TUCP to Duterte admin: Issue wage hike orders before bowing out

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Friday called on the government to act on minimum wage increase petitions, instead of passing on the responsibility to the next administration.

“[T]he TUCP again reiterates its calls on the government to issue wage increase orders now rather than pass on the buck to the next Administration. The Filipino workers have sacrificed for the last six years. In the last two months of this administration, we ask that minimum wages be raised,” the labor group said.

Likewise, the TUCP said that it has so far filed wage petitions in 10 regions, including the National Capital Region (NCR), Region 7, Region 9, Region 10, Region 11, Region 12, Region 13, Region 4A, and Region 5.

“We will be filing [wage petitions] in Region 1 and Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR),”it added.

Meanwhile, at least 20 wage hike petitions are pending before the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), covering areas such as Central Luzon, the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, the Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, the Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, and the Davao Region. 

National Wages and Productivity Commission Executive Director Maria Criselda Sy said last month that the regional wage boards had expedited the review and adjustment process.

According the TUCP, at least five million workers are waiting for a wage increase.

“We fear that the DOLE, the Wage Boards, and the outgoing administration is really going to pass the buck to the next administration,” it said.

DOLE Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay earlier said that the department expects to come up with a decision before May.

“Time is now up for the government to address the heavy burden of sub-poverty threshold wages for over five million minimum wage earning Filipinos,” the TUCP said.

“This translates to five million malnourished and hungry working families and a generation of children who are now both stunted in growth mentally and physically,” it added.

For the next administration, the labor group suggested that Regional Wage Boards’ wage increase orders should be out in the first 100 days, “addressing the deplorable minimum wages our people have.”

“Second, restore the labor relations system where having an employer-employee relationship as the general norm. Shutdown the loopholes on labor-only contracting. Let us put a finish to Endo once and for all,” it said.

“Third, government must take the lead in creating four million new jobs in the next two years,” it added. —LBG, GMA News