The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has urged President Rodrigo Duterte to abolish the 30-year-old tripartite wage setting structure in the country and do away with the current differentiated provincial wage rates and create a singular wage fixing body to determine a uniformed minimum wage rate nationwide.
TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said the old system should be replaced because the current minimum wage setting mechanism only favor those of businesses and no longer balance the interest of workers.
“The wage board is key in achieving equality and social justice for workers. Its mandate is to ensure that our economic growth also benefits the workers. However, our economy is growing and business enterprises have been prospering but the workers who helped built that wealth remains impoverished,” Mendoza said.
The 17 wage boards across the country were created in 1989 through Republic Act 6727 also known as Wage Rationalization Act. Its mandate is to set minimum wage that protects workers’ welfare and promote enterprise and workers productivity.
Despite wage increase orders issued last year—ranging from P8.50 to P56 daily wage hike—workers’ minimum wages across all sectors nationwide was raised to a total average of P374 a day by the end of 2018 from P340 during the first quarter of the same year—ailing to reach even half of the P1,400 daily standard amount set by the government’s National Economic and Development Authority as the amount needed by a family of five in order to live a comfortable life.