Pay hike order for Metro Manila workers set in November 2018

MANILA, Philippines — The government will issue a new minimum wage order for workers in Metro Manila next week, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello announced yesterday.

Bello made the statement amid reports that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has approved a P25 wage increase in the National Capital Region.

“This is mere speculation,” Bello said.

He said the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) have no authority to make such an announcement.

TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said a P25 pay hike for minimum wage earners in Metro Manila has been approved following a deadlock in the deliberations between the employers and labor groups. 

Bello, however, said it is the RTWPB that can make its recommendation to the National Wages and Productivity Commission on the amount of salary adjustment to be approved.

“I don’t know where the TUCP and ECOP got their information,” he said.

Bello said they would hold a press briefing on Nov. 5 to announce the new minimum wage in Metro Manila.

Earlier, the TUCP sought a P334 increase in the daily minimum pay of workers to cope with the rising prices of goods.

Tanjusay said the P25 increase would not recover the purchasing power of workers due to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law.

“It is not a wage increase in real terms and falls far short of addressing the lost value of wages in the face of spiraling prices of basic commodities,” he said.

Tanjusay said President Duterte can still change the pay hike that would be recommended by the regional wage board. 

He added the P25 wage hike would “most likely” be adopted by the regional wage board after it was put to a vote during the last day of deliberations on Monday. 

The ECOP made the counter-offer of P25 after the labor sector manifested that they would only accept a P100 pay increase. 

Labor groups expressed hope that the wage hike could reach as much as P60 to P80. – With Romina Cabrera