Another wage hike bid filed in Central Visayas

Businessmen thumb down proposed amount

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) yesterday filed a petition for a P92 increase in the daily minimum wage in Central Visayas.

It was the second petition filed this year before the regional wage board, which has finished conducting consultations across the region. A public hearing has yet to be conducted.

The heads of two business organizations in Cebu were quick to thumb down the proposed amount, saying it’s too big and unrealistic.

“Mapordoy mi ana uy (We’ll go bankrupt),” said Ma. Teresa Chan, president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).

“Let’s not kill each other. Let’s all survive together and prosper together,” she said over dyLA.

Personally, she said employers can probably grant P13.6, or 4 percent of the current P340 minimum wage, “for humanitarian consideration.”

She based the 4 percent on the average headline inflation rate, which has slowed down to 1.8 percent in areas outside the National Capital Region as of May this year.

Cebu Business Club (CBC) president Gordon Alan Joseph described the wage hike petitions as unrealistic.

“It is unrealistic. To fight poverty, the Philippines needs to create jobs.

High cost of labor will be unacceptable to potential investors.

Also the Philippines has low productivity per capita.

We are not competitive compared to Indonesia and Vietnam, which receive three-times to four-times more foreign investments than the Philippines.

We need foreign investments to create jobs,” Joseph said in an online interview.

In its petition filed on Tuesday morning, the ALU-TUCP also asked the board to give the amount across the board.

“The P92 daily increase is essential if workers are to cope with the increasing prices of commodities and cost of living, if they are to meet the basic needs of their families, even if only partially, and if the country is to give meaning and substance to the policy of equitable distribution of income and wealth,” the petition stated.

Last week, the Cebu Labor Coalition composed of several labor groups headed by Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) also filed a petition asking for an across-the-board P145 daily wage increase.

Art Barrit, ALU-TUCP Education and Information Department director, said businessmen must realize the need to give the P92 daily minimum wage increase because of the rising prices of basic commodities especially rice.

While the prices of oil decreased, the prices of basic commodities remain high.

Members of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Central Visayas will hold a special meeting on July 31 to discuss the petitions filed by the Cebu Labor Coalition and ALU-TUCP, according to wage board administrative staff Lydia Cuizon.

The 7-member board still lacks one representative from the labor sector.

Atty. Ernesto Carreon, one of two labor representatives to the board, has retired.

He used to be the ALU-TUCP regional vice-president for Central Visayas.