THE Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) – National Capital Region (NCR) is ready to act on the wage petition filed by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) asking for a P154 pay increase in Metro Manila.
According to the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), the NCR wage board is already prepared to act on the wage petition of the TUCP since the last wage order it issued already passed its one year anniversary last April 4.
"Once the board has received the petition, it will meet to study the merits of the petition and the board’s action thereto," said Dole-NCR Director Nelson Hornilla.
Under the Wage Rationalization Act, there is a 12-month ban on issuing a new wage order from the most recent one unless there is a declared "supervening condition".
In the petition it filed Thursday, the TUCP said all workers, not only minimum pay earners getting P481 daily, must be afforded the P154 pay increase.
"That the petitioned P154 per day increase should be given across the board and region-wide since all workers are subject to the same changes in prices of goods and services," said TUCP in its petition.
According to the labor group, all workers in the NCR need to be afforded a P154 pay adjustment in order to help restore their purchasing power of the workers' wages since the P481 present floor wage has been overtaken by increases in power and water rates, in health and education costs, the prices of oil and its products, LPG, and of basic goods and services.
The group said the P154 daily wage increase in NCR is essential if workers are to cope with the increasing cost of living; meet the basic needs of workers and their families, even if only partially; and give meaning and substance to the country’s policy of equitable distribution of income and wealth.
"Six Hundred Thirty-Five Pesos -- P481 + P154 -- should be the level of daily minimum wage of workers in the NCR to help restore the purchasing power of the workers’ wages and to compensate their contributions to the improvement of the regional economy in particular and the entire country in general," said the TUCP. (Sunnex)