TUCP files P75 wage petition in NCR

PRESS RELEASE

TRADE UNION CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES                    07 March 2011
TUCP-PGEA Compound, Maharlika cor. Masaya Street, Diliman, Quezon City

For inquiries please contact:
ERNESTO F. HERRERA, PhD, General Secretary (Mobile: 09198621717_
ROY SENERES, SR., National Spokesperson     (Mobile: 09287886514)
RAFAEL E. MAPALO, Director for Education (Mobile: (+63) 9285047052)
Tel. No: (632) 9220917 Fax Number: (632) 9219758

TUCP files P75 wage petition in NCR

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the largest labor in the country today files a 75-peso across-the-board and region-wide wage increase in the National Capital Region, citing relentless increases in deregulated oil prices, automatic adjustments in rates of utilities (electricity, water) and the resulting general increases in consumer prices.

The wage petition will raise the minimum wage rate to P479 in NCR this year.

“The wage increases –P20in May 2008 and P22 in July 2010, small as they were, -have been overtaken by continuing increases in the prices of petroleum products, transport fares, and in basic goods and services. This amount of P75 daily is needed by all employees and workers receiving not only the minimum wage but also for those getting higher than the minimum wage, all of whom are equally disadvantaged by the price-wage developments. It will also enable workers to contribute to rising local demand for goods and services, and to further sustain economic recovery,” says TUCP.

The P75 wage petition is a rounded-off amount and computed as follows:

P382.00 –the minimum wage in July 2008
+    16.80 –from actual 4.4% increase in prices between July 2008 and December 2010
40.40 – projected 10% rise in CPI between January 2011 and December 2011
42.00 –P2.00 per day, for every year since 1989 that there were no increases in real wages
–     22.00 – wage increase granted in July 2010.
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P 77. 20 (rounded-of as P75)
“Workers and their families, despite spectacular gains in GNP, production and productivity, have not been granted a single peso in real wage increase since 1989. Where in hell are those real earnings going when real GNP and real GDP rise every year, and despite this, real wages go down through the years, and labor’s share of income keeps going down,” says TUCP.

Wage Rationalization Act of 1989

The Wage Rationalization Act (R.A. 6727) mandates the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs), motu proprio or through petitions, to determine and fix minimum wages and to undertake studies and researches and surveys necessary to the attainment of their functions and objectives.  The law also tasked the Board to prescribe the regional daily minimum wage rates in a “fair and equitable manner”.

Since 1990, the RTWPBs have issued a total of 232 Wage Orders over a 20-year period. RTWB VI issued the most number or 18 Wage orders amounting to a total wage order of P176 in non-agriculture. The NCR has issued 15 wage orders granting a total wage increase of P315.

The RTWPBs use a 10-point criteria in wage fixing including the demand for living wages; wage adjustment vis-à-vis the consumer price index; cost of living and changes or increases therein; needs of workers and their families; need to induce industries to invest in the countryside; improvements in standards of living; prevailing wage levels; fair return of the capital invested and capacity to pay of employers;  effects on employment generation and family income; and  equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic and social development.

Workers are incensed that continuous real gains in production, productivity and the economy have not translated to gains in real wages and living standards, while employers and other sectors continue to keep much of the gains and profits for themselves. The P75 daily increase is essential if workers are to cope with the increasing prices of commodities and cost of living, if they are to meet the basic needs of their families, even if only partially, and if the country is to give meaning and substance to the policy of equitable distribution of income and wealth,” says TUCP.

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