ORGANIZED labor said on Monday they are ready to be more flexible in their wage hike demand to get a better deal during the ongoing deliberations of the regional wage board in Metro Manila.
In a phone interview, Associated Labor Unions (ALU) Spokesman Alan Tanjusay said they are willing to negotiate a wage hike from P100 to P334.
“This was our counteroffer when the employers withdrew their P20 proposal. This will change depending on the negotiations tomorrow [October 30],” Tanjusay said.
ALU is an affiliate group of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), which filed the P334 wage hike in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Tanjusay said they opted to consider a P100 wage demand based on the recommendation of the labor representative at the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR).
Tanjusay said, however, that anything less than P100 would prompt them to dissent against the new wage order.
The RTWPB-NCR is scheduled to hold another closed-door deliberation on Tuesday after failing to come out with a new wage order in its meeting last Friday.
Tanjusay said they expect that, without the intervention of President Duterte, the approved wage hike in NCR will be below their original demand.
“We see no hope of a substantial wage increase in the hands of the majority,” Tanjusay said, noting that employers and government officials dominate the NCR wage board.
“Our only hope for an acceptable and substantial wage increase is [for] President Duterte [to] take the matter into his hands by deciding what he thinks is acceptable for workers and business,” he added.