How Metro workers will budget P85 wage increase
Ryan Bating, a forklift operator at a logistics company in Muntinlupa City, said his current monthly income of P18,000 is not enough to cover the daily needs of his family amid the rising cost of living resulting from the ongoing energy crisis.
Bating, 32, said his wife and daughter had to return to their home province of Leyte last March because his family could no longer afford the cost of living in Muntinlupa.
After it was announced that workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) would receive a daily minimum wage increase of P85 but in two tranches, Bating said he had planned to spend the additional income for gasoline.
The first tranche of P60 would cover at least a day’s worth of fuel for his motorcycle. He spends almost P100 for two days.
It was a needed but small relief for Bating, which was why he was shocked when he learned that the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 152 had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of the wage hike due to a petition by two companies—Pasig-based Readycon Trading and Construction Corp. and R-II Builders Inc. in Diliman, Quezon City.
“They have the capacity to suspend the wage hike because [these companies] can’t take it, but how much more for us, the workers? How will we pay for our daily needs when prices go up almost every week?” Bating told the Inquirer.
“This is a big insult to us workers. Imagine, it is us workers who run the economy. It is us workers who give wealth to these employers, and they will just suddenly stop [the wage hike] because the big companies, businessmen can’t raise the income of workers,” he said.
Second court petition
On June 30, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) announced that NCR workers would receive the P85 wage hike on top of the current P695—the first tranche to be given on July 25 and the second, next year on Jan. 20.
Just days after the first tranche took effect, the Pasig court on July 30 issued the TRO which remains in effect until Aug. 13.
The construction companies had argued that the increase was determined without properly considering the impact of the energy crisis on employers.
Another petition on July 29 by the Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federations before the Navotas City RTC.
The TRO angered Quezon City housewife Cherry Raras, a member of urban poor group Pinagkaisang Lakas ng Mamamayan.
“It is really infuriating. It’s like they are really making the people drown in poverty, while our leaders in government are just stealing the money of the public,” Raras, 44, said.
Her husband, a security guard, earns around P24,000 per month, she said, adding that much of his salary goes to food expenses which have significantly increased following the energy crisis.
A kilo of chicken, she noted, had increased from P180 to around P220-P240, while fish such as tilapia went from P140 to P180, milkfish from P200 to P240 and tuna from P280 to P380.
Even vegetables became more expensive—P10 will just get you five pieces of string beans, Raras said.
Transportation, LPG
While it would not make a huge difference in their monthly budget, the initial P60 wage hike would have at least covered the cost of one kilo of rice, according to Raras.
“Before, I could buy rice for P48, P50, P51, P52 per kilo. Now, what I buy is around P56, P55,” she said. The cheaper varieties were hard to chew and were rather “loose,” she said.
“The highest price in our area, the kind of rice that you would consider the best tasting, is already P60,” Raras added.
She said the first-tranche raise can help cover her children’s daily transportation expenses, since the three of them each spend around that much going to school.
No emergency fund
Raras said “we would struggle more” without the P60 increase, “especially with the increase in fuel prices.” Each liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank now costs her family around P1,150, up from P850.
Bating said for every P9,000 he receives twice a month as his salary, P4,000 is spent on food and another P4,000 goes to water and electricity, with the rest spent on personal expenses including laundry detergent and gas.
On top of that, he pays P4,000 monthly for rent.
“It’s for survival mode. It just goes around. There’s nothing to save, no room for emergencies. Nothing like that,” Bating said of his pay. “If I can’t do overtime, I would have to borrow money to add to my income.”
To make his income last, Bating said his family often had to cut corners for a five-day stretch after every payday.
This meant eating only eggs every meal because their budget would not be enough for either meat or fish.
If the wage hike had been implemented, Bating said his family would only have to skimp on spending for three or four days instead of five.
‘Legitimate vested interest’
Apart from the lifting of the TRO, what Bating also hopes for is the P200-legislated wage hike being pushed by several labor groups.
The daily “living wage” that Raras and her group are calling for is P1,300, or P600 more than the current minimum wage, instead of the P85 that was announced by Dole.
The Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop), however, has said that even a P1,200 minimum wage would negatively affect micro and small businesses and force them to cut the number of their employees.
“Medium and large enterprises can do it, our problem is the micro and small industries, as well as the informal sector,” Antonio Sayo of Ecop said in an interview last week.
He said the group did not expect any more petitions for suspending the wage hike following a dialogue among workers, employers and the labor department where they agreed to support the lifting of the Pasig court’s TRO.
“What they (Readycon and R-II Builders) said, it’s a legitimate vested interest, but we can only decide on this on the basis of what is good, number one, for the country and also for the employers and workers. We have to be balanced,” Sayo said.
