A labor group on Friday has called on government to increase the minimum wage in the wake of surging prices resulting from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN).
“Workers, especially the majority of wage earners who gained nothing from TRAIN yet ending up devastatingly hit by inflation, clearly need a wage hike now,” Partido Manggagawa head Rene Magtubo said in a statement.
The group also urged regional wage boards to prioritize wage hikes even if some areas have no wage hike petitions at all, the group said. Regional Wage boards don’t have to wait a year after issuing their last wage order to conduct public hearings regarding these petitions.
The wage hike “in the immediate would merely mean recovery of the lost purchasing power of wages due to inflation,” the group said.
For its part, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) is still studying measures on how to help most minimum wage workers, including the formal sector.
DoLE is working closely with other agencies on how to give subsidies to those affected by the TRAIN law, including minimum wage workers of the formal sector,
Labor Undersecretary Joel B. Maglunsod said in a chance interview on Tuesday.
Based on the Department of Finance’s (DoF) findings, formal sector workers who earn less than P18,000 a month are also affected by the TRAIN. Therefore, they are eligible to receive a P200 subsidy for those affected by the TRAIN law although Mr. Maglunsod clarified that this isn’t final yet.
The agency is still discussing the matter with the Office of the President and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), he added.
Around 10 million informal sector workers receive the subsidy through conditional cash transfers (CCT) or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). — Gillian M. Cortez

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