NEDA rep in NCR wage board asked to inhibit on P100 petition

  

The workers group Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa (Kapatiran) called on the representative of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in the National Capital Region (NCR) to inhibit from the deliberations on the P100 wage hike petition.

 

Last December 5, 2022, Kapatiran filed for a P100 increase in the NCR minimum wage which is currently pegged at P570. Today, two Kapatiran leaders submitted a formal letter to the NCR wage board to follow up on its petition.

 

“NEDA Director General Arsenio Balisacan has already pre-judged the wage hike petition by his declaration that a salary increase is detrimental to the economy. The NEDA NCR Director who is vice chair of the NCR regional wage board cannot be expected to be impartial on the P100 wage hike petition given the very public opposition by his or her boss,” explained Rey Almendras, president of both Kapatiran and the Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Labor Union.

 

“Aside from the NEDA rep inhibiting himself or herself, we also call on the NCR wage hike to immediately hold hearings on the wage petition in light of runaway inflation. NEDA is noisy about a wage hike hurting the ‘economy’ but is silent on the harm inflation is inflicting on workers and their families. The Bangko Sentral itself has predicted that inflation for February will breach 9%. The P570 minimum is only worth P482 as of January 2023. Today, it is worth even less. Balisacan should remember that NEDA in 2018 admitted that the cost of living was already P42,000 in a month,” Almendras elaborated.

 

Balisacan insisted the other day that a government mandated salary hike is harmful to the economy and argued that wages should only rise through voluntary action by employers as labor productivity increases.

 

Almendras countered that Balisacan’s argument is fake news. “From 2001 to 2016, real wages stagnated while labor productivity increased by 50% and the economy grew by 100%. This information comes from the Department of Finance. Facts do not stand up to the myth peddled by Balisacan. In truth, a wage hike will harm employers but not the economy,” he insisted.

 

“Capitalists are profit-maximizing actors. They will not automatically adjust wages in line with productivity. Instead capitalists will always seek to accelerate their returns unless forced by trade unionism and collective bargaining or state mandated wage orders to share part of their profit to workers who created the wealth in the first place. Even a neutral entity like the International Labour Organization understands this elementary truth,” Almendras declared.

Rey Almendras

Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa

March 3, 2023