Sotto amenable on wage hike

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III stands amenable in having the proposed legislated wage increase tackled by Congress soon.

“That’s one of the key issues we should be addressing now, economic issues of the country,” the senator said over the weekend.

With the impeachment trial proceedings against former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez put off by the Senate following her decision to tender her resignation, Sotto said this will allow the now to focus on the pending pieces of legislation and this should include the issue on wage hike.

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) earlier said they cannot afford to provide a P125 across-the-board legislated salary increase and can only give a maximum P13 from the original demand of P75 a day.

“That’s too small. I don’t know how they were able to arrive at that (figures) but I think that’s too minimal for an increase,” he said.

Major companies or employers, Sotto said, should also do their part, possibly by engaging to austerity measures to enable them to provide the needed salary restructuring of their employees.

Sotto vowed to take up the issue concerning workers’ salary increase which happens to be among the pet bills of Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. –Angie M. Rosales, Daily Tribune