Metro workers seek P55 wage hike

MANILA, Philippines –  Workers in Metro Manila are seeking a P55 hike in their daily take-home pay to help them cope with the impending increase in fare rates and the corresponding rise in prices of essential commodities, a labor group said yesterday.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the country’s largest labor group, said the TUCP is finalizing the wage hike petition they will file before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) next week.

“The TUCP board is set to meet anytime to discuss the formal filing of the wage hike petition,” TUCP spokesman Raffy Mapalo said. “The union really felt that the impending increase in transport fare and other essential commodities would impact and erode the purchasing power of the workers.”

The TUCP is seeking a P55 across-the-board increase in the daily pay of all workers in Metro Manila. “We understand that there is a one-year prohibition, but we want the matter to be discussed the wage hike issue now so they could grant the increase as soon as possible,” Mapalo said.

However, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz ruled out the possibility of an immediate wage hike for workers in Metro Manila as well as in other regions due to the existing law prohibiting successive salary increases within a year.

“Unless there is an unprecedented or extraordinary increase in prices of essential commodities, the wage boards cannot grant an increase at this time,” she said.

She said there were only two instances when the wage boards granted successive salary increases and that had been when there were extraordinary hikes in prices of oil and essential commodities.

In mid-2010, the wage board in Metro Manila granted a P22 increase in the daily pay of minimum wage earners in the region. The pay hike was way below the more than P70 across-the-board increase the TUCP was asking.

National Wages and Production Commission (NWPC) executive director Ciriaco Lagunzad, however, said the board can receive the wage hike petition, but could not immediately entertain it.

Before a hearing could be held, Lagunzad said, the wage board must first determine and declare a supervening condition, which the NWPC needs to confirm.

“If the commission confirms the declaration of supervening condition, the board can set a hearing to discuss the wage hike petition. However, if the commission would not confirm it, the wage board would automatically dismiss the petition,” Lagunzad said. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)