THE regional wage boards have been ordered by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to review whether another round of increase for the country’s 4 million minimum wage earners could be imposed next year to cushion the impact of soaring prices of food and other basic commodities.
“This (wage hike) is something we are studying. We are not disregarding recent events. That’s why our Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) have the directive that even though we just recently issued wage adjustments, we will still consider the current situation so we can help our workers and entrepreneurs,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said in a television interview on Tuesday.
The labor chief noted that wage adjustments could be made only once a year, but said the RTWPBs were already assessing the factors, such as the recent typhoons, the ongoing pandemic and high inflation, that could merit another pay increase for workers.
The last minimum wage adjustments were implemented in June this year following the surge in fuel prices as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that sent global crude oil prices soaring.
Then Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III noted that workers in Metro Manila earning P537 a day might no longer be able to cope with the daily cost of living. The minimum wage in the National Capital Region was raised by P33 to P570 a day. The increases in regional minimum wages ranged from P30 to P110.
During the Duterte administration, the minimum wage was adjusted once in 2018.
Regarding the planned provision of fuel subsidies and other nonwage benefits, Laguesma said DOLE was coordinating with other government agencies, such as the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Agriculture and the National Economic and Development Authority.
For Elmer Labog, chair of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), the minimum pay of P570 in Metro Manila was just equivalent to P494 when adjusted for inflation.
“It is not even considered a living wage and now, the value of the minimum wage worker’s salary has been reduced because of high inflation,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
metrosundaily
