From P491, minimum wage earners in Metro Manila will now earn an additional P21 after the regional wage board granted petitions for a wage increase on Thursday, September 14.
Starting October, workers will have P512 a day.
However, the wage increase granted is too low than the proposed P184 hike sought by Associated Labor Unions (ALU), P259 of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and P1,200 of the Association of Minimum Wage Earners and Advocates (AMWEA) filed last June.
The measly hike was lamented by ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.
"The P21 increase in daily wage remains insufficient for families to cope with rising prices of goods and increasing costs of goods. P21 is only 4.27% of the current P491. So it obviously did not lift workers out of poverty. Workers who helped built a high economic growth of 6.9% average gross domestic product do not deserve this very small amount," he said.
Tanjusay added they will be urging President Rodrigo Duterte to grant P500 subsidy for minimum wage earners to alleviate poverty. Such funds will be coming from the Office of the President.
However, Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III already claimed that it will be difficult to approve the proposal because it will cost the government P1.3 billion for just a month of implementation.
Source: Rappler
Image: IBTP
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