No wage hike announcement on Labor Day

MANILA, Philippines – There will be no announcement of salary increase on Labor Day on May 1, but workers may expect non-wage benefits, according to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC).

Patricia Hornilla, NWPC deputy executive director, said the different regional wage boards are reviewing pending wage petitions, and may not be able to come out with a decision by May 1.

“The boards are now in different stages of consultations to come out with basis, if there is any, for salary increase and these consultations are expected to go beyond May 1,” Hornilla said.

Hornilla said seven of the 16 Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) have received formal petitions for increase in minimum wages.

“The wage petitions are seeking increase in daily take home pay ranging from P50 to P128.60, with the highest demand coming from workers in Western Visayas Region,” Hornilla said in an interview.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), workers belonging to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) are seeking a P75 increase in the basic daily pay.

Hornilla said the prevailing power crisis and the effects of El Niño have to be taken into consideration in the wage review.

“The wage boards have to look into all factors that would affect employers and workers before it could come out with the decision,” she stressed.

Raffy Mapalo, TUCP’s education department director, said the workers want a share from the improving economy.

“The government reported growth in GDP in 2009, but the workers did not get any increase in pay that year so we are asking for it now,” Mapalo said.

But Federation of Free Workers spokesman Julius Cainglet said workers still hope that President Arroyo would announce a salary increase on Labor Day.

Although the wage boards are unlikely to issue any wage orders on May 1, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said plenty of jobs and other livelihood opportunities would be offered to workers on May 1.

Labor officials said at least 150,000 local and overseas jobs are up for grabs in job fairs to be organized in various venues nationwide.

DOLE’s-Bureau of Local Employment director Criselda Sy said the government hopes to provide on the spot employment to at least 16,000 new graduates and other jobs seekers on Labor Day.

“Last year, we recorded 16,000 hatch or on the spot employment and we hope to do the same, providing jobs to about 15 percent of the projected 45,000 applicants nationwide,” she said.

Sy said jobseekers may register online with the DOLE’s Philjobsnet so they could be immediately matched with available vacancies.

But Sy said DOLE would also allow manual registration in other job fair venues nationwide.

Meanwhile, party-list group Partido Manggagawa demanded yesterday the abolition of the wage boards even as it voiced support for the pending P75 minimum wage hike petition.

“The yawning disparity between the minimum wage and the cost of living is the clearest expression of system failure. It is time to push for a change in the law when the new Congress opens,” PM said in a position paper read at a hearing called by the NCR wage board in Quezon City.

“The labor movement stands as one body and speaks with one voice in favor of a wage hike,” PM chair Renato Magtubo said.

“The arguments against a wage hike are just black propaganda and blackmail,” he said. “Why should we be afraid of additional money circulating in the economy due to wage hike when billions of dollars in remittances entering the country are always permitted?” –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)