TUCP: Wage hike will help solve shortage of construction workers

In Photo: Workers out on a break at a construction site in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. 

The country’s largest labor group on Friday said a P300-wage hike will help solve the shortage of construction workers.

In a statement, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) President Raymond Mendoza attributed the lack of new workers in the construction industry to low pay.

“The TUCP is also proposing to raise the minimum wage for construction workers from the current minimum of P500 a day to a minimum P800 a day,” Mendoza said.

The labor leader said this should be coupled with better working and living standards of construction workers.

Due to their law pay in the country, TUCP said Filipino construction workers tend to look for employment opportunities abroad.

“We are currently experiencing ‘skill and brain drain’ phenomenon because of this bad treatment of our construction workers,” Mendoza said.

Also contributing to the scarcity of construction workers, TUCP said, is the lack accessibility of training facilities and access to certification programs for construction jobs.

“Based on different government statistics, the TUCP estimates there are 3 million construction workers nationwide and only around 1 million of them are certified,” Mendoza said.

TUCP issued the statement after President Rodrigo R. Duterte said in a speech last Thursday blamed labor shortage as one of the reason for the delays in the government’s numerous infrastructure projects under its Build, Build, Build program. - By Samuel P. Medenilla