NCR workers seek higher wage hike

Dissatisfied with wage hike granted by the wage board, workers in Metro Manila yesterday pressed anew for a P78 across-the-board increase in their daily take home pay.

In a seven-page petition filed before the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) demanded the revision of the wage order granting a P25 increase in basic pay of workers in Metro Manila.

"The order granting of P25 increase in basic pay is not reflective of current economic realities and nowhere near the fulfillment of the prescribed guidelines of the Wage Rationalization Act," TUCP said.

The group said the P25 increase is a mere drop in the bucket, considering the movement in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the attending inflation that resulted in the erosion in the workers’ purchasing power.

TUCP claimed the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in the National Capital Region (NCR) obviously failed to consider the effects of increase in transport fares and prices of commodities in its decision.

"Workers, especially those who are not under the protection of trade unions have no other recourse but to seek relief from RTWPBs, yet the wage board failed them with their decision," the group said.

TUCP said it is hoping that the NWPC would ensure that workers, particularly in Metro Manila, are given a substantial increase toward the attainment of living wage.

Last May 30, the RTWPB granted a P25 increase in basic pay of minimum wage earners in Metro Manila. The salary raises from P300 to P325 the current daily minimum wage rate in the region.

Labor officials, earlier, assured workers that the adjustment in daily take home pay in Metro Manila was sufficient to cover the erosion in the purchasing power of workers as well as the forthcoming increase in transport fare.