MANILA – A party-list lawmaker believes that a national minimum wage of P600 is “just and fair” to workers and other stakeholders.
Kabayan party-list Representative Ron Salo made the remark Tuesday, on the eve of Labor Day.
“It is time for the wage boards to make workers gain from the economic growth across the country, especially in the countryside,” Salo said in a statement.
According to Salo, the current disparity in minimum wage across different regions in the country is not favorable to workers in rural areas.
This income disparity is one of the reason why workers in rural areas flock to cities, such as in Metro Manila, to earn higher wages, he said.
“Our workers perform the same service wherever they’re located, and yet, we pay them different minimum wages,” Salo said.
Salo also said government workers are paid equally no matter where they are assigned, be it in Metro Manila or in far-flung areas, which does not happen for employees in the private sector.
“What makes the difference in the pay among our government employees is the degree of responsibility and functions assigned to the employee, and not the place of assignment. And yet, for our workers in the private sector, their minimum wages are simply determined by the place or area where they work,” Salo said.
Salo has authored House Bill 7527, which seeks to set the national minimum wage at P600.
This measure also mandates the existing National Wages and Productivity Commission and the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards to determine incentives and other productivity improvements to workers in the region when necessary.
“This measure will help our fellow Filipinos keep up with the inflation or the increase in the general price level of goods and guarantee a humane standard living for all, specially to lowliest and unprotected members of the workforce, by providing them real wage gains,” Salo said. (GMA News)
