Labor groups push for nationwide wage hike, want end to scapegoating workers

Labor groups on Thursday raised concerns about the inadequacy of the minimum wage to provide families a decent standard of living, and also called for an end to blaming labor costs for business failures as they advocated for a nationwide wage hike.

Members of various labor groups within the coalition strongly reiterated their demand for the implementation of the P150 legislated wage hike proposed by the National Wage Coalition. The NWC reported that the House Committee on Labor has held three hearings on the wage adjustment issue, but that investors argued that raising workers' salaries would lead to financial losses.

In light of this, some labor groups urged an end to scapegoating workers whenever wage increases are deliberated. "It becomes challenging because the government and investors often target the workers, assigning blame and demanding sacrifices from them," said Annie Geron of the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK).

The united labor front stressed that wage increases are not the main factor causing closures in the market, but rather other production expenses like electricity and transportation which, when compared to their competitors, receive more subsidies.

In March, economist Emmanuel Leyco, a former Social Welfare undersecretary, told a Congressional hearing that there is no record of companies and businesses' closing due to an increase in wages, adding that among the major factors of production cost, it is labor cost that too often gets left behind.

Earlier, one business leader claimed that a P100 wage hike would be a "catastrophe."

Carlos Miguel Oñate from Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) emphasized, "The reality is that the current minimum wage in nearly all regions is insufficient to ensure adequate nutrition for our families, falling even below the government's defined poverty threshold." — BM, GMA Integrated News