MANILA — The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines Party-list filed on Tuesday filed a resolution calling on the labor, trade, and socio-economic planning departments to defend the P85 hike the minimum wage in Metro Manila that two construction companies have managed to get a court injunction against.
In a post on social media, TUCP quoted Rep. Raymond Mendoza saying the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, and Department of Economy, Planning, and Development “cannot simply wash their hands” of their responsibility for the wage hike order.
He said the departments' regional directors sit on the regional wage boards that consider petitions for pay hikes.
“Their signatures, together with the workers' sector representatives, gave life to NCR Wage Order No. 27," he said.
Labor groups condemn TRO on P85 wage hike
Mendoza said officials cannot take credit for the "historic" increase and set aside "the solemn duty to defend, to the very end, the validity and implementation of the very wage order they themselves approved."
The resolution also seeks to make sure Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards conduct “timely wage reviews” and issue wage increase orders.
Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 152 last week granted a Temporary Restraining Order on NCR Wage Order No. 27, which would have increased the minimum wage in tranches of P60 this month and P25 next January.
Labor groups have condemned the grant of a TRO, saying courts are not the proper venue for employers who disagree with wage orders.
TUCP Spokesperson Carlos Oñate meanwhile said the group has filed a petition to have the TRO lifted.
He also said they have received reports that other companies have filed petitions to block the wage increase in other regional trial courts in Metro Manila's cities.
He added regional wage boards outside the capital that are conducting wage reviews for potential pay hikes should keep doing so despite the legal challenge in Metro Manila.
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