Labor groups slammed the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board for approving a P25 daily wage hike for Metro Manila workers, calling it a “pittance” that pleased only employers.
In a statement, the Alliance of Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino said the additional P25 was not enough to recover the value lost due to inflation after prices of all commodities steadily increased in the past months.
“It is not a wage increase in real terms and falls far short of addressing the lost value of NCR wages in the face of the spiraling prices of basic goods,” said ALU-TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said.
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“The board in concert with the backdoor guidance of the economic managers continues to depress worker wages in the face of rising hunger caused by extraordinary inflation largely attributable to both the gross incompetence and governance failures of the economic managers,” he said.
Government representatives and employers’ representatives again outvoted the workers representatives in the board by keeping any increase to a bare minimum to ensure cheap labor to attract investors and keep employer profit margins up in complete and utter disregard of the suffering and sacrifice of workers in building up the country’s gross domestic product, he said.
“With low wages, the only thing that will trickle down will continue to be inflation. The wage order comes after two weeks of lowered petroleum prices and an announced decrease in LPG prices. We believe that this window-dressing of our dire economic straits is largely stage-managed by the economic managers with the oil cartel to mollify consumers and workers,” Tanjusay said.
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ALU-TUCP vice president Louie Corral added: “We are warning our social partners, government and employers, that hunger and poverty will only escalate and this will cause more instability from the labor front. We are now telling you that labor groups will file for another wage increase as inflation will continue to rise.”
The Palace issued a statement saying that both management and labor as well as the overall impact on the economy were considered in the approval of the wage hike.
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