Will getting P85 more per day be enough to cope with rising prices?
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines thinks so and is asking the capital’s Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board to approve an 85-peso pay increase for workers in Metro Manila.
“The P85 daily increase in NCR is essential if workers are to cope with the increasing prices of commodities and cost of living, if they are to meet the basic needs of their families, and if the country is to give meaning and substance to the policy of equitable distribution of income and wealth,” TUCP president Victorino Balais says in a Sun Star Online report.
Workers will have to wait, though. The Department of Labor and Employment cannot release wage orders within a year of releasing an order to raise wages.
The board released a wage order in May 2012 raising wages by P20. The wage order was implemented in two tranches, with a P20 increase in June and an additional P10 increase in November.
“The one-year period does not end until May 17. Until then, our rules prohibit any wage increase unless there is a supervening condition that the regional wage board might consider,” DOLE-NCR Director Alan Macaraya said in the report. He also said inflation has been stable in recent months and the economy has been growing.
