TUCP files a P75 across-the-board wage increase in NCR

16 May 2006

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) today filed a P75 across-the-board wage petition to the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in the National Capital Region (NCR) to enable workers to cope with deregulated oil prices, automatic adjustments in rates of utilities (electricity, water), and the resulting general increases in prices.

TUCP said that the 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. The P75 daily increase should be given across-the-board and region-wide.

The needed minimum wage to restore the purchasing power of the workers’ wages to the highest attained real minimum wage and to give them a share in the region’s economic development should be P400, computed as follows:

P 325 – current minimum wage
+ 46 – increase necessitated by price increases
29 – increase due to the region’s economic development
P 400 – new minimum wage rate

The last wage order was issued by the NCR board mandated a P25 wage increase in May 2005.