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THE
Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) said
private firms agreed to the need for a minimum-wage
increase for workers, but definitely not the
across-the-board hike being sought by some labor
sectors.
Ecop
president Sergio Ortiz-Luiz Jr. said there is already an
agreement among the group’s members to prepare for a
salary increase to help workers cope with the worsening
rice and food crisis.
“The
employers are prepared to have the regional wage boards
convened even if it’s not yet time. While we can’t say
any amount [for the wage increase], we have instructed
our representatives to be extra understanding this time
around,” said Ortiz-Luis in a chance interview at the
Manila Polo Club Wednesday night at the forum of Habitat
for Humanity.
Meanwhile, a legislator on Thursday urged Malacañang to
certify as urgent bills that will implement a legislated
wage increase rather than to just allow the regional
wage boards to decide on the wage hikes.
“Workers
have long clamored for a P125 across-the-board
legislated wage hike. While this amount would still not
give workers an income that would be [on a] par with the
daily cost of living, this amount would at least give
significant relief from the high cost of commodities.
While wage boards may decide on a P20 wage hike or even
lower, this cannot even buy a kilo of rice,” said
party-list Rep. Liza Maza of of the militant group
Gabriela.
However,
Maza’s proposal met with strong opposition by
proadministration legislators, who said it would be
better for the Regional Tripartite Wages and
Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) to determine a reasonable
adjustment in the minimum pay of private-sector workers.
Laban ng
Demokratikong Pilipino Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara of
Aurora, Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Rodolfo
Plaza of Agusan del Sur and Lakas Rep. Magtanggol
Guinigundo of
Valenzuela
City
said a legislated wage hike is not practical,
considering that the legislative process often proceeds
at a snail’s pace.
They
said private-sector workers need faster relief to
immediately cope with the rising cost of rice and other
basic commodities.
At the
same time, party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis
said giving tax relief to workers is also necessary, but
it cannot replace the need for the granting of wage
hikes.
“A tax
relief must be enacted as complementary [measure] not as
replacement to a just wage increase which is the
concrete demand of Filipino workers,” said Beltran.
Along
with tax deductions and the grant of an across-the-board
wage increase, Beltran said the government must also
consider the implementation of effective and immediate
price controls.
“Even
with tax breaks and wage hikes, if the prices of basic
commodities, public utilities and oil will not go down,
workers will still suffer severe economic hardship. Any
wage hike announced in the coming days will only cover
the steep increase in the cost of rice, bread, meat,
poultry products and other food stuff, as well as the
effects of the latest oil price increase,” he said.
Speaker
Prospero Nograles said the House would give priority to
the passage of a bill expanding the coverage of personal
tax exemptions granted to employees in the private and
public sectors to mitigate the rising prices of food,
goods and services.
“We have
to look for ways to increase the take-home pay of
ordinary workers, especially the minimum-wage earners,
by reducing their taxable income which comes in the wake
of efforts to increase wages of workers through the
Regional Wage Boards,” Nograles said.
The
Speaker also cautioned against any move to scrap the
expanded value-added tax (E-VAT) because such “premature
move” could adversely affect government revenues and
cripple vital government socioeconomic and
infrastructure programs designed to sustain economic
growth.
“This
will cripple the government’s revenue-generating effort
to sustain the Philippine economy. Without E-VAT, we
won’t have funds to subsidize food, medicines, farm
inputs, etc. What we should do instead is to prioritize
the approval of the proposal to widen the personal
exemption base for workers in the private and public
sector,” Nograles said.
But
Ortiz-Luis stressed that employers are not likely to
agree on the P125 across-the-board wage increase.
The Ecop
chief, meanwhile, noted that the government should also
focus on the informal sector that comprises 84 percent
of the labor industry. He said their number has
increased drastically since 2003, when the government
carried out a series of wage increases.
He said
94 percent of the business industry in the Philippines
is composed of small- and medium-scale industries (SMEs).
“Everytime we have a wage increase, these SMEs are
forced to reduce their work force...so we should look at
this measure carefully,” said Ortiz-Luis.
The
National Wages and Productivity Council, which monitors
and oversees the regional wage boards nationwide, said
that only 5 million minimum-wage earners of the
country’s 36.1-million workers would benefit from the
minimum-wage increase.
The
informal sector includes tricycle drivers and market
vendors who do not benefit from the wage increase.
The
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has filed
petitions for wage increases in four regions that
include an across-the-board P80 increase for workers in
the National Capital Region. It has also sought an
across-the-board wage increase of P100 for workers in
Cagayan de Oro.
The
National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the
Philippines also joined the TUCP in seeking a P50-wage
increase in
Western Visayas. These two groups, meanwhile, joined the Alliance of
Progressive Labor in seeking a P150.45 minimum-wage
increase in
Central
Visayas. |
