MANILA, Philippines – Organized labor is pushing for the adoption of one national wage rate to increase the purchasing power of workers and their families.
Labor groups led by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said a single wage rate is easier and more rational than the current system of minimum wage fixing.
“It is more efficient to have only a single national rate that is negotiated by the national tripartite partners, as against the present practice of establishing several hundreds of minimum wage levels and rates,” workers noted.
Since the current minimum wage fixing is too complex and unclear, workers said compliance among employers is low and unsatisfactory.
The workers further expressed concern that the current system has led to decrease in coverage of the collective bargaining agreements.
An analysis of minimum wage rates and increases among the country’s 17 regions showed that rates of increases track each other very closely except in two or three regions.
“Differences in the actual prices of basic goods and services bought by wages among regions are not wide to justify regional wage fixing,” workers stressed.
They said with a national minimum wage, migration to major cities such as the National Capital Region, Cebu, and other areas with higher minimum wages would be averted.
“The policy of regional development by dispersing industries to the countryside through regional minimum wage fixing has failed, it merely accelerates the race to the bottom in terms of labor standards,” they added.
They also noted that the minimum wage has failed to improve the productivity of workers.
“Productivity is better linked to collective bargaining since it provide a fairer bargain on wages that is linked to performance and the growth of productivity,” they said.
National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) executive director Ciriaco Lagunzad III said they could not determine yet whether it would support the recommendation of trade unions. – Mayen Jaymalin, Philippine Star
It’s women’s month!
“Support women every day of the year!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and Made-in-the-Philippines
Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
of the Girl Child Week
Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
Mar 4— Employee Appreciation Day
Mar 15 — World Consumer Rights Day
Mar 18 — Global Recycling Day
Mar 21 — International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Mar 23 — International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims
Mar 25 — International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Mar 27 — Earth Hour
