P40 minimum wage hike in NCR not enough, labor groups say

The P40 increase in the daily minimum wage of private sector workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) is not enough to compensate for the rising cost of living in the region, labor groups said Friday.

In a statement, the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) said that while it welcomes the approved wage increase “as a small victory for our dedicated labor force,” it added that “the sentiment of disappointment is palpable among many of our workers.”

“The increment falls significantly short of the more than P100 wage recovery that our labor force had been anticipating. It also fails to reflect the escalating cost of living in Metro Manila. As such, we stress that the struggle for a fair, living wage is far from over,” FFW said.

Partido Manggagawa (PM) shared the similar sentiment, saying the wage increase “is way below the P100 – P1,140 wage hike petitions filed by several labor groups since December last year.”

“We are disappointed as the order not only came late but also because it was not the workers but primarily the side of business that was considered in this decision,” PM said.

“To illustrate categorically, the P40 increase can only buy a kilo of a regular-milled rice or pretend it can for 2 kilos of that imaginary P20/kg promised by the President. The increase may not even be enough to cover the increase in the prices of onions,” the group added.

On Thursday, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced that NCR’s Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board issued on June 26, 2023 Wage Order No. NCR-24, which increased the daily minimum wage for non-agriculture and agriculture sector workers by P40.

The adjustment brought the daily minimum wage in NCR to P610.00 from the current P570.00 for non-agriculture sector workers.

For those in the agriculture sector, service, and retail establishments employing 15 or fewer workers as well as manufacturers regularly employing less than 10 workers, the daily minimum wage was hiked to P573.00 from P533.00.

The order is set to take effect on July 16, 2023.

FFW, nonetheless, said the wage hike may serve as “a stepping stone towards our ultimate goal—a ?150 legislated wage hike nationwide.”

“We are therefore calling on our members, workers, and the broader public to rally behind the higher wage proposal currently being scrutinized in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This legislation is critical for drastically improving the economic realities of our workers and their families,” FFW said.

The PM, likewise, said that the “wage battle now shifts to Congress for a P150 - P750 legislated across-the-board wage hike.”

In the Senate, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who chairs the  Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, said they will still push for the legislated wage hike despite the approval of a P40 increase in the daily minimum wage in Metro Manila.

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has said raising the minimum wage by P150 across the Philippines would increase inflation by 1.4 percentage points.

Diokno made the remark after a proposal for a legislated P150 minimum wage hike was approved at the committee level in the Senate in May. —KBK, GMA Integrated News