BY RAYMOND AFRICA and GERARD NAVAL
SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday slammed the Department of Labor and Employment after it cautioned lawmakers that a legislated wage increase for workers nationwide could have an adverse impact on the business sector.
This after Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma told lawmakers that granting an across-the-board legislated wage hike for workers nationwide could displace workers, increase prices of essential goods and result in a decline in domestic product growth.
There was no response from Laguesma as of press time yesterday.
Labor groups called for the resignation of Laguesma, saying he has become the “employers’ poster boy” against the legislated wage hike.
In separate statements, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) called on Laguesma to step down since he refuses to look after the welfare of the working class.
Laguesma said only a few companies might be able to comply with the proposal since the majority of the companies in the country are micro, small, and medium enterprises.
Zubiri said Laguesma’s pronouncement runs counter with “the President’s own statement” that a review of wage rates should be in place amid the rising inflation.
“I’m saddened and shocked to hear the statement of the Secretary of Labor in objecting to higher wages for the labor sector. It is obvious by the President’s own statement on the review of wages that the Secretary has failed to protect workers’ interests and would rather speak for the interests of the business sector whom we, in the legislature, have already given several tax breaks and incentives through recent legislations,” Zubiri said.
He said Laguesma should have supported the President’s announcement rather than go his own way as if protecting the interests of the business sector.
“For the President to say that the regional wage boards should be activated again when they recently came out with those measly increases show that the wage boards are ineffective in dealing with the crisis that laborers are facing today with high inflation and food costs,” he said.
“It should be the Secretary that should lead the way on this and not the other way around,” he added.
He said Laguesma’s stance makes him “one of the more unpopular labor secretaries the department had had if he keeps up what he is doing.”
Zubiri said Laguesma could have done a better job if he was the trade secretary.
“Unfortunately for him, the DTI is already being ably handled by its secretary,” he added.
Last May 1, President Marcos Jr. ordered the wage policy-making bodies of the government to immediately review and adjust the wages of workers in the country.
Marcos specifically ordered the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards to initiate a review of the minimum wage rates in their respective regions, taking into consideration the impact of inflation on the labor sector.
The Senate, on the other hand, has passed on the third and final reading Senate Bill No. 2534, also known as the P100 Daily Minimum Wage Increase Act of 2023. A counterpart measure is still pending in the House of Representatives.
Soon after the President’s order for a wage review, Zubiri urged the Chief Executive to give its full support to SBN 2534, saying a minimum legislated wage increase is the best gift the President could provide to all workers.
Zubiri said the President can even certify as urgent the passage of the proposed measure “given the continued spike in the prices of goods owing to inflation.”
He said the proposed measure will simply augment the wage increase enforced by the wage boards and the succeeding wage hikes will remain the responsibility of the wage boards.
The last time the country had a legislated wage increase was in 1989 with a hike of P89 a day.
“The capability of the Labor Secretary to competently do his job to protect workers and promote gainful employment is squarely in serious question. He can no longer be the Secretary of Labor if he keeps on being the employers’ poster boy against a legislated wage hike at the expense of the working class of this nation,” said TUCP.
“If the current DOLE secretary is an impediment to such a direction, then Laguesma should step aside to let this government pursue its mandate. We need a government and a Department of Labor that seriously protects and advances the interests of working people.
Mr. Laguesma, if you cannot protect our workers, then you do not deserve to be DOLE secretary,” said SENTRO.
Laguesma has repeatedly expressed opposition to the proposed P150 legislated wage hike pending in the House of Representatives.
He has stated in the past that an increase in wages via a law would likely lead to massive inflation, unemployment, and business closures.
The labor groups said such statements clearly show Lauesma is more concerned with the position of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) than that of the workers.
They said such a position does not even reflect the principle of tripartism or one that involves the government, employers, and employees.
“His consistent echoing of employers’ unfounded positions has him sounding more like a spokesperson of ECOP rather than an impartial labor secretary,” said SENTRO.
“The Labor Secretary has been peddling and spewing lies that raising workers’ wages would bring nothing but doom through massive inflation, unemployment, and business closures acting as if he were the spokesman of the ECOP,” said TUCP.
Laguesma was appointed DOLE secretary by the President on June 30, 2022. He also served as labor secretary during the presidency of Joseph Estrada from 1998 to 2001.
