Gabriela derides P40 pay hike
“MEASLY and insulting.”
This is how Gabriela Party-list group described the P40 wage hike for the workers which the government will implement starting July 16.
The P40 minimum wage increase in Metro Manila will push through according to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE).
But several labor groups and the national women’s alliance GABRIELA are calling for a substantial increase in workers’ minimum wages across the board.
“P40 is not enough. It is an insult to Filipino workers and especially Filipino women, who have been traditionally left to budget household finances and contend with the severity of rising prices for the family. P40 cannot even buy the cheapest kilo of rice around. What we need is a wage hike towards the family living wage — which as of today is pegged at P1,160,” the group said in a statement.
On top of the inability of P40 to respond to growing needs of Filipinos, GABRIELA cited how such a hike is already violative of the very standards the government itself set for minimum salaries based on existing laws on minimum wage fixing.
RA 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act itself states that the standard for setting minimum wages must consider, among other factors, (1) the cost of living and the increases therein, and (2) the needs of workers and their families.
The group added that the P40 does not counter the 5.4 percent inflation and lost real value of workers’ wages that are well over P100. Neither does it reflect in any way the proposed raises from various groups, which ranged from P670 to P1,161.
The additional wage will bring the daily minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) from P570 toP610 for the non-agriculture sector.
The salary for those in the agriculture sector, service and retail establishments employing 15 or less workers and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers will be adjusted from P533 to P573.
