THE country’s largest labor group on Monday called on President Duterte to finally intervene in the ongoing wage review in Metro Manila after expressing doubts on the capability of the regional wage board to issue a “significant” hike.
During its labor consultations in Pasay City, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) was criticized by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) for its alleged limited review of the economic indicators within its jurisdiction for the adjustment of its wage rate.
“We fear that what we encountered today are wage board members who don’t want to take real responsibility and make the hard decisions for fairness and decency,” TUCP Vice President Louie Corral said.
The labor leader, however, fell short of naming who he was referring to among the seven members of the RTWPB-NCR.
TUCP is asking for a P334 wage hike for the estimated 4 million minimum-wage earners in NCR.
The RTWPB-NCR is chaired by Ana C. Dione with members from the government: National Economic Development Authority (Neda) representative Reynaldo R. Cancio; and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) representative Analecto C. Blanco Jr.
It also has two representatives from the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop), Vicente Leogardo Jr. and Alberto R. Quimpo. The last two remaining members of the RTWPB-NCR are German N. Pascua Jr. of the Associated Labor Unions (ALU) and Angelita D. Señorin of TUCP.
He blamed the miscalculation of the government economic mangers for the rising inflation, which reached 6.7 percent last month. “The President must oversee these agencies after they have failed to make the right projections on inflation and oil prices in the global market,” Corral said.
To address this, Corral said he is pushing for the creation of a technical working group (TWG) to augment the RTWPB-NCR in not only deciding on the new wage hike in Metro Manila but also arresting its growing inflation rate.
“We have very real fears that the NCR Regional Wage Boards were just being polite, perfunctory and routinary and just wanted to get it over it,” Corral said.
Aside from having the members of the RTWPB-NCR, TUCP said the TWG should also include more representatives from the labor sector as well as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Energy (DOE).
“We are calling for the President to lead. He has to involve himself in wage setting because it might be mishandled and will create a backlash on him,” ALU-TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said.
TUCP issued the statement after the DTI presented the price changes in the basket of goods in Metro Manila.
The basket of goods includes products like canned sardines, condensed milk, detergent, soy sauce, instant noodles and candles, which registered increased prices in previous months.
However, the presentation did not include energy and power, rice and fish which, TUCP said, were cited the Philippine Statistics Authority as the top three main contributors to inflation on September.
“Let us look at the elephant in the room. The big-ticket items that are not under DTI like power and crude,” Corral said.
“It has to be done not just through formal consultations but through a technical working group,” he added.
More than suspending the excise tax for oil, he said the government should seriously consider providing for an additional Cost of Living Allowance (Cola) or subsidy to minimum-wage earners in the NCR to allow them to cope with soaring prices of basic goods and services.
“An immediate Cola will not be computed with the 13th-month pay so it will not be inflationary,” Corral said.
Dione said they will consider the proposals of TUCP when the RTWPB-NCR deliberates on Friday after their scheduled public hearing.
“We cannot commit any exact date [for the completion of the deliberation], but we will do our very best to finish as soon as possible,” Dione said.