Malacañang said Sunday it was hoping for a “Solomonic compromise” on the proposed minimum wage increase that would be acceptable to workers and employers.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the regional tripartite wage board had already tackled the proposal to increase the salaries of private- sector workers.
READ: Big labor group demands P100 pay hike, pleads for Duterte’s push
“The National Wage and Productivity Commission is now conducting public hearings between employer groups and workers and we hope a decision, which is acceptable to both parties, would be made soon,” Panelo said in a statement.
This was after the labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines insisted on a 334-peso increase in the daily minimum wage of private workers in Metro Manila.
READ: Workers insist on P334 wage increase
The labor group claims the proposed wage increase is not “extravagant,” saying it is only demanding a “survival wage hike” to cope with the rising inflation rate.
But employers are opposing the proposal because it might have a negative impact on business and scaring investors.
Malacañang, however, remains optimistic that government measures will help to tame inflation.
“For the time being, the government has decisively acted to tame inflation,” Panelo said.
“Our people are beginning to feel the effects with the price of rice starting to go down, and just yesterday the Suggested Retail Price program and prescribed labeling for milled rice have been launched by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry to protect consumers from profiteers.”
Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration would continue to monitor the inflation rate.
“The Office of the President, together with the relevant agencies of the government, will closely monitor inflation to ensure that our economy will continue to be advantageous to the Filipino people,” Panelo said.
ALU-TUCP Spokesman Alan Tanjusay said they would not back down from their proposal.
“We are not backing down with our 334-peso wage- increase petition because we are not asking for a lavish and extravagant wage increase,” Tanjusay said.
“We are just demanding a survival wage hike to recover the lost real value of our wages so that we can be able to cope with rising inflation and avoid hunger.”
The Philippines’ inflation rate rose to 6.2 percent in the third quarter from 4.8 percent previously, driven mainly by rising food and oil prices.
