Four labor groups filed a petition for a P140 wage increase at the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) Thursday.
The Alliance of Labor Progress (ALP), Cebu Midtown Hotel Employees Union (CMHEU-NUWHRAIN-APL-IUF) , Cebu Labor Coalition (CELAC) and Lonbisco Employees Union jointly submitted their wage hike petition for Central Visayas.
The petitioners said “it is the time for the wage board to assess and evaluate their failure to provide substantial and significant wage increase for workers.”
The labor groups cited as grounds for their wage hike petition the wage adjustment vis-a-vis the consumer price index, the cost of living and changes or increase, the needs of their workers and their families and the need to induce industries to invest in the countryside.
Other factors cited are the improvement in the standards of living, the prevailing wage level, fair return of the capital invested and capacity to pay employees, effects on employment generation and family income; and the equitable distribution of income and wealth along imperatives of economic and social development.
“The petitioners have long been asking and demanding for a living wage for the workers in the region for the past years,” the group said in their petition.
If the petition of the P140 will be approved, the minimum wage for Central Visayas is P493.
Last year, they filed a P145 wage hike but only P13 was approved.