the employees outside of the minimum set by the law. These incomes and other productivity improvements would be used to augment the daily minimum wage based on prevailing conditions.
On top of the minimum wage, HB 7527 seeks to give wage earners additional incentives to be determined by the Board.
“This measure will help our fellow Filipinos keep up with the inflation or the increase in the general price level of goods and guarantee a humane standard living for all, specially to lowliest and unprotected members of the workforce, by providing them real wage gains,” Salo and Calalang said in filing the bill.
“On a national scale, it aims to bolster the economy by providing a decent living wage for low-income workers, resulting to dynamic economic activity and to reduction of government welfare spending caused by reduced dependence to the income-support programs of the government,” they added. /je