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WORKERS
and employers are currently caught in a standoff as
business owners propose a P30 emergency cost of living
allowance (Ecola), instead of concurring with a labor
union’s P80 wage-hike petition.
An
insider from the National Wages and Productivity
Commission (NWPC) said both the Trade Union Congress of
the Philippines (TUCP) and the Employers Confederation
of the
Philippines (Ecop)
are in a “standoff” after refusing to accept each
other’s offer.
“The
consultation is now in standoff but the wage boards hope
that we would be able to come out with the reasonable
adjustment,” said the source, who requested anonymity.
The
tripartite board of the National Capital Region (NCR)
has started holding hearings for the TUCP’s P80 hike
petition since May 1, after declaring that there is a
“supervening condition” to adjust workers’ salary.
According to the NWPC source, workers turned down the
employers’ P30 Ecola offer.
TUCP
spokesman Alex Aguilar earlier warned the wage boards
against approving any amount lower than the expectation
of workers, or they are up “for abolition.”
He said
a P30-Ecola is below labor unions’ expectations.
The
labor department earlier promised to come up with a new
wage order before the end of May. As a practice, the
petition for salary adjustment in the NCR gets resolved
first and is used by each region’s wage boards as a
benchmark in deciding their respective increments.
The NCR
wage board is set to conduct a public hearing on May 13
and marathon deliberations for the next two to three
days to determine the amount of wage increase to grant
workers. |
