MAKABAYAN bloc lawmakers led by Rep. Arlene Brosas (PL, Gabriela) yesterday filed a bill mandating a P750 across-the-board nationwide wage increase for private sector workers, saying legislators should answer workers’ call for “living wages.”
Brosas said House Bill No. 7568, which covers the salary rates of employees and workers in the agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises in the private sector, was filed amid the Marcos Jr. administration’s “deafening silence on the issue of wages.”
The lawmaker urged the President to certify as urgent House Bill 7568 “to bring direct and concrete relief to millions of Filipino workers across the country.”
She said the call for a P750 wage increase is justified, adding the amount represents the average gap between current minimum wage levels and family living wages across various regions.
“This yawning average minimum wage-family living wage gap of P750 across regions starkly represents the vast sea of unfulfilled basic necessities of ordinary Filipino families, which the national government should urgently address through substantial wage increases amid historic inflationary surges,” she said in a statement.
The bill was co-authored by Reps. France Castro (PL, ACT) and Raoul Manuel (PL, Kabataan).
Brosas said workers’ wages remain stagnant “while company profits increase and they also got savings for lower taxes under the CREATE law or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act.”
HB No. 7568 echoed the statement of workers groups that among the factors to consider in the determination of minimum wages, “wage boards should give more weight on the ‘demand for living wages,’ especially since workers’ actual conditions show us that the current minimum wage rates barely enable working class families to escape or stay above mere subsistence.
“As legislators, we must consider the proposals forwarded by workers groups since it comes from their concrete situation,” said the militant lawmakers.
The bill cited the BusinessWorld Top 1000 Corporations in the Philippines report that the aggregate gross revenue of the top companies jumped 17.5 percent in 2021 (or P13.44 trillion), from the P11.44 trillion posted during the height of the pandemic in 2020. This was the fastest gross revenue growth since the 24.4% expansion recorded in 2001.
As for micro and small enterprises, Gabriela party-list said a wage subsidy program will be instituted to assist them in complying with the proposed significant wage increase.
“Significant wage increase is long overdue. Instead of Charter change, the government should prioritize wage increases to give the people a reprieve from the worsening crisis in our country,” Brosas said.
FFW WEIGHS IN
The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) yesterday expressed support to House Bill 7568, saying this will enable workers to have “living wages.”
“Government has a commitment to provide living wages to our workers. It has been in our Constitution from the start,” said FFW Vice President Julius Cainglet.
“Giving an additional P750 in wages to workers that HB 7568 provides will be in fulfillment of this mandate,” he added.
Cainglet said such a wage increase is highly necessary considering the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities.
“Enterprises have been on the road to recovery with government support. But workers have been left behind. Workers can’t cope because of unbridled inflation. It’s time for the government to look after the welfare of workers,” he said.
The labor leader said provision of salary adjustments can no longer be relied on the regional wage boards as they have been “so little and so few.”.
“It has failed to give workers a living wage,” said Cainglet. — With Gerard Naval
