Gabriela solon pooh-poohs NCR wage hike: 'It can hardly buy a kilo of rice'
Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas (Facebook)
"It can hardly buy a kilo of rice." With this remark, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas slammed the recently approved P40 minimum wage increase in the National Capital Region (NCR), and called it far from sufficient as it falls short of providing a decent living wage for workers. "While the P40 wage hike is a result of workers' lobbying efforts, it is disheartening to see that it can hardly buy a kilo of rice and is significantly below the living wage," Brosas, a Makabayan solon, said in a statement Friday, June 30. Rice is the Filipinos' staple food. The increase, which is meant for private sector workers, will be implemented through a wage order issued by Metro Manila’s Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), which announced the development following a decision from the wage board, claimed that the wage hike will benefit 1.1 million minimum wage earners in Metro Manila. But Brosas noted that this increase will adjust minimum wage to P610 a month--still far from the family living wage of P1,100. Gabriela had earlier filed House Bill (HB) No.7568, which seeks to mandate a P750 across-the-board and nationwide increase in the salary rate of employees and workers in the agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises in the private sector to attain a living wage. Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri also filed a measure seeking an across-the-board increase of P150 in the daily pay of workers in the private sector.