The labor group Associated Labor Unions is seeking a P184 wage increase from P491 a day to P675 a day, but was skeptic the government would grant their petition, saying the wage board is callous and inconsiderate to grant their appeal and would instead bargain for a measly P10 increase.
“It’s frustrating for us to file wage increase petition every time but the wage board is irrelevant and irresponsive na magbibigay lang ng 10, 15, 20 pesos. But the ALU has to do this every time because millions of minimum wage earners are voiceless and powerless. We have to represent them in the process,” ALU spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.
Tanjusay said the daily wage for Metro Manila workers should now be P675.
ALU also warned of the dire impact to productivity and health of workers and their families in Metro Manila as the purchasing power of P491 daily minimum pay for workers in the National Capital Region has sunk to merely P357, the lowest in three years.
“A sinking purchasing power of workers’ daily wage means lowering of the quality and quantity of nutritious food that is so vital to workers’ productivity at his work and to his family. A lowered purchasing power will also affect the health of the children,” he said.
Tanjusay said they filed a P184 wage increase to restore the value of P491 because the current purchasing power of the daily minimum wage is insufficient to support a family amid the rising cost of prices of commodities and cost of services.
Records from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the National Economic Development Authority and the National Wages and Productivity Commission, said the value of the nominal P491 in the National Capital Region has eroded to P361.30 in January this year and fell to P357, 12 weeks later.