At Central Visayas hearing, labor groups push for P150 wage hike

CEBU, Philippines – Labor groups urged members of the Central Visayas Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) to support calls for a P150 wage hike in Congress during a public hearing in Cebu City on Tuesday, August 20.

“The public hearing is underway in the House labor committee for an increase of P150 or more. We request the wage board to support our efforts if you also wish to help improve the difficult lives of workers and their families,” Partido Manggagawa said in a statement.

On July 1, the RTWPB in the National Capital Region (NCR) approved a P35 wage increase, raising the salaries of workers in the non-agriculture sector from P610 to P645, and in the agriculture sector and establishments with 15 or less workers from P573 to P608.

In response to this, labor groups like the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) decided to ramp up campaigns for an all-out across-the-board wage increase of up to P150.

For members of the Associated Labor Unions (ALU), Partido Manggagawa (PM), and Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo Kilusang Mayo Uno (AMA Sugbo KMU), the P150 wage hike is a must in order for workers to cope with the harsh effects of inflation.

“It allows us to recover the purchasing power that we’ve lost during the past years because of the high inflation rates,” lawyer Michael Hubahib of ALU Central Visayas said.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the average inflation rate in Central Visayas from 2020 to 2022, with 2018 as the base year, increased from 1.5% to 6.6%. It was only in 2023 that the region’s average inflation lowered to 5.1%.

Hubahib stressed that the region’s daily minimum wage, which is up to P468, should match the needs of workers, especially their families. 

Research institution IBON Foundation reported on August 7 that the living wage for a family of five in Central Visayas should be P1,288.

Goes both ways

For business leaders from the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCC), inflation has also affected the cost of production for many establishments, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“Amid the continuing rise in fuel prices and their anticipated impact on the economy, we are worried that smaller enterprises may not be able to afford a pay increase for workers at this time,” the MCCI said in a statement.

“Companies who are unable to recover the increased cost of production would have no other choice but to downsize or worse, close shop, or simply go underground to avoid penalties or do what other companies are doing, automate, use artificial intelligence and robotics to decrease manpower,” MCCI added.

Based on PSA’s 2022 List of Establishments (LE), there were at least 79,689 MSMEs in Central Visayas.

Balancing act

Department of Labor regional director for Central Visayas Lilia Estillore described the agency’s role in the hearings as a balancing act.

“Any increase will still be passed on to consumers and the consumers are still the workers although, we’re not saying no increase should happen because how can we afford things then,” Estillore said in a mix of English and Cebuano.

Over the past year, legislators have debated on an across-the-board daily minimum wage hike, ranging from an increase of P100 to P750. So far, the Senate approved in February a bill seeking a daily minimum wage hike of P100.

Estillore told reporters that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board would be discussing the inputs from the wage review public hearings in September, and decide if there would be an increase or not.

“No wage increase is the sentiment of the majority of the management but depending on the wage board, I can’t say but the way I look at it, personally, maybe it’s a question of the amount…I cannot conclude,” Estillore said. – Rappler.com