STATEMENT ON THE CONSULTATION BY THE NCR WAGE BOARD

STATEMENT ON THE ONGOING CONSULTATION BY THE NCR WAGE BOARD TO REVIEW MATTERS RELATED TO WAGES

Held at the Occupational Safety and Health Center, Quezon City

 

We came here not because we wanted a review of the wage orders issued by the NCR wage board as directed by the president on Labor Day, but to straightly express our collective sentiments regarding the failure of this body to lift millions of minimum wage earners out of poverty over the past 35 years!

 

Our position:

 

1. There is nothing to review about the Php40 wage increase received by NCR workers in July 2023 because everybody knows it is not even half of the value of wages eroded by inflation. In fact, Business World already released a calculation of the real wage of the nominal wage adjusted for inflation this April, where the Php610 minimum wage in NCR, the highest in the country, is now only worth Php502.60.

 

2. Your review, no matter how serious, cannot correct the failures and shortcomings of the regional wage boards over the past 35 years in raising the minimum wage nationwide above the poverty line, and especially not in achieving at least one thousand pesos of the estimated family living wage per day as mandated by our Constitution.

 

3. On the contrary, we collectively believe that what needs to be reviewed are the wage boards in all regions and the law that created them, RA 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989. This review should be conducted by the Congress that created this law, with the aim of rectifying the injustice suffered by workers over the past 35 years!

 

4. We have already approached Congress to legislate a Php150 wage increase to help workers recover their take-home pay affected by rising prices of goods and services, and to review the wage setting mechanisms in the country. The Senate has already passed a Php100 wage increase, and public hearings are ongoing in the House Committee on Labor for a Php150 increase. We rather urge the wage board to support our efforts in convincing Congress if you truly wish to help alleviate the difficult lives of workers and their families due to low wages and high prices of goods and services.

 

5. Lastly, we came here to say directly that it is likely that you were simply instructed by DOLE Secretary Laguesma to expedite the process to preempt and derail the impending action of Congress to legislate a wage increase, which he and ECOP vehemently oppose. The Secretary, to us, acts as a spokesperson for the capitalists by joining business groups in propagating the “catastrophic” blackmail that a P150 legislated wage hike will lead to company closures, price hikes, and drive away investors – issues that were effectively debunked by labor leaders, economists, and academe in recent public hearings conducted by the Labor Committee of the House of Representatives.

 

Nonetheless, we thank the RWPB-NCR for your invitation, allowing us to express our long-held anger and grievances against a system deliberately designed in a capitalist manner to keep workers in perpetual poverty. We apologize if we have nothing more to say that will please the Board.

23 May 2024