DoLE backtracks on P25 wage hike

The P25 wage increase announced by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) for private sector workers in Metro Manila is not yet official pending review by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC).

Labor Secretary Silvestre Belo 3rd. PHOTO BY RUSSELL PALMA

On Thursday, Malacañang spokesman Salvador Panelo and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd issued separate clarifications that the NCR wage board’s announcement was not yet executory because the result of the final tripartite consultation held on Tuesday that pegged the wage adjustment at P25 per day would still be forwarded to the NWPC and to the Office of the President for their final say.

The Manila Times has learned that during Tuesday’s meeting, there was a deadlock between the P25 proposal of employers and the P100 proposal of the labor sector, which prompted the seven-man RTWPB to break it through voting.

“After the voting, the P25 wage increase proposal of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) prevailed. The voting was 5 in favor and 2 against. The labor group was outvoted,” Alan Tanjusay, spokesman of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), said.

The RTWPB is composed of two representatives from the labor sector, two from employers and three from the government.

“We are now confused about what’s really happening. Although we already knew that the wage board has already a final decision, what ECOP did was they leaked the decision even as they know fully well that it has yet to go up to the NWPC, then to the Office of the President and then back to Secretary Bello for announcement,” Tanjusay said.

He expressed belief that the ECOP deliberately leaked the P25 wage increase approved by the wage board so that the NWPC would be forced to carry it out.

With the P25 wage increase already reported by media, organized labor reacted strongly, warning that it would create more trouble in work places because workers would continue to demand higher wages because of extraordinary increases in the prices of basic services and cost of services.

“We are warning our social partners, government and employers, that hunger and poverty will only escalate and this will cause more instability from the labor front. We are now telling you that labor groups will file for another wage increase as inflation will continue to rise,” ALU-TUCP vice president Louie Corral said.

Corral added that supervening events will continue to push down workers and the call for wage increase will escalate because the P25 increase is not a “realistic intervention.”

He warned that strikes would disturb the prevailing industrial peace.

Tanjusay said they would continue to fight for a just and substantial wage increase.

“We will invoke that supervening condition exists to justify another round of wage increases. We are not in a normal situation and we are already preparing our petition,” he added.

Tanjusay said the labor sector is pinning their hope on President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Traditionally and historically, we know that the board wage order is dominated by government and employers sector and both camps always connive to outvote the labor representatives and members of the board toward a meager and measly wage increase to keep businesses’ interest which is to keep wages to the barest minimum regardless of workers’ worsening condition just to keep margin of profit,” he added.

Militant labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) said P25 is a “pittance” and not enough to recover the value lost due to inflation. - By WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT

ALU-TUCP says NCR wage positions far apart

THE leading mainstream labor organization said negotiating positions on the minimum wage increase in Metro Manila remain far apart ahead of the wage board’s upcoming decision for the region.

In a phone interview with BusinessWorld, Associated Labor Unions — Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) Spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay said that the biggest labor coalition in the country is skeptical that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board for the National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) will grant a wage adjustment that will satisfy workers.

ALU-TUCP sought a wage hike of P334, based on its estimate of a living wage for a worker in the region beyond the current pay scale of P512 a day.

Mr. Tanjusay added that ALU-TUCP upgraded its initial counter-offer of P80, as reported earlier this month, to P100 when the NCR wage board had a private meeting on Friday after a public hearing. He described the new P100 offer as “take it or leave it.”

“Anything less than P100, the ALU-TUCP will boycott the proceedings.”

Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP) Acting President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said that his organization will honor any “reasonable” outcome of the wage decision.

“We will respect and comply with their decision given that they make a reasonable one,” he said in a phone interview with BusinessWorld.

ECoP was present during the management consultation and public hearing held by the NCR wage board last week. The employers have been warning that an excessive increase in the minimum wage will have adverse effects not only on business but also employment.

Last week, ECoP Governor Antonio H. Abad, Jr. called on the wage board during its meeting with management to not use inflation as the only basis for raising wages because inflation fluctuates while wages are not subject to reduction.

Mr. Ortiz-Luis said he expects the RTWPB-NCR to make a rational decision.

“I believe the board won’t decide on political and emotional driven motives,” he said.

On Sunday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said that he also believes the NCR wage board will make a reasonable decision.

Mr. Tanjusay noted that Mr. Panelo failed to spell out what he considers reasonable.

“Mr. Panelo did not define, did not qualify what an acceptable wage order is,” the ALU-TUCP spokesperson said.

“We know that the Board is dominated by government and the employers and they always connive to outvote the labor representatives and members of the board to (arrive at) a meager wage increase. It is in the interest of businesses to keep wages to the barest minimum regardless of workers’ worsening condition,” Mr. Tanjusay said in a message to BusinessWorld on Monday. — Gillian M. Cortez

Labor group hits ECOP for dictating ‘measly’ P20 wage increase

Rappler photo

The labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines slammed the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines for dictating a measly P20 wage increase for minimum workers in the National Capital Region during the public hearing on wage increase.

ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said the P20 wage increase is being floated by the ECOP as the amount they want the Metro Manila wage board to grant as acceptable to them.

The labor group has filed a P334 wage increase in Metro Manila to be hiked by P334 to reach P846 from the current P512.

The ALU-TUCP cited inflation as the main reason for the proposed hike which rose to 6.2 percent.

Tanjusay said that prices of food and costs of services continue to rise since June, saying there is a need for workers and their families to cope with the current 6.2-percent inflation rate.

Last September, the Department of Labor and Employment announced a P20 hike in the minimum wage in Metro Manila, but the labor group said that proposed hike was an insult to the 4 million wage earners in Metro Manila.

“Considering the searing extraordinary hardship caused by incredibly growing inflation among lowly-waged minimum-waged workers and their families, the ECOP statement is inciting upheaval among workers mostly in slum areas who helped build business and country economy grow but are being treated unjustly,” Tanjusay said.

He said that poor workers are already suffering from government neglect, as the labor group urged business and employers to stop from making highly provocative statements like that.

“We saw and felt once again, how greedy and irresponsible employers and business groups are by continuing to absolutely oppose any wage hike proposal and by defending their profit margin at all costs without due regard to the suffering of their employees particularly at these economically hard times for workers and their families,” the labor group said.

“We can only hope for the best. But with these kinds of poor value and low character shown today by business and employers, let us be ready for the worse,”Tanjusay added. - by Vito Barcelo

Substantial wage hike unlikely, labor admits

LABOR groups sought President Rodrigo Duterte’s intervention for a “substantial” wage increase for some 4 million wage earners in Metro Manila, after a consultation on Monday with the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR).

Representatives of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) submitted during the meeting a supplementary position paper amending its original P320 daily wage hike petition filed in June 2018 to P334 a day.

ALU-TUCP Vice President Louie Corral admitted that the petition for a substantial wage increase was unlikely to be granted, saying that “the NCR regional wage boards were just being polite, perfunctory and routine and just wanted to get over it.”

“It looks like the NCR wage board is not sure about its full mandate. These are times of economic hardship and difficulty for workers in a supposedly growing economy. We fear that what we encountered today are wage board members who don’t want to take real responsibility and make the hard decisions for fairness and decency,” Corral said.

Amid rising prices of goods and cost of services, the President should intervene in the wage issue, he said, adding it might be mishandled and result in a backlash against the Duterte government.

“We therefore call on the President to lead from the front on the wage petition issue. Workers are already barely surviving on their daily minimum wages,” Corral said.

Corral claimed that economic managers were pre-empting the wage board deliberations and misleading the President by saying that a substantial wage increase would be inflationary.

Inflation, however, was caused by profiteers and cartels in electricity, petroleum and rice, as well as the excise tax and value-added tax on power and oil, he said.

Metro Manila workers recieve P512 minimum wage a day. The real value or purchasing power of the minimum wage, however, has fallen to P340 a day, the group said.

The last wage increase, amounting to P21 per day, was granted to minimum-wage earners in Metro Manila on Oct. 5, 2017, out of the original petition of P184 per day.

It brought the daily minimum wage rate in the private sector to P512 from P491.

ALU-TUCP has also sought from the government a P500 monthly grocery subsidy for minimum-wage earners to help them cope with rising inflation and eroding wages.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd said he had recommended a P200 subsidy to the President, subject to the approval of the Departments of Finance and of Budget and Management. - By WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT