Minimum Wage Of ₱232 Seems Inadequate, Says Labor Group

Labor Group Pushes For ₱500 Subsidy As The Minimum Wage Is Rendered Not Enough

MINIMUM WAGE – A labor group presses for a ₱500 subsidy for four million workers as the average minimum wage of ₱232 is not enough for them.

Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said that wage boards acted only on the capacity of employers via adjusting the nominal minimum wage rates by ₱32 to ₱36 a day nationwide.

Tanjusay further said that the minimum amount was too small for workers who contributed to the growth of business an economy. The regional wage boards issued orders to adjust minimum wage rates in each region, except for CARAGA. The wage board in Metro Manila from ₱512 to ₱537 last week, in which ALU-TUCP said it seems “plucked from the air”.

WAGE HIKE
Photo uplifted from: ABS-CBN

An article in Inquirer says that the workers need ₱800 to ₱850 a day in order for them to live above the poverty threshold and remain productive at work, as said by Tanjusay.

The labor group made a proposal to President Duterte to grant each minimum wage earner a food voucher of ₱500 monthly in order for them to battle the impact of inflation. The said proposal was endorsed in June by the Department of Labor and Employment but it was a lower amount of ₱200.

Tanjusay said that it’s clear that the recent wage orders will fall far short of meeting the 10-months-and-running price spike in basic goods suffered by worker families.

As per the report, Tanjusay said that the proposal has the widespread support, which includes Employers Confederation of the Philippines and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III himself. He further said that the government should provide a lifeline through a food voucher to help minimum wage workers, who are entangled in poverty.

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