Employers cool to wage hike spurred by politics during election season

WARY of a scenario in which wage hikes could be spurred by politics due to the election season, employers emphasized this early that current conditions are still not ripe for a new round of increase in the workers’ minimum pay.

Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop), said petitions for wage hikes could start pouring in again in the different regional tripartite wage boards, with experts harping recovery in the global economy next year.

Oritz-Luis said while Ecop is always supportive of the process and decisions of the wage boards, there is now the possibility that the system could be politicized because 2010 is an election year.

“We don’t want a decision that is political in nature,” Ortiz-Luis told the BusinessMirror.

The tripartite wage boards, he noted, also have representatives from the government “so it can be politicized.”

He said the good of the entire country and labor force should be the primary consideration since wage hikes result in price increases as well.

Right now, Ortiz-Luis said only about 16 percent of the country’s entire labor force is covered by the wage boards.

“If there is an ensuing increase in prices, will the rest of the workers still manage?” he said.

At this time, he said the conditions that would justify the grant of wage hikes are still not there.

The country, he said, has yet to recover from the crisis and a big number of workers who lost their jobs due to the crisis remain unemployed.

“Our concentration should still be on the creation and retention of jobs,” he said.

Before granting wage hikes, he said the employment situation should first normalize, meaning the lost jobs were already recovered, manufacturing output is positive, and exports are also up.

In Metro Manila the last wage order was issued in early 2008 mandating a P15 increase in the minimum wage and additional P5 daily cost-of-living allowance.

If wage hikes are not properly handled, Ortiz-Luis said the problem in the informal sector will just worsen. –Max V. de Leon / Reporter, Businessmirror