MANILA, Philippines — Workers belonging to the group all workers unity or AWU staged a protest in front of the Department of Labor and Employment’s main office slamming the recently approved P15 -minimum wage increase for the National Capital Region.
The group is insisting for a standard P16,000 minimum wage for all workers in the country. AWU said what they are asking is not the ideal living wage but just enough to sustain the daily needs of a family.
AWU Philippines Rea Alegre said, “Ibon Foundation’s research says that the family living wage nowadays must be 32,580 pesos so the 466 which is the highest minimum wage level in the Philippines is not even half of it. If we are to compute it on a daily basis, it would be 1,086 pesos per day, enough for a family to live.”
And because their proposal is for a 16,000 national minimum wage, the group wants to abolish all the regional wage boards in the country.
AWU is inviting all workers to join in their call to increase the minimum wage to 16,000 pesos.
Alegre also added, “The next phase of our campaign is to file a legislative agenda. For now we are reaching out to all worker to invite them to this cause before entering the next phase.”
DOLE, however, clarified beforehand that the wage adjustment has undergone proper study and consultations.
Workers’ welfare was considered as well as the employers’ capacity to pay not undermining their capability to expand to create more job opportunities.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines or ECOP, on the other hand said, the 15-peso minimum wage increase is reasonable.
The employer’s group, however, is insisting that wage adjustments must be market driven, productivity-based and a result of collective bargaining agreements. (VICTOR COSARE / UNTV News)