FOLLOWING the Senate's plenary approval of a proposed P100 legislated wage increase, the country's biggest labor organization has urged the House of Representatives to pass its own P150 wage hike measure.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Thursday pushed for the passage of House Bill (HB) 7871, or the Wage Recovery Act.

HB 7871 is pending in the House Committee on Labor and Employment, but the House leadership has directed the panel to hold public hearings as soon as possible.

In pushing for a P150 increase, the TUCP noted that even with the latest round of pay hikes approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) across the country's 17 regions, wages remain below the poverty threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and way off the family living wage estimated by the think tank IBON Foundation.

It said that since 1989, the wage boards have failed to keep pace with significant changes in the cost of living because of its "outmoded exploitative approach" that setting cheap or low wages is the key to bringing in investments in the country.

The last legislated wage hike through Republic Act 6727, which established the regional wage boards, was P25 on top of the then-P64 minimum wage.

The highest latest minimum wage hike approved by the regional wage boards as of 2024 was only P50.

The TUCP stressed that after nearly 35 years without a legislated pay increase, Congress should reverse its "cheap labor" policy.

"All regional minimum wages today fall far short of bringing nutritious food to their family's table. Without badly needed living wages as enshrined in the Constitution, malnutrition and growth stunting will further escalate, leading to sick workers and labor productivity dropping like a rock, while our children's mental and physical growth continue to be stunted," said TUCP Vice President Luis Corral.

"Let's end the blame game that workers' wages will increase inflation and discourage investments because the real culprits are astronomically expensive yet unreliable electricity and soaring food prices, and not the poverty wages further eroded by the rising cost of living," Corral said.

Big business strongly opposes legislated pay hikes, saying it is in the best interest of both labor and employers that determining wage increases is left with the regional boards.

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) maintained that legislating salary increases is not only inflationary but would not also benefit the majority of the workforce which belong to the informal sector.

"The wage increase is only for formal sector workers, which is only 16 percent of the 50 million workers. The remaining 84 percent are informal workers like the fisherfolk, tricycle drivers, vendors and jeepney drivers, who have no employers and regular salaries," ECOP said.

Jose Luis Yulo of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (The Chamber), the country's oldest business group, is also against legislated across-the-board salary hikes, calling them "unfair" to the business sector.

Yulo said the regional boards are in a better position to set the minimum wage in their particular regions.

"Our biggest challenge is making our laws work. We have regional wage boards, they should do their jobs. Let us not make a law that would supplant the job of the wage boards," he said.