Swift action on wage hike petitions sought

MANILA, Philippines — The largest labor group in the country is urging regional wage boards to swiftly act on petitions for salary hikes.

“With wages way below the poverty threshold, the wage board must act with a sense of urgency and immediately issue a wage increase order. Our minimum wage workers and their households are experiencing extraordinary poverty and hardship,” Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) president Raymond Mendoza said.

Mendoza said poor workers and their families were most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as natural calamities that hit the country.

The TUCP filed petitions for an increase of P413 in the daily take-home pay of workers in Northern Mindanao, P430 in Central Visayas, P418 in Davao and P470 in Metro Manila.

Ten petitions are pending before the regional wage boards in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas.