THE Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) filed before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) on Monday, March 26, a petition for a P104 daily wage increase across-the-board and region-wide.

“We still don’t have feedback from the employers’ group since we just filed the petition with RTWPB early this morning,” ALU-Southern Mindanao Region Education and Information Officer Melba L. Tampakan said in an interview.

Ms. Tampakan said the wage increase should be across-the-board and region-wide since “all workers are subject to the same changes in the prices of goods and services and the distortion provision in wage orders is cumbersome, unjust and does not respond to the needs of other workers.”

The last wage adjustment in the region took effect May 1 last year, with rates currently at P335 for agriculture workers; P325 for those in the retail and service sectors in an establishment with up to 10 workers; and P340 for those in nonagriculture, industrial, commercial and retail, and service with more than 10 workers.

ALU-TUCP National President Michael Democrito C. Mendoza, who represents the group in the petition filed, said the past increases “have been overtaken by increases in the power and water rates, health, and education cost, prices of oil and its products, LPG and of basic goods and services.”

Mr. Mendoza said that despite gains in the economy and productivity, the region’s workers have not been granted a single peso in real wage increase since 1989, the year when Congress passed Republic Act 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act.

“According to government figures, in February 2018 the purchasing power of the latest legislated P340 daily minimum wage in Region XI is only P295.14,” he said, adding that their proposed P104 increase still does not factor in the impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law that took effect in January this year. — Carmencita A. Carillo

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR