P35 daily wage increase in NCR ‘an insult to workers’ – groups

P35 daily wage increase in NCR ‘an insult to workers’ – groups

MANILA, Philippines — The P35 daily wage increase for private sector workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila earned criticisms from various labor groups pushing for higher and decent pay.

The Gabriela Party-list, Partido Lakas ng Masa, and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) considered the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB)-approved P35 wage hike as insufficient as it is an insult to hardworking Filipinos.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas said the P35 pay raise is even lower than the P40 increase granted in 2023.

She stressed that the government should have supported the passage of her organization’s bill at the House of Representatives that calls for a P750 across-the-board salary upgrade.

“This P35 increase is an insult to Filipino workers. It’s barely different from the P25 wage hike implemented way back in 1989, and lower than the P40 hike granted last year,” Brosas pointed out.

“How can the government expect NCR workers to survive on P645 a day when the Family Living Wage stands at P1,200 and when prices continue to accelerate?” she added.

READ: Wage hike of P35 for Metro Manila private sector workers approved – DOLE

Partido Lakas ng Masa president and former presidential candidate Leody de Guzman gave a similar reaction to the newly-approved P35 wage hike.

De Guzman said regional wage boards must now be abolished.

“Ang Wage Order 25 ng RTWPB-NCR, na nagbigay ng P35 dagdag sa arawang sahod ng minimum wage earners, ay pang-iinsulto sa manggagawa […] Buwagin ang mga regional wage boards at ibalik sa lehislatura ang pagtatakda ng minimum,” he said.

(The Wage Order 25 of the RTWPB-NCR, which gives the P35 increase to the daily wages of minimum wage earners, is an insult to workers […] They should abolish the regional wage boards and bring back to the legislature the setting of minimum wages.)

“Kung totoong kinakalinga ni [President Ferdinand] Marcos Jr. ang uring manggagawa, na kanyang pinuri noong Araw ng Paggawa, i-certify niya bilang ‘urgent’ ang legislated wage increase sa darating na State of Nation Address (Sona) ngayong buwan. Hindi lang upang ihabol ang sahod sa sumisirit na presyo ng mga batayang pangangailangan,” he added.

(If it’s true that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. cares for the working class, whom he praised during Labor Day, he should certify as urgent the legislated wage increase this coming State of Nation Address. Not just to make the salaries level with the skyrocketing prices of basic needs.)

Earlier on Monday, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced the RTWPB’s decision to increase the daily wages of private sector workers in Metro Manila. The DOLE said the board’s approval will take effect 15 days from the order’s publication or on July 17.

The DOLE said the increase will bring the the day-to-day minimum wage in the NCR from P610 to P645 for the non-agriculture sector; and from P573 to P608 for the agriculture sector, service, and retail establishments employing 15 or fewer workers, and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers.

READ: Labor group asks employers to grant wage hike: ‘P150 is just for coffee’

It likewise said that the pay raise will result in a comparable 5 percent increase in wage-related benefits such as 13th-month pay, service incentive leave (SIL), and social security benefits such as SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG.

The DOLE further said that the new pay rates, which translate to roughly a 5.7 percent increase from the prevailing daily minimum salary rates in Metro Manila, “remain above the latest regional poverty threshold for a family of five.”

But for the TUCP, the P35 daily wage hike is mere crumbs.

It urged the government to instead pass House Bill (HB) No. 7871, which seeks to give a P150 across-the-board wage hike for all workers in the private sector. TUCP party-list representative and Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza filed the bill in the House of Representatives.

Like HB No. 7568 of the Makabayan bloc, where Brosas belongs, the TUCP party-list’s HB No. 7871 is still pending with the House committee on labor and employment.

“The NCR regional wage board proved once again to be so myopic. They opted to protect business profits rather than the bigger societal purpose of the wage increase,” TUCP Vice President Luis Corral said.

“As TUCP has repeatedly pointed out the need to elevate the daily wage above the poverty threshold to afford a family of five at least one nutritious meal a day is inextricably linked to addressing the growing problem of stunting Filipino children due to persistent poverty and inequality,” he added.

Brosas, meanwhile, warned that the government can expect several protests ahead of President Marcos’ Sona this month because the bills that would have elevated the standard of living of Filipino workers are still not being tackled.

“The P750 [across the board] wage hike bill is a step towards ensuring that Filipino families can live decently and with dignity, but it’s clear that this is not the priority of the Marcos Jr. administration,” she emphasized.

“Sa nalalapit na State of the Nation Address, asahan ng pangulo na sasabayan ito ng mga manggagawa ng isang malawak na protesta para ipanawagan ang nakabubuhay na sahod sa kabila ng tumitinding krisis sa ating bansa,” she added.

(In the coming State of the Nation Address, the President can expect that it will be accompanied by widespread protests to call for a livable wage amid the worsening crisis in the country.)

— With reports from Moss Laygo, trainee