BIG labor has reiterated its call to President Rodrigo Duterte for a nationwide across-the-board increase for minimum wage earners amid the falling purchasing power and rising cost of living.
Labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) issued the appeal ahead of the Regional Tripatite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region meeting this week to deliberate on a final new increase for minimum wage workers in Metro Manila.
The ALU-TUCP had filed an across-the-board P184 daily increase for minimum wage workers in Metro Manila.
"President Duterte can text or call the wage board and prod them the amount of wage increase that he desires and it will be done. The President can also issue a presidential executive order mandating a wage increase (based on the) amount needed by workers and their families to cope and survive with the increasing prices of goods and service. The President has the variety of options to make a significant wage hike," said ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.
Tanjusay said the workers had been desperate for a significant across-the-board increase for many years because the wage board has always been granting meager and pittance increases despite an improving economy.
"The last time the workers experienced a significant wage hike was in 1989 or 28 years ago when the late President Cory Aquino gave a P25 daily across-the-board wage increase nationwide. After which, the wage board has been issuing pittance wage orders as if workers are beggars," Tanjusay said. - WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
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