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THE
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is
“extremely disappointed” with the P20 salary adjustment
for Metro Manila’s minimum-wage earners, and has
questioned the integrity of government representatives
sitting as members of the Regional Tripartite Wages and
Productivity Board (RTWPB).
Alex
Aguilar, TUCP’s spokesman, said the labor group will ask
Congress to include a representative each from academe
and the Catholic Church to sit in the wage boards to
ensure the credibility of rulings on workers’ salary.
“We
appeal to Congress to look into their operations,”
Aguilar said, and accused representatives of the
National Economic and Development Authority [Neda] and
the Department of Trade and Industry [DTI] of siding
with employers during deliberations on wage petitions by
organized labor.
On Friday the RTWPB in Metro Manila ruled to give more
than half-a-million minimum-wage earners in the capital
a P20 daily salary increase—a decision severely
criticized both by moderate and militant labor groups.
Wage
Order 14 mandates a P15 increase in the basic pay of
workers in the private sector effective 15 days after
the new ruling has been published in a newspaper of
general circulation. Meanwhile, it also ruled to give
workers a P5 cost-of-living allowance, which will be
integrated into their basic pay on August 28 this year,
the anniversary of the previous wage order.
There
are an estimated 589,000 minimum-wage earners in the
capital, according to the National Wages and
Productivity Commission (NWPC). The new salary
adjustment gives workers a total of P382 daily basic
pay.
Workers
in agriculture, retail/service with not more than 10
workers, private hospitals with bed capacity of 100 or
less, and manufacturing establishments with less than 10
employees will get a minimum-wage of P345, according to
the new order.
But
while there are more than half a million minimum-wage
earners in the capital, the new ruling is expected to
benefit only a handful of workers since small and micro
enterprises are exempted from adjusting pay. Small and
micro firms make up 99.55 percent of all the 195,632
commercial establishments in Metro Manila, according to
the NWPC.
Micro
companies are those with one to nine workers while small
enterprises have about 10 to 99 employees.
However,
these firms have to file an exemption before the wage
board, proving, among others, that they are financially
distressed, adversely affected by natural calamities and
are micro and small indigenous exporters to be immune
from the wage order.
“They
never listen to us. We are always outvoted,” Aguilar
accused the wage boards.
Created
under Republic Act 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act
of 1989, the tripartite regional wage boards are
composed of representatives from government, labor and
employers.
Aside
from Agravante, who approved the P20 pay hike, two
employers’ representatives and those from the Neda and
DTI have concurred in the NCR wage board’s order. The
two labor representatives dissented.
“We will
engage them in the future,” vowed Aguilar, adding that
his group will appeal the new wage order before the NWPC.
This, even if the NWPC said at Friday’s announcement of
the pay adjustment, that while it will welcomes appeals
from organized groups, it is inclined to uphold the wage
boards’ decision.
“Historically, all appeals have been, in effect,
dismissed. The commission will always honor the decision
of the board,” said Ciriaco Lagunzad III, NWPC’s
executive director.
Aguilar
said a P20 wage hike is “crazy” and would not cover
workers’ needs in light of the continued increases in
oil prices and basic commodities.
“[Based]
on inflation alone, they should have given workers a P28
increase,” he explained.
Wages in
Metro Manila have been adjusted 15 times since 1989 with
increments ranging from P12 to P26.50. |
