THE P25 basic pay hike in Metro Manila, says Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, was arrived at by “balancing the needs of workers and their families with the capacity of enterprises to pay the additional labor costs without impairing business.”
Bello’s may end up as the understatement of the year, both workers and entrepreneurs unhappy over the deed, to say the least.
Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao: “It would appear that the actual wage increase is only P15. What P15 can buy is a single purchase of instant noodles. ECOP (Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines) and DOLE are heartless.” Partido Manggagawa chair Renato Magtubo: “The P25 cannot compensate for the runaway inflation in Metro Manila and the stagnation of the real wage, despite the 50-percent productivity growth from 2001 to 2016.”
For the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the P25 was “too small” that it “has no impact to lift workers and their families out of poverty.”
Management Association of the Philippines’ Eduardo Yap: “Raising wages will provide only temporary relief, whatever the amount. Manufacturers and traders will soon raise prices in response to higher cost, and inflation will continue to rise in a never-ending cycle to the detriment of consumers.”
Suffer pa more, the nation.
