The labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines slammed the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines for dictating a measly P20 wage increase for minimum workers in the National Capital Region during the public hearing on wage increase.
ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said the P20 wage increase is being floated by the ECOP as the amount they want the Metro Manila wage board to grant as acceptable to them.
The labor group has filed a P334 wage increase in Metro Manila to be hiked by P334 to reach P846 from the current P512.
The ALU-TUCP cited inflation as the main reason for the proposed hike which rose to 6.2 percent.
Tanjusay said that prices of food and costs of services continue to rise since June, saying there is a need for workers and their families to cope with the current 6.2-percent inflation rate.
Last September, the Department of Labor and Employment announced a P20 hike in the minimum wage in Metro Manila, but the labor group said that proposed hike was an insult to the 4 million wage earners in Metro Manila.
“Considering the searing extraordinary hardship caused by incredibly growing inflation among lowly-waged minimum-waged workers and their families, the ECOP statement is inciting upheaval among workers mostly in slum areas who helped build business and country economy grow but are being treated unjustly,” Tanjusay said.
He said that poor workers are already suffering from government neglect, as the labor group urged business and employers to stop from making highly provocative statements like that.
“We saw and felt once again, how greedy and irresponsible employers and business groups are by continuing to absolutely oppose any wage hike proposal and by defending their profit margin at all costs without due regard to the suffering of their employees particularly at these economically hard times for workers and their families,” the labor group said.
“We can only hope for the best. But with these kinds of poor value and low character shown today by business and employers, let us be ready for the worse,”Tanjusay added.