No pay increase yet for MM workers

MINIMUM wage earners in Metro Manila may have to wait after next month before they could get additional pay after the regional wage board said it is likely to dismiss the latest wage petition filed by the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) yesterday.

In an interview, Johnson Cañete DoLE-National Capital Region (NCR) director and Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB)-NCR chairperson, disclosed they may thumb down ALU-TUCP’s ₱184 acrossthe-board wage petition due to the prevailing ban for them to issue a new wage order.

He said the one-year ban for their previous wage order is only set to end on June 2.

“The earliest (wage petition) that we could entertain is on June 5 since there is no government office on (June) 3 and 4, which is a Saturday and a Sunday, respectively. They can file immediately at 8 o’clock on June 5. That is the most logical day,” Cañete said.

He said while the RTWPB-NCR is duty-bound to accept the wage petitions filed by ALU-TUCP, they cannot start deliberating on it until the end of the ban.

Based from the Wage Rationalization Act, RTWPBs could only adjust the prevailing wage rate in their jurisdictions a year after the implementation of their previous wage petition except if there is a “supervening event.”