MINIMUM wage earners in Metro Manila are set to receive pay increase starting June 2 after the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) – National Capital Region (NCR) granted a P10 cost of living allowance (Cola).
Based on RTWPB-NCR Wage Order 20, the Metro Manila wage board has ordered the granting of a new Cola after also ordering the integration of the previous Cola worth P15 to the previous basic wage.
“Upon effectivity of this Wage Order, the P15 Cola per day under the previous Wage Order shall be integrated into the basic wage and a new Cola of P10 per day shall be added,” said the Wage Order 20 dated May 17.
With the new wage order, the new minimum wage rate in Metro Manila shall be P491, composed of the P481 basic wage and the P10 Cola.
In the previous wage order, the minimum wage rate in Metro Manila was at P481, which is the combination of the P466 basic wage and the P15 Cola.
Covered by the wage order are all minimum wage earners in the cities of Caloocan, Las Pinas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Paranaque, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon, San Juan, Taguig, Valenzuela, and Navotas, and the municipality of Pateros.
Not covered by the order are household service workers, persons in the personal service of another, such as family drivers, and workers of registered Barangay Micro Business Enterprises.
The wage order stemmed from the wage petition filed last month by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), which asked for a P154 increase in daily pay of workers.
In a statement, the TUCP assailed the decision of the RTWPB-NCR saying the “measly” P10 Cola is simply insufficient to bridge the gap between standard poverty threshold and the current real wage workers are receiving.
“The cost of living allowance increase granted by the wage board today is again, as it has always been, not enough to lift minimum-waged earners out of poverty. The mandate of the wage board is to set a living minimum wage that can be able to feed a family of five and empower them up out of poverty. But with today’s decision, the wage board did not,” said TUCP President Raymond Mendoza.
The labor leader said the decision simply shows that regional wage boards are already irrelevant, especially in addressing the needs of workers.
“The board has been out of touch, irrelevant, and not responsive to the needs of workers and their families,” said Mendoza. (HDT/Sunnex)
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