Inadequate, insulting wage hike

To paraphrase that ice cream commercial, “just how far will P35 take you?”

It’s a question that strongly disappointed minimum wage earners in the National Capital Region (NCR) have been asking since the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board approved this week a P35 increase that would raise the NCR’s daily wage to P645. The wage order, which the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said was expected to directly benefit 988,243 minimum wage workers in Metro Manila, takes effect July 17, or 15 days after its publication on Monday.

Retail and service establishments regularly employing not more than 10 workers, and enterprises affected by natural calamities and/or human-induced disasters, may apply to the wage board for exemption, the Dole said. Also exempted from the wage order are Barangay Micro Business Enterprises.

While Dole said the pay hike represents “about 5.7 percent increase from the prevailing daily minimum wage rates in the region, remain above the latest regional poverty threshold for a family of five,” labor leaders, workers, and lawmakers have slammed the miserly amount. Senate President Francis Escudero described it as “grossly inadequate” to address the real needs of workers, especially amid the soaring prices of essential goods, including rice and fuel, that the government seems unable to bring down.

Paltry increase

Gabriela party list Rep. Arlene Brosas saw it as an “insult” to Filipino workers. “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?” railed Brosas, citing the 3.9 percent inflation rate as of June 2024.

Noted Luis Corral, vice president of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines: “The NCR regional wage board proved once again to be so myopic. They opted to protect business profits rather than the bigger societal purpose of the wage increase.”

Joel Tongco, president of the Macalajar Labor Union-FFW (Federation of Free Workers) based in Cagayan de Oro City, ventured a similar observation: “This wage order displays once again how insensitive the wage boards are to the plight of workers.”

Several issues deserve airing as well. Why the paltry increase when the Senate, in February, passed a law mandating a P100 wage hike, while the House proudly hoisted its plan to pass a legislated pay increase of from P150 to P350 for private sector workers?

Erosion of purchasing power

In an earlier statement, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe pointed out that the chamber’s members found that the Senate-approved P100 wage adjustment “might not sufficiently meet the needs of the workers,” given that they continue to grapple with the effects of inflation and the resulting erosion of purchasing power. Whatever happened to such vaunted good intentions? Why stoke such lofty expectations only to cruelly fling them down?

Bills proposing wage increases have often been stalled in Congress for years because of resistance from economists and groups representing both big and small businesses. This time around, though, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines has said it would comply with the wage order “since it was thoroughly studied and we were well-represented in the tripartite wage board,” according to its president, Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr.

Workers outside the NCR meanwhile groused about the wage increase being effective only in some areas instead of being applicable in outlying regions and provinces, where workers are burdened with the same cost of goods and services. In some cases, even more. Shouldn’t agriculture and nonagriculture workers who pay for fuel that has seen a price hike for the third consecutive week as of June 30, be given some relief as well?

Very narrow window

According to Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, those opposing the wage order may still file an appeal before the National Wages and Productivity Commission “within 10 days from publication of the wage order, or until July 11.” Added the labor chief: “Any individual or organization, whether labor or employer, who feels aggrieved can file [an appeal].”

It’s a very narrow window that labor leaders, lawyers, and lawmakers must take advantage of, given how every peso increase in the minimum wage has a cumulative effect on the country’s economy.

As noted by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who had sponsored the P100 wage hike that would have benefitted all private sector employees: “Definitely, some may argue that implementing such measures could impose hardships on businesses and impede economic growth. However, we should bear in mind that a flourishing economy relies on the vitality of its workforce, who are considered the lifeblood of enterprises.”

More than reviving the country’s economy, a well-thought-out and supported living wage allows workers easier access to much-needed goods and services that would enable them and their families to live with dignity as well.