Amid calls for an across-the-board pay increase being sought by the labor sector, the P40 grant in the daily minimum wage by the NCR Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) is a welcome development.
This demonstrates that the NCR RTWPB recognizes the need to adjust the current wage structure and has acted promptly on the pending petitions filed by labor groups. Indeed, our workers need and deserve wage hikes to cope with the ongoing rise in the prices of basic goods and commodities.
We also acknowledge that the P40 increase or 7% raise in the daily minimum wage may not be sufficient to achieve a living wage in the NCR.
However, as a product of a tripartite body where employers, workers and the government are all represented, we are confident that this amount serves and protects the interests of all stakeholders.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that bills proposing adjustments in workers’ wage rates which are currently pending before my Committee on Labor, will be put on the back burner. As soon as Congress resumes its Second Regular Session, we will take up the matter anew, as I mentioned in a recent news forum in the Senate.
While these bills await action in the legislature, we hope that other RTWPBs across the country will follow suit, either by addressing filed petitions or initiating action on their own accord.