DOLE: Distressed, small firms exempted from NCR wage hike

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) clarified yesterday that “distressed” and small private business firms are exempted from the P12 salary increase granted to minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion reported last Monday that the regional wage board in the National Capital Region (NCR) approved the salary increase as well as the inclusion of the P50 emergency cost of living allowance or COLA in the daily basic pay. This pegs the daily minimum wage in Metro Manila at P362.

National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) executive director Esther Guirao said the pay hike would take effect only after the publication of the new wage order.

Under the new wage order, workers from barangay micro-business enterprises and those from companies facing financial losses will not get any wage increase.

Also exempted from the salary adjustments are companies affected by natural calamities and firms that employ less than 10 workers or have capital below P3 million.

Domestic helpers and drivers are also not covered by the salary hike but those who are paid on a task basis or pakyaw will get additional pay.

Disabled workers are also entitled to a full salary adjustment while trainees will get 75 percent of the total daily minimum wage pay.

The board said they came out with the decision after evaluating the current socio-economic condition and determining the need of workers for a pay hike without impairing the business viability in the region.

However, the country’s largest trade union rejected yesterday the P12 wage increase, which they claimed is not sufficient for workers to cope with the rising cost of basic commodities in Metro Manila.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said they would file a petition for reconsideration of the regional wage board’s decision. The TUCP had earlier asked the government to grant a P75 daily wage increase.

“We are disappointed with the decision so we are definitely going to appeal so we could get a more just increase,” TUCP spokesman Alex Aguilar said.

Aguilar said the TUCP will file the motion for reconsideration before the NWPC at the soonest possible time.

He said the TUCP was not surprised with the small pay increase granted by the wage board considering that the employers strongly opposed any adjustment in salaries of workers nationwide.

“This decision should also serve as a wake-up call for our workers and make them realize that we can no longer just rely on wage boards for salary increase,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar then called on the workers, particularly those belonging to trade unions, to push for better financial benefits through collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations.

“Workers have stronger position in dealing with the management if they are organized and are able to do a CBA,” Aguilar pointed out.