P10 minimum wage hike in Metro ‘a painful joke’

Minimum wage earners in the private sector in Metro Manila will get a P10 increase by the end of the month—an adjustment rejected as a “painful joke” by a labor group who sought an P85 raise.

Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced on Friday that the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board of the National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) had agreed to increase the minimum wage by P10 per day.

The minimum wage in the capital will thus go up to P466, based on the order which is expected to take effect 15 days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

“The RTWPB-NCR also decided to integrate P15 of the existing P30 Cost of Living Allowance (Cola) under RTWPB-NCR Wage Order No. 17 into the basic wage effective Jan. 1, 2014. This will bring the new basic wage to P451 and the new minimum wage to P466,” added Baldoz.

DOLE Regional Director Alex Avila, chair of the RTWBP-NCR, said the raise would apply to all minimum wage workers in the private sector in the NCR, regardless of their position, designation or status of employment, and irrespective of the method by which they are paid.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) filed petitions on April 3 and June 7 for an across-the-board daily wage increase of P85 and P83, respectively.

The tripartite board, however, denied the petitions for being filed prematurely within the period of prohibition or a year from the time the last wage order took effect.

The TUCP filed a petition again on July 1. The board then conducted wage consultations and public hearings.

In a statement on Friday, the labor group vowed to appeal the board decision, describing the P10 increase as “outrageous.”

“This amount cannot even buy half a kilo of rice or take a worker to work and back home. Workers will strongly reject this amount. They need a wage increase and this amount is a joke, a painful joke for the working class who works so hard to improve our economy. This is what they’re getting in return from the government and their employers,” TUCP said.

The new wage order maintained that “after a thorough evaluation of the existing socioeconomic conditions of the region, the RTWPB-NCR determined the need to provide workers with immediate relief measures to enable them to cope with the rising cost of living without impairing the viability of business and industry.”

Under the order, the board shall issue corresponding advisories on the second tier or performance-based pay which shall serve as guidelines for private establishments on the range of productivity bonuses and incentives that an enterprise may give based on agreements between workers and employers.

“Our workers’ take home pay is increased to P11,240 per month, or by 2.1 percent, compared to the current P11,005 per month. Our workers will get a bigger 13th month pay of P11,651 or an increase of about 5.9 as a result of the Cola integration,” Baldoz explained.