HOUSE committee on labor and employment chairman Rizal 4th District Rep. Fidel Nograles on Saturday believes that the government should aggressively move to bring down the cost of basic goods as a complement to a wage hike.

“Our efforts to improve workers’ quality of life should not stop with a wage hike. We also need to aggressively move to lessen the cost of commodities to increase workers’ purchasing power,” Nograles said.

This, after the regional wage board approved a P40 wage increase for workers in the National Capital Region. The wage increase takes effect on July 16.

With the wage adjustment, the daily minimum wage in Metro Manila would be raised to P610 from P570.

There are also 10 other wage hike petitions currently pending with various Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs), the Department of Labor and Employment announced in May.

“We need to have a balanced response to the issues that our workers face. Hindi lang wage increase ang solusyon,” said Nograles.

The solon expressed optimism that the Marcos administration “also recognizes these issues and is exerting great effort to address them.”

Nograles also vowed that Congress would continue deliberating on the various proposals to increase wages once session resumes this month.

“Patuloy po ang pagsusuri natin para masiguro na epektibo at tunay na solusyon ang mailalabas nating batas,” he said.

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Ryan Ponce Pacpaco