The P25 daily wage increase will take effect by Nov. 27, Labor Secretary Silvester Bello III said, but labor groups insisted the meager pay hike would not be enough to support the buying power of the ideal workers’ salary of P537 a day.
“The adjustment will take effect on Nov. 27, 15 days after the publication of the approval by the National Wages and Productivity Commission in a newspaper of general publication,” Bello said Saturday.
The P25 increase is way lower than the P334 the petitioners have proposed, and is closer to the P20 offer of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and Partido Manggagawa slammed the wage hike, saying it is too small to compensate for the erosion in workers’ wages due to inflation.
The groups said the current cost of living estimate for a family of five in Metro Manila is P1,300 a day.
“The marked slowdown in household consumption on food and other basic products is a manifestation that wages and benefits workers are receiving are no longer enough to buy essential necessities and pay for basic services,” ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.
“We call call this ongoing inflation crisis phenomenon as putol-putol na sinturon and punit-punit na kumot [cut-up belt and torn blanket],” he said in describing the state of “diminishing options” for poor workers.
“With more and more workers and their families experiencing poverty, the TUCP is looking at lower productivity of workers to create products and render services greatly affecting our high and competitive economic performance,” the group said.
Meanwhile, the PM said the P25 adjustment is the latest proof of how wages are fixed under the present administration “that deepens inequality rather than eradicate chronic poverty.”