TUCP to ask additional P136 for minimum wage

Labor group TUCP wants an additional P136 increase to the mimimum wage to make it a "living wage."

MANILA, Philippines - The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) will demand for an additional P136 to the current minimum wage during the first public hearing at Pasay City on Friday.

The wage board will be conducting the first public hearing for the wage petition around 9 a.m. at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City.

"Our economy has been improving and continues to perform better than its peers in the region but the Filipino workers who largely contributed to that growth are falling through the cracks and being left behind. Working people also deserved a share of the pie that only a few are privileged to have. Many minimum wage earners are falling by the day and they are being ignored by government," TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

He said the group will file a wage increase petition of P136 on top of the current P466 minimum wage.

Workers in Metro Manila, numbering around 800,000, now receive nominal wage of P466 a day but due to inflation and mandatory salary deductions, they only actually get P299, Tanjusay said.

He cited International Labour Organization provision saying the living wage is the remuneration received for a standard 40 hour work week by a worker in a particular place sufficient to afford a decent standard of living for the worker and his or her family.

"So is the P299 a decent wage? Is it the living wage? We are going to pose these questions tomorrow," he added. - By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)