Strike while the iron is hot. No stranger to this dictum, the labor sector—after getting President Duterte’s commitment to end contractualization, or endo—will now petition for a P184 across-the-board wage increase for workers in Metro Manila, or more than a third of what they are currently receiving.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said it will file the petition on Wednesday before the National Capital Region (NCR) wage board. ALU-TUCP Spokesman Alan A. Tanjusay told the BusinessMirror that the proposed salary hike is meant to restore the purchasing power of the daily pay being received by NCR-based workers. “The P491 minimum wage is not enough already as it lost purchasing power due to rising prices of basic commodities.”
“Along the way since the last wage hike, an estimated P367 was depleted because goods and services increased prices, too,” Tanjusay added.
The labor unions made the revelation just days after they submitted to Malacañang the executive order (EO) that they drafted seeking to end the practice of endo in the country—a promise that Duterte made during the campaign period for the 2016 polls.
With a populist President that is sympathetic to the labor sector while repeatedly berating oligarchs in his public statements, the ALU-TUCP is also confident of getting the approval of Duterte for its planned changes in the wage-setting mechanism.
Tanjusay said Duterte “listened and is open” to ALU-TUCP’s recommendation that instead of a regional wage board, there should be a national wage board to equalize wages all over the country.
Tanjusay said in his group’s meeting with Duterte on May 1, workers told the Chief Executive to closely study the possibility of implementing a national wage-setting mechanism. “He received our proposal with an open mind and promised to examine closely our proposal,” the spokesman said.
A national wage is being pushed for by numerous labor groups, saying this would be a better wage system in contrast to the status quo. Militant group Kilusang Mayo Uno, for one, is calling on the government to consider implementing a P750 national wage.
Meanwhile, Tanjusay said the Office of the President has yet to give an update on the draft EO that ALU-TUCP submitted on May 9 on endo. He added it was the Chief Executive who asked for the draft EO, so he should really look into the framework that their group submitted.
Two weeks ago Tanjusay told the BusinessMirror “the ball is now in Duterte’s hands” whether he will really outlaw contractualization as a mode of employment now that the labor groups have done their part in fulfilling the President’s request of drafting the EO.
On May 1 Duterte asked labor groups to draft the EO on endo, a decision reached after he held a dialogue with labor leaders in Davao City.
The EO was demanded by workers as a replacement for Department Order (DO) 174 issued in March by the Department of Labor and Employment. Labor groups strongly protested against DO 174, saying it does not fully scrap contractualization.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza