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LEADERS
of the business community gave mixed views on the wisdom
of the Metro Manila tripartite wage board’s decision to
grant a P12 wage increase to minimum-wage earners.
Amid
complaints by both moderate and militant labor groups
that the amount was too small, Malacañang, meanwhile,
said the decision was apparently the result of extensive
hearings and deliberations.
Samie
Lim, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (PCCI), said the group supports the decision,
seeing it as the result of a thorough debate between
labor and management representatives in the wage board,
which concluded deliberations on Monday.
Besides
the P12 wage hike that puts the new minimum daily pay in
the metropolis at P362, the tripartite body also
approved the integration of the P50 cost-of-living
allowance (Cola) into workers’ basic pay. The P50 daily
Cola integration means the amount would be factored into
the computation of other mandatory monetary benefits,
such as overtime pay and the 13-month pay, received by
workers.
Lim said
they are sure the body discussed all possible
repercussions of the decision, like inflation and a rise
in the cost of labor in the country’s foremost region.
“We
support the decision of the wage board since this is a
multisectoral body. They discussed it thoroughly and are
aware of what the realities since their feet are always
on the ground,” Lim said.
In
contrast, PCCI chairman Ambassador Donald Dee said there
was no basis to grant the increase due to the prevailing
low-inflation environment.
“I hope
prices will not increase to the disadvantage of the
workers,” Dee said.
At the
Palace, officials said the Regional Tripartite Wages and
Productivity Board based its decision on “current
economic” conditions.
Press
Secretary Ignacio Bunye noted in a briefing that the
labor sector, which is complaining of the “miniscule”
wage increase, was part of the deliberations.
The
increase is far lower than the P75 wage petition of the
moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)
filed in April to strengthen the purchasing power of
workers and help them cope with rising fuel prices.
The
militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) had called the P12
salary adjustment “miniscule and deceiving,” as it will
not improve the purchasing power of workers in Metro
Manila.
The KMU
had also called on other labor unions to revive the
proposed P125-across-the-board wage hike.
The TUCP,
though derided by the militants, is itself dissatisfied
with the P12 increase and will file an appeal before the
wage board.
Alex
Aguilar, TUCP spokesman, said the wage increase should
be “substantially higher. He added that under the law
any increase sanctioned by a regional board may, upon
appeal, be augmented by the National Wages and
Productivity Commission, chaired by the labor secretary.
“We
expected much more, considering we petitioned for no
less than P75. The P12 increase will not extend workers
any material relief,” he said.
Party-list Rep Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis expressed
strong disappointment over the P12 wage increase.
“It’s
not even enough to buy a kilo of rice. It’s an
insultingly small amount, a slap against workers and
their long-standing and highly justified call for a
substantial wage increase. It’s clear that workers
cannot and should not expect the regional wage boards to
give a just and humane response to workers and their
wage-hike demand. The wage boards are instrumentalities
severely biased in favor of employers and capitalists,”
said Beltran. He recently filed House Bill 1723 calling
for the scrapping of the wage rationalization act, which
created the regional wage boards and putting in place
the wage rationalization system.
In a
statement, KMU chairman Elmer Labog lambasted the
members of the wage board for what he described as
“alms” it gave to workers in announcing the P12 wage
hike, saying with such amount workers can only buy cheap
biscuit for the entire family. “Workers are not
beggars. Please do not offer us alms. We are working
very hard to earn enough, and everyone will agree that
P12 is far from substantial. This decision by the wage
board is an up-front attack to workers’ dignity as the
makers of social wealth,” Labog said.
Members
of the militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng
Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said a
P125 daily-wage hike is more justifiable, considering
the cost of living in Metro Manila nowadays.
Labog
said the wage board’s decision is actually a preemptive
action to the legislated wage increase and criticized
the TUCP for “cooperating with the wage board in staging
this attack against workers.”
Citing a
study by the NWPC, Pamalakaya said the P362 each worker
in Metro Manila would receive, including the P 12 pay
increase, is very low, considering a worker with a
family of six members needs at least P768 per day to
survive in Metro Manila.
Pamalakaya said the current P350 minimum wage is
actually worth P245.61 today based on the present
inflation rate.
Secretary Brion asserted the P 125 wage hike would be
disastrous for the economy, adding a better option would
be to raise wages through regional wage boards and
collective bargaining agreements. The labor secretary
warned that more workers would be laid off by an
increase in daily take- home pay.
Pamalakaya said the DOLE is bluffing in saying that 99
percent of the 783,000 firms in the country are micro,
small- and medium-sized enterprises which will be forced
to lay off workers as a result of a wage hike.
Hicap
said most companies in the Philippines merely spend less
than 20 percent of their total production cost on labor.
He said enterprises can accommodate wage increases up to
P250 per day, and would not result in a dramatic
decrease in profits. (M. de Leon, J. Mayuga, M.
Gonzalez, C. Mocon) |
