EMPLOYERS said they see no chance of approval for a proposed daily minimum wage of P750 for Metro Manila workers, a year after the region last increased its minimum wages.
Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP) President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said he does not expect the wage petition filed by Unity for Wage Increase (U-WIN), an alliance of unions, filed before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board of the National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) on Monday to make it past the board.
“There is no chance the proposal can be passed especially when the increase is more than 50% of the current minimum wage,” Mr. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. told BusinessWorld by phone Monday.
Mr. Ortis-Luis also said that the wage hike petition is unjustified considering receding inflation. The wage board considers inflation, among others, as a factor in deciding a wage increase.
“I don’t know how that can be passed especially with inflation at a (multi-year) low,” he added.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the inflation reading in October of 0.8% was the lowest in three years.
U-WIN said its petition is seeking an additional P213 on top of the current NCR minimum wage.
The current wage level was set by the National Wages and Productivity Commission’s (NWPC) Wage Order No. NCR-22 which fixed the daily minimum wage for private, non-agriculture workers in the NCR at P537.
According to NWPC rules, a wage hike petition can only be filed on the first anniversary of the previous wage order. The required one-year period lapsed on Nov. 22.
U-WIN said the last wage increase only added P25 plus a P10 daily allowance, a 4.9% increase from the previous minimum wage of P512.
U-WIN Spokesperson Charito Arevalo said in a statement, “What we are asking is mere relief for Filipino workers and their families (to bring their earnings to) at least 75% of the daily cost of living.” U-WIN added that wage growth has not kept up with productivity growth.
The alliance also quoted World Bank Economist Rong Qian as saying that wages did not grow in real terms in the Philippines between 2000 and 2016. — Gillian M. Cortez
