Minimum wage earners in Metro Manila will get a P35 hike in their daily salary starting July 17, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in the National Capital Region said.
The new wage order raised the daily minimum wage in NCR from P610 to P645 for the non-agriculture sector, and from P573 to P608 for the agriculture sector, service and retail establishments employing 15 or less workers, and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers.
The Makabayan bloc, however, called the wage hike a “mere pittance” amid the inflation and as the family living wage stands at P1,200 – or a wage gap of more than P500.
“This P35 increase is an insult to Filipino workers. It’s even lower than the P40 hike granted last year. How can the government expect NCR workers to survive on P645 a day when the Family Living Wage stands at P1,200 and when prices continue to accelerate?” said Rep. Arlene Brosas of Gabriela Women’s Party.
Brosas reiterated Gabriela’s commitment to push for the passage of House Bill 7568 or the P750 across-the-board wage hike bill.
Kilusang Mayo Uno secretary general Jerome Adonis said the P35 wage increase cannot even cover the price of one kilo of rice.
The labor group called on Filipino workers to join the mass mobilization during the President’s State of the Nation Address on July 22.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) also criticized the meager wage hike, vowing to push for the passage of House Bill No. 7871 that seeks a P150 across-the-board wage increase.
The bill, also known as the Wage Recovery Act, is pending in the House Committee on Labor and Employment. The Senate earlier passed a P100 across-the-board wage hike.
The wage order is expected to directly benefit around 988,243 minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.
About 1.7 million full-time wage and salary workers earning above the minimum wage may also indirectly benefit as a result of upward adjustments at the enterprise level arising from the correction of wage distortion.
The new wage rates translate to about a 5.7 percent increase from the prevailing daily minimum wage rates in Metro Manila.
Leaders from the Employer Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), for their part, expressed concerns on the impact on the wage hike on businesses even as they said they are obliged to follow the approved minimum wage hike.
“While our members are complaining about the latest wage hike, we said we cannot do anything but follow the guidance of the RTWPB. It was computed with consideration of inflation, and the economy. We need to follow that. We will respect that,” ECOP president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said.
He underscored the potential challenges faced by micro-enterprises which could have a hard time coping with the minimum wage hike.
On the other hand, PCCI president Enunina Mangio commended the government for approving a P35 daily salary increase, saying it was more reasonable compared to earlier rumored amounts of P100 or P300 daily wage hike.
“To the business sector this P35 per day salary increase is more reasonable compared to the earlier unofficial rumors of at least P100 per day hike. We laud the government for their sincerity in considering and evaluating the reasonable output,” she said.