P100 wage hike ‘blessing not catastrophe’
The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) yesterday countered the “doomsday scenarios” for the economy that Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Kenneth Co presented once a legislated P100 nationwide wage hike is passed.
In a statement, PM-Cebu spokesperson Dennis Derige said the increase would prove beneficial to the economy, contrary to what Co said in an exclusive interview with The Freeman the other day.
“A P100 wage hike will be a blessing, not a catastrophe, for the economy. For the past two years, minimum wages were raised in all regions, except BARMM for this round, and yet inflation and unemployment went on a decline. The economy benefited and did not suffer from salary increases,” Derige said.
“CCCI head Charles Kenneth Co is singing an old tune. They cried the same dire predictions in 2022 and again in 2023, when organized labor demanded wage hikes. Inflation in 2022 was 5.8 percent but now it is down to 2.8 percent. Similarly, unemployment has decreased from 5.4 percent in 2022 to 3.1 percent as of December last year,” he added.
He said that while minimum wage raised by P31 in 2022 and by P33 in 2023 “firms did not shutter and MSMEs (micro-, small-, and medium-scale enterprises) did not go under. Where is the catastrophe?”
On the contrary, he said, the economy has gained from wage hikes as the increased purchasing power meant greater demand and bigger production for firms in industry and services.
“As theory and studies show, a moderate salary raise need not lead to inflation or retrenchment as employers can just absorb the higher labor costs by reducing their profit. So, we call on Charles Kenneth Co, share the wealth with the workers who created it (his wealth) in the first place,” Derige said.
PM-Cebu, he said, welcomes Senator Miguel Zubiri’s proposed P100 minimum wage increase, which the Senate will deliberate on for its third and final reading on Monday.
“We would have wanted it to be higher and across-the-board but still an additional P100 in workers’ pockets will be an immediate relief as the cost of living is around P1,200 a day,” Derige stated.
PM has also called on the House of Representatives’ labor committee to deliberate on the pending wage bills.
“As surveys have repeatedly shown, Filipinos want solutions to high prices and low wages, not amendments to the Constitution. Let’s get to work,” Derige said.
AMA Sugbo-Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), another labor group, also called Co’s statement "desperate and full of deceit".
“It is not true that the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises and informal sectors will be hurt if there is a wage increase, as they will benefit the most if the P100 wage increase is given," said Jaime Paglinawan, AMA Sugbo-KMU chairman.
Paglinawan said that increase in wages will give the workers and their families the capacity to increase their purchasing power, where they can buy food, have transportation fare to go to work and go home, send their children to school, get medical treatment if they are sick, and pay for basic services such as electricity; all which are family needs
“If there is a wage increase, it will revitalize the economy, when the people can buy from small businesses or what we call MSME, farmers, fishermen, and those in the informal sector, especially the market vendors," he said.
Paglinawan also said that if the living wage can be implemented, the people would even now have the capacity for rest and recreation, which will be a big help to small businesses. -