Palace on P15-wage hike: It’s good still

Malacañang Palace

MANILA, Philippines – The P15-wage hike in Metro Manila may be measly for some, but it is still additional pay, Malacañang said Wednesday.

“Some will call it not enough or not sufficient but it’s still something to be given—something in addition to what they are already getting,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a press briefing.

Valte said the wage increase, which will be implemented in April, is a product of a compromise between the requests of labor groups and employers.

“That brings the total wage in NCR to P481 (for non-agricultural workers), if I am not mistaken, and it’s good still,” she said. Meanwhile, minimum wage earners working in the agricultural sector will receive P444 per day.

She said it was a given that labor groups and employers will never agree or be on the same level when it comes to the issue of wage hike.

“The job of the Wage Board is to determine what can be given that will also not be detrimental to employers. Meaning, if you give too high—this is one of the considerations of Wage Board and they tell you as much—that if you give too high an increase, the employers will not be able to absorb it,” she explained.

But labor groups said the amount was “insulting.”

“The P15.00 increase in workers’ daily wage is not even enough to cover for the increase in fares in the country’s train systems. It’s not enough to cover for the rising prices of basic commodities, especially food items, and rising payments for basic services,” Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog said, citing Ibon Foundation’s computation of the family living wage.

Based on 2014 prices, Ibon said an average Filipino family needs at least P1,086 to live decently.

Labog said the minimum wage is no longer enough to cover the needs of Filipinos and that they are now campaigning for a “national minimum wage” of P16,000 per month.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), on the other hand, called it “unacceptable.”

“Rather than closing the gap between rich and poor, government officials in the (wage) Board has further widened the gaping inequality amongst Filipinos,” TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

Tanjusay said the concerned agencies should reveal to the public the formula they used to come up with the P15-wage hike. - Kristine Angeli Sabillo @KSabilloINQ INQUIRER.net

Labor groups slam ‘insulting’ P15 NCR minimum wage hike

MANILA, Philippines—Insulting and disrespectful.

That was how workers’ groups on Wednesday described the P15 increase in the minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board last Tuesday.

In separate statements, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) hit the minimal increment in the minimum wage as too meager for a family to live decently.

“The P15.00 increase in workers’ daily wage is not even enough to cover for the increase in fares in the country’s train systems. It’s not enough to cover for the rising prices of basic commodities, especially food items, and rising payments for basic services,” KMU Chairperson Elmer Labog said.

Labog explained the new NCR minimum wage: P481 for workers in the non-agriculture sector and P444 for workers in the agriculture sector, is too small compared to the P1,086 daily average needed to provide a decent living for families as revealed by Ibon Foundation.

In response to the wage hike, KMU will organize protests to demand President Benigno Aquino III’s resignation.

Meanwhile, TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said the “revolting” wage hike further deepened the divide between the rich and the poor.

“This amount is revolting. Rather than closing the gap between rich and poor, government officials in the Board has further widened the gaping inequality amongst Filipinos—between a few elite and a famished majority who live to survive by the day,” Tanjusay said.

The wage hike will take effect in April and is said to benefit 587,000 minimum wage earners in the metropolis. - Aries Joseph Hegina INQUIRER.net

P15 minimum wage hike for Metro Manila workers approved

Starting April 15, the region's minimum wage for workers in the non-agricultural sector is now at P481, and in the agricultural sector at P444 MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – A wage hike of P15 for Metro Manila's minimum wage earners was approved by the regional wage board.

Starting April 15, the region's workers in the non-agricultural sector will receive a minimum wage of P481, while workers in the agricultural sector will have a minimum wage of P444.

Department of Labor and Employment communications director Nicon Fameronag announced the news on Wednesday, March 18, at the DOLE office in Manila.

The hike is set to benefit 587,000 workers, said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, who also chairs the National Wages and Productivity Commission.

For workers who receive their salaries twice a month every 15 days, the increase will reflect in their April 30 pay slips.

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) approved the resolution on the P15 increase, which is on top of the P15 Cost of Living Allowance in effect since January 2014.

DOLE NCR Director Alex Avila explained that the hike is consistent with government policy that takes into account workers' and their families' needs, as well as business stability.

“The take-home pay of our minimum wage earners will increase to P492.57 per day, or by 3.2%, because of the wage hike, compared to the current P477.03 per day. They will also enjoy a higher 13th month pay and increased social security coverage,” Avila said.

A workers' take-home pay includes the amount he will get from the law-mandated 13th month pay.

Avila explained that minimum wage earners are exempt from paying income tax on their wage. No taxes are imposed on their hazard pay, holiday pay, night shift differential, and overtime pay either.

He added that NCR businesses will be able to bear the cost and still sustain employment creation.

The P15 increase is the 5th wage since President Benigno Aquino III took office in 2010.

Calls for across-the-board increase

In a phone interview with Rappler, Fameronag explained that two wage hike petitions were filed before the RTWPB-NCR, asking for an across-the-board wage increase.

This, however, is not within the regional wage board's mandate.

"Unfortunately, the RTWPB is not mandated to set across-the-board wage increases. Our mandate is to set minimum wages," the board said in a resolution.

The board asked petitioners to conform with standards prescribed by law in petitions that will be filed in the future.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa's Alan Tanjusay, however, asked the regional wage board to "show the formula they used as basis for the new wage order and subject it to healthy discussion."

"They better explain it to the workers immediately or else their lack of credibility may invite confusion, if not incite chaos, particularly among poor workers," he said, calling the P15 increase "revolting."

TUCP was among the petitioners before the RTWPB.

On the other hand, Kilusang Mayo Uno chair Elmer Labog said such "region-based wage hikes don’t address the attacks carried out against the minimum wage in the country for decades."

"We are fighting for the implementation of a National Minimum Wage in the amount of P16,000 monthly to give workers some immediate relief and to turn back the attacks against the minimum wage throughout the country,” Labog said.

He added that the wage hike is insufficient, considering increases in the prices of basic commodities and the fare hike in Metro Manila trains.

'Let market forces decide'

Reacting to the wage hike, lawyer Noel Balsicas of the People Management Association of the Philippines said the mandated minimum wage is an outmoded means of wage determination.

"This will have an effect on other personnel who are not directly affected by the increase through wage compression or wage distortion," he said.

Employers are now forced to increase the salary of a worker with a typically higher rate than a minimum wage earner to "restore the seniority of that individual."

Balsicas said it is better to let market forces decide salary increases instead of the government mandating them.

"It also backfires in a way to the workers," he added, explaining that manufacturers are now forced to increase the price of their products and services to sustain the higher salaries of their workers.

This creates an "additional pressure on the cost of living," he said, calling it a "chicken-and-egg situation."

Around 40% of manufacturing cost is labor, he added. – Rappler.com Buena Bernal

PHL hikes NCR minimum wage by P15

Over half a million minimum wage workers in the private sector in Metro Manila are due for a P15 increase in basic pay following the go signal from the wage board, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Wednesday.

DOLE-National Capital Region (NCR) director Alex Avila said the new minimum wage in the region has been raised to P481 for workers in the non-agriculture sector and to P444 for workers in the agriculture sector.

Avila said the wage board took into consideration several factors, including the erosion in the minimum wage, inflation rate, possible impact of the minimum wage adjustment on prices of goods and services, as well as on employment; movements in the consumer price index, the current economic condition in the region, employers’ ability to pay, and the results of its continuing studies, sectoral consultations, and public hearings.

"[The decision] consistent with the government’s policy of granting regular, moderate, and predictable minimum wage adjustments, taking into consideration the needs of workers and their families, as well as the need to maintain stability in the business environment within the framework of the two-tiered wage system reform," he said.

The minimum wage hike is expected to be affirmed by the National Wages Productivity Commission this week, and the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will publish it.

The new minimum wage takes effect 15 days after publication, Avila said.

The wage increase will benefit 587,000 minimum wage earners, said Avila, who is also the chairperson of the RTWPB-NCR.

The wage earners will continue to be exempt from paying income tax on wage and hazard pay, holiday pay, night shift differential, and overtime pay.

“The take-home pay of our minimum wage earners will increase to P492.57 per day, or by 3.2 percent because of the wage hike, compared to the current P477.03 per day. They will also enjoy a higher 13th month pay and increased social security coverage,” Avila said.

Labor cost

“On the part of the employers, their effective labor cost per employee working six day a week will also increase by 3.2 percent, or P565.54 per day, compared to the current P547.87 per day,” he added.

But labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) said the increase was unacceptable, noting it only serves to widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

"This amount is revolting. Rather than closing the gap between rich and poor, government officials in the Board has further widened the gaping inequality amongst Filipinos – between a few elite and a famished majority who live to survive by the day," TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said in a statement.

On March 6, TUCP asked the wage board for a P136 increase.

The labor group has dared government agencies – DOLE, Department of Trade and Industry, and National Economic and Development Authority – to reveal how the wage board came out with the P15 wage increase.

"This is a nature of social injustice that either makes our productive young workers... join the ranks of our Filipino brothers and sisters in the mountain to wage the battle on Philippine social inequality from there or forces them to decide to swallow the bitter pill by working abroad at the expense of a morally, psychologically and emotionally-deprived children,” Tanjusay said. – Danessa O. Rivera/VS, GMA News