Ecop: No more petition against P85 wage hike
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) on Friday said it does not expect any more petitions seeking to suspend the P85 daily minimum wage increase in the National Capital Region (NCR) following a dialogue between workers’ and employers’ groups.
“We made sure that if there is an increase, that it should be given,” said Antonio Sayo, who served as Ecop representative during a Special National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council Meeting held at the office of the Department of Labor and Employment.
“We saw to it that this stops,” he told reporters during an ambush interview, without elaborating further about the temporary restraining order (TRO) that Branch 152 of the Pasig Regional Trial Court issued on July 30 against the wage hike.
The Pasig court came out with the TRO following a petition filed by construction companies Readycon Construction Corp. and R-II builders.
Benchmark for other regions
Another petition was filed by the Alliance of Philippines Fishing Federations before the Navotas City Regional Trial Court, calling for a status quo ante order against the wage hike.
But Article 126 of the Labor Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 442) prohibits any injunction against a wage hike, as the Pasig Court itself had noted despite its TRO.
The first tranche of the wage hike, amounting to P60, became effective on July 25 before it was suspended by the TRO. The second tranche worth P25 is expected to take effect on Jan. 20 next year.
Sayo said Ecop had agreed during the meeting to “move forward” with the wage increase. He noted that the group earlier voted against the wage hike during previous consultations with regional wage boards because “we do not want this to be a benchmark for other regions.
He said Ecop will respect the process of the wage boards despite its reservations about the P85 wage increase, but adds “this should not be the basis for all regions precisely because of the different cost structures.”
