THE business community, acting as one, made its position clear that it is against the Senate’s proposal to increase the minimum wage nationwide through legislation.
At least 17 business organizations are in the process of finalizing a position paper to be submitted to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri who is pushing the passage of Senate Bill No. 2534 or the proposed P100 Daily Minimum Wage Increase Act of 2023.
The bill is mainly sponsored by Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, chair of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, who said an estimated 4.2 million minimum wage earners in the private sector, whether agricultural or non-agricultural, would benefit from the measure if it passes into law.
Other proponents of the bill in the Senate aside from Zubiri and Estrada are Loren Legarda, Nancy Binay, Christopher Lawrence Go and Ramon Revilla Jr. In sponsoring his proposal to the plenary, Estrada said they are aware of “existing socio-economic conditions and positions of various sectors” and so it is incumbent on the lawmakers to help alleviate the burden of Filipinos in the face of soaring prices of basic commodities and rising cost of living.
‘It is hard to strike a balance between the interests of labor and employers especially when wages are concerned…’
The business groups have yet to submit their position paper but Senator Jinggoy already announced that the ideas of all sectors have been heard. Actually, the Senate has approved the consolidated bill on second reading.
They said business group has “consistently and strongly opposed attempts to legislate minimum wage increases, a mandate which Congress has long ago provided to the objective judgment of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards.”
It is a fact that 15 of the 16 of the regional wage boards have just granted another round of increase in minimum wages. Even the “kasambahays” in the Calabarzon region –Senator Jinggoy’s favorite sector — received an increase of P1,000 in their monthly minimum wage from the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board.
The business sector is confident that the tripartite wage boards are doing their job adequately, with equal representation from the government, labor, and employers. It is their valid and legitimate concern that legislated wages will hurt especially the micro, small and medium enterprises and worsen the plight of the informal sector, which is estimated at an overwhelming 47-million strong workforce. Estrada said his bill will directly benefit some 4.2 million regular workers in the private sector.
The measure will not benefit agricultural workers with no employers, fisherfolk, unpaid family workers, home-based workers, ambulant vendors and street hawkers, jeepney/tricycle and pedicab drivers, temporary construction workers, small-scale miners and quarry workers, tour guides, entertainment industry workers, hairdressers, garbage collectors and recyclers, barangay health workers, domestic cleaners, food delivery riders and other gig workers.
It is hard to strike a balance between the interests of labor and employers especially when wages are concerned, and whatever happens to Senate Bill 2534, the issue of salaries and wages will remain a contentious one in the months to come, considering the harsh economic realities.