TUCP to ask for wage hike for MM workers

MANILA, Philippines - A labor group on Tuesday announced that it will ask a P85 wage increase for Metro Manila workers.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said it will file on Wednesday, April 3, a petition at the Metro Manila wage board asking for salary hike  increase for minimum wage earners in the National Capital Region.

Last year, the seven-man tripartite wage and productivity board issued wage order, approving a measly P20 and P10 in June and in November amid TUCP’s P90 wage increase petition.

It also integrated into the basic pay the P22 cost of living allowance approved in 2011.

The current minimum wage rate for workers in Metro Manila is P456.

As of June 2012, a family of six needs at least P1,022 a day to live decently, the TUCP said.

"We want the working people here in the metropolis to cope financially against the adverse impacts of  a series of rising prices of basic foods and costs of services incurred in the past few months and prepare them against impending wave of increases in tuition, mass train transport fees and costs of electricity particularly before and after June," TUCP party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza.

“This amount is neither too small or too big but it is just enough balance the needs of the employees and their employers," he added.

Mendoza also said TUCP will also file petitions for wage increase in Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro cities immediately after filing a petition for NCR.