THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is set to file for a wage hike petition next week.

The TUCP did not mention the exact amount but assured laborers that this will be appropriate to the rising cost of basic commodities as an effect of rising fuel prices.

“We will be filing our wage petition on March 14. We welcome the directive of the Department of labor and Employment (DOLE) for the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards (RTWPB) to review minimum wages in all 17 regions,” the TUCP statement said.

The current daily wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) is P537.

“We hope that is not just a mere ruse or strategy to diffuse growing tensions and the heightening unease as millions of Filipinos now face a survival problem. What we need are not diversionary strategies from the government that will only raise false hopes or give workers loose change,” the TUCP said.

The TUCP is hopeful the government will provide out-of-the-box solutions which will ease the burden of the skyrocketing prices of all goods and services impacting Filipino workers and their families.

The group of laborers stressed that wages are now extremely inadequate.

“We remind the Government that there have been no wage increases in the past two years, and in other regions, no wage hike has been granted at all in the past three years, even as the buying power of the Philippine peso has been significantly eroded in the face of inflation,” it added.

The cost of fuel in the international market is adversely affected by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine armed conflict.

Because of the rising cost of basic commodities. Around 5 million workers are becoming poor, the TUCP said.

To date, the price of imported coal has soared from $169 per ton at the end of 2021 to $395.00 per ton and the price of imported crude oil has now increased to $110 per barrel.

The specter has now been raised that the price of crude oil will further climb to $300 per barrel.

TUCP emphasizes that significant wage adjustments should have been done as early as 2019, even before the pandemic.