Labour groups urge immediate wage hike in the Philippines

Labour groups in the Philippines have planned a major rally on May 1, International Labour Day, to demand an increase in the minimum wage. The National Wage Coalition, representing several unions, claimed that current wages leave over 4.2 employees in the Philippines struggling to afford basic necessities.

“Despite the recent round of wage hikes granted by the different Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards, around 4.2 million minimum wage earners are still unable to experience decent lives,” the National Wage Coalition said in a statement. “Most regional minimum wages fall below the government-set poverty threshold, thus condemning millions of minimum wage earners who do honest hard work for a living, to a life of poverty.”

The coalition, comprised of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (a socialist political centre for militant employees and trade unions in the Philippines), Kilusang Mayo Uno (a labour centre promoting unionism), Nagkaisa Labor Coalition (an alliance of labour groups and employees), Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, and others, is pushing for the swift approval of a legislated wage hike, currently pending before the House of Representatives.

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Their proposal calls for a substantial across-the-board increase of P150 (US$2.60), aimed at not only recovering the lost purchasing power of employees’ wages but also bridging the gap between minimum wage levels and the cost of living, reported Philstar.

They further emphasised the need to address the widening gap between the minimum wage and a living wage, stating, “Congress should urgently raise employees’ wages as well as review and reform the country’s minimum wage-setting mechanisms.”