Philippines trade union asks for minimum wage hike
- Claire Lee
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has filed a fresh petition for a minimum wage increase in Metro Manila after its earlier request for an across-the-board P470 (US$9.14) salary hike was rejected.
TUCP is now no longer asking for a blanket pay raise, but is still calling for a P470 salary hike, according to the department’s National Capital Region director Sarah Buena Mirasol, reports CNN.
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) has highlighted that the trade union’s request for a blanket pay hike is “not within [its] jurisdiction nor authorised by R.A. 6727”.
In response, TUCP called the decision “insensitive” to the plight of Filipino workers, especially amid oil price increases.
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“While it is true that the RTWPB cannot grant an across-the-board wage increase, it has jurisdiction insofar as providing an increase in minimum wage. It should have decided based on the arguments and computations that we submitted which are focused on a minimum wage increase rather than dismissing it,” TUCP President Raymond Democrito Mendoza highlighted in a statement.
