Labor group to insist on subsidy proposal for minimum wage earners

THE P232 average daily minimum wage in the Philippines is not enough for workers to survive amid rising prices of goods, a labor coalition said, and insisted on that the government reconsider its proposal for a voucher system to keep minimum wage earners afloat.

Associated Labor UnionsTrade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay said the regional wage boards only took account what businesses can afford to pay and not the workers’ survival.

“On the average, wage boards acted only on the capacity of employers and businesses to afford the wage increases by adjusting the nominal minimum wage rates by P32 to P36 a day nationwide. This is too small for workers who help businesses and the economy to grow,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

ALU-TUCP added that the nominal daily basic pay nationwide has become P232 for all 17 regions as of Nov. 11, from P200 in September. The labor coalition said that workers need P800 to P850 a day in order to live above the poverty threshold.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), inflation in the Philippines was at 6.7% in October. The current minimum wage in Metro Manila is at P500 to P532. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which has one of the highest inflation rates in the country at 8.3%, also has one of the lowest minimum wages at P270 to P280.

Mr. Tanjusay said that the government should step up its efforts in assisting minimum-wage earners across the regions.

“Government should do its part by helping and providing a life-saver through non-cash food voucher subsidies to help and save minimum-wage workers drifting in and out of poverty,” Mr. Tanjusay said.

“Under the proposal submitted to (President Rodrigo R.) Duterte on April 2017, the ALU-TUCP urged government to address continuing inflationary impacts by providing a P500 monthly food voucher, non-transferable subsidy initially to an estimated 4 million minimum wage workers,” the labor coalition said.

Earlier this year, ALU-TUCP also discussed the same proposal with the president in their meeting at the Malacañang. Last week, TUCP Representative Raymond C. Mendoza also called on the government to reconsider the subsidy program proposal in order to help 4 million minimum wage earners amid high prices of goods that has decreased the spending power of the minimum wage.

Mr. Tanjusay said that both the government and business sectors have shown their support for a subsidy that will help minimum wage earners.

“Our subsidy proposal has widespread support including from the leadership of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III himself,” he said.

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said in a statement in August that they support the proposed P500 subsidy of the labor coalition as long as the allocation for it comes from the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.

On the other hand, Mr. Bello told reporters in June that he has recommended to the president a P200 monthly subsidy program for minimum wage earners which will be in partnership with the Department of Finance (DoF) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). —