The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has proposed for the approval P24-billion subsidy for Filipino minimum wage earners that will benefit about one million workers in three months.
In her report to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte Wednesday, Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique Rubia-Tutay said that aside from the cash aid to be given from April to June, DOLE proposed for the immediate appointment and reappointment of employers’ nominees and labor sector representatives to the National Wages and Productivity Commission and Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards.
The nominees and representatives will hear petitions submitted by different regional wage boards.
Rubia-Tutay said the DOLE has recognized the labor sector’s clamor for a minimum wage increase due to unabated fuel price increases primarily triggered by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The labor department also supports the economic managers in their continued economic recovery efforts focused on enabling domestic enterprises to bounce back and bring local jobs back to Filipino workers so that they would have sustained income for their families’ daily basic needs.
“With the current wages, Mr. President, now extremely inadequate particularly for the minimum wage earners and the government’s economic recovery in full swing, subsidies po may still be extended to vulnerable workers particularly those most severely affected by fuel prices and its domino effect on prices in food and basic goods and services kagaya na nga po nung sa transport sector,” she said during the President’s Talk to the People.
The government support will benefit newly reopened enterprises, particularly micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), giving them the necessary breathing space for recovery and growth.
The proposed wage subsidy is also in keeping with the objectives of Executive Order No. 140 signed by the President, which adopts the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) 2021-2022 and reinforcing job generating programs through the NERS Task Force.
While the cash aid is being handed out, the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards will assess the wage petitions submitted by labor groups to wage boards at the regional level.
Rubia-Tutay said that so far, six regions submitted their petitions for wage increase. Of the eight petitions, two manifestos are requesting for P750 daily minimum wage.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on the other hand, is asking for more than P400 across-the-board increase for workers in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Any adjustment in the minimum wage at this time shall focus on the recovery of erosion or lost purchasing power of workers, and closing of minimum wage and poverty threshold gaps.
Simultaneously, the petition for the wage hike for domestic workers will also be tackled, in line with the process in the minimum wage fixing, according to Rubia-Tutay.
Public hearings will commence 15 days after publication of Notice of Public Hearing in newspapers of general circulation and the issuance of new Wage Order may likely be in May or June based on the rules of procedure for minimum wage fixing, she said. PND
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