Labor groups protest halt to P85 wage hike

MANILA, Philippines — Various labor groups have formally filed their opposition to the Pasig City Regional Trial Court’s order suspending the P85 daily minimum wage increase recently implemented by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The NAGKAISA Labor Coalition said their move is a declaration that workers will not remain silent while a legally issued wage order is put on hold through litigation initiated by Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-11 Builders Inc., which claimed that the wage hike would increase expenses and cause layoffs.

The coalition filed an “Urgent Motion for Leave to Intervene with Attached Answer-In-Intervention and Urgent Motion to Lift/Dissolve the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Status Quo Order” before Pasig RTC Branch 152.

NAGKAISA said the employer petition seeks to stop a wage increase that was approved after the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) completed consultations, public hearings and deliberations required under the Labor Code.

The labor groups stressed that the wage order is the product of a lawful tripartite process where labor, employers and government were heard.

Sonny Matula, chairman of NAGKAISA and national president of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), said, “This intervention is about defending not only the P85 wage increase but the integrity of the tripartite wage determination process itself. Once a duly issued wage order can be frozen with little resistance, every future wage victory becomes vulnerable to the same attack.”

“To allow the continued suspension of the wage order is, in effect, to legalize the snatching of the workers’ hard-earned victory on the P85 wage hike. After workers fought through the lawful wage determination process and secured a modest increase, they now face the prospect of seeing that victory withheld through prolonged legal proceedings,” he added.

SENTRO secretary general Josua Mata said, “The real solution is not to freeze workers’ wages – it is to legislate a national living wage. Until that happens, employers and the courts must respect the law as it stands. Workers cannot be denied even the limited protections they have today.”

While the groups welcomed the manifestation of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) before the RTC seeking the immediate lifting of the TRO on the NCR wage order, they criticized what they described as the absence of leadership from the DOLE.

“The OSG is doing its job in court. But where is the DOLE secretary? Secretary Francis Tolentino was quick to wrongly portray this measly, two-tranche P85 wage increase as ‘historic.’ Now that employers are attacking the very wage order his department championed, workers deserve to see the country’s top labor official in court leading its defense – not leaving the fight entirely to government lawyers,” they said.

Tolentino, however, maintained that the DOLE is one with the workers’ fight, adding that the department continuously supports the wage hike and remains confident that the issue will be resolved through due process.

“I am your ally in tripartism. I am your ally in increasing the workers’ salary. I am your ally in pushing for the dignity of every Filipino worker,” Tolentino said.

Workers’ groups trooped to the DOLE central office in Intramuros, Manila yesterday to express their opposition to the TRO issued by the Pasig court against the wage hike.

Motion to intervene

Labor and progressive groups protested outside the Pasig RTC yesterday and demanded the lifting of the court order.

The protesters filed an urgent motion to intervene in the civil case filed by construction firms. They argued that the court has no jurisdiction over minimum wage orders issued by the RTWPB.

Labor groups said the court’s action deprived workers of a long-overdue pay increase.

“Workers are being robbed of P85 every day,” Akbayan Rep. Percy Cendaña said, urging the court to immediately lift the order.

Partido Lakas ng Masa chairman Leody de Guzman said the Labor Code bars courts from interfering with wage orders issued by wage boards, warning that labor groups would mount stronger protests if the suspension remains in place.

Meanwhile, Malacañang press officer Claire Castro said the administration is preparing to answer the TRO and defend the wage hike.

Extra pay

Under President Marcos’ tax reform agenda, fixed-income earners could get an additional net take-home pay of P1,250 per month and save P15,000 in annual taxes once the bill is enacted into law.

“In the proposed bill, workers will no longer be paying income tax if their annual taxable income is P350,000 and lower. Salaried employees who receive more than this amount will also benefit in terms of saving up P15,000 in taxes per year,” Rep. Toby Tiangco said.

The independent lawmaker made the projection following the President’s call for Congress – the Senate included – to increase the annual income tax exemption threshold of workers, a vast majority of whom come from the middle-class – from P250,000 to P350,000.

He has filed House Bill 10451 for purposes of giving salaried workers relief from soaring prices. — Mark Ernest Villeza,  Alexis Romero, Neil Jayson Servallo, Delon Porcalla

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