With the Senate
getting closer to passing on third reading the proposed P100 wage increase, the
Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition now calls on the House of Representatives (HOR) to
get their own version of the bill moving and raise wages higher than what the
Senate could.
Pending before the HOR
are bills seeking a P150 and P750 across-the-board wage hikes for private
sector workers, and P33,000/month entry level for public sector workers. Today,
a bill was also filed for a P50,000 salary base for teachers.
If the HOR can create
a mountain out of a molehill, like what it did for a more complicated process
of revising the Constitution, then they can do the same for the wage hike bills
and in correcting the defective wage setting mechanism in the country.
The P100 wage proposal
which passed the second reading in the Senate today falls short of the P150
originally promised and a far cry from what was needed to save minimum wage
earners from the poverty wages imposed upon them by all the regional wage
boards. The measure is also for minimum wage earners only.
Still, we welcome it as a form of relief, and a good start as well to correcting the problems created by the regional wage setting mechanism. Once legislated, this should be followed by reforming the wage setting mechanism, which both the House and the Senate should initiate, rather than waste their time on charter change.
NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition
15 February 2024
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