NCR workers get P25 wage hike

The National Capital Region (NCR) wage board has granted P25 salary increase to minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.

The increase was announced yesterday by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello. But, the labor groups described the amount granted as an “injustice” to the working class.

Bello announced yesterday that minimum wage workers in the NCR would be receiving an additional P25 to their current P512 daily pay. The P10 cost of living adjustment was also integrated in the minimum wage.

The hike is closer to the P20 wage increase proposed by the Employers' Confederation of the Philippines. It, however, is a far cry from the request of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines for a P334 wage hike.

ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay called the basic pay increase unjust.

“For us, it is not fair because the economy is growing, businesses are expanding and more profits are coming in. A P25 wage increase is not acceptable. This is a great injustice to the workers who helped build the business, this is injustice for workers who helped build our economy grow,” Tanjusay said.

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino chair Leody de Guzman, for his part, described the wage increase as “contemptibly unreasonable.”

“The order of the NCR wage board, which was openly supported [by] DOLE Secretary Bello did not lift minimum wages from starvation levels. Hence, it is a death warrant for four million working class families, who would have to wait for another year for the next round of wage orders,” De Guzman said.

He added that “their order condemned us to another year of misery amid forecasts of continuing price hikes and economic slowdown in the coming year.”

ALU-TUCP said it would file another wage increase petition, while BMP said it would hold protest actions to push for price control during the yuletide season.

Sen. Bam Aquino said that the salary increase for Metro Manila workers should be coupled with efforts to suspend excise tax on fuel under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law.

There will also be wage hikes in Cagayan Valley and Mimaropa.

The daily wage rate in Cagayan Valley will range from P320 to 360 across different sectors after the board approved a P10 basic wage increase. Minimum wage workers in MIMAROPA, meanwhile, will be getting additional P12 to P20 daily. This will bring the daily minimum wage to P283 to P320 across different sectors.