The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines yesterday filed a petition for a P75 across-the-board wage increase in Western Visayas before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board, Alex Aguilar, TUCP party list general secretary, said.

The TUCP petition cited the increased prices of commodities and the need to ensure that workers in the region receive their share in the region's economic growth. The workers need the amount to recoup their lost purchasing power eroded by the continuing appreciation of living standards, Aguilar said.

The TUCP also anticipates possible increases in prices of basic goods in the last half of the year due to hikes in the prices of petroleum products, he said.

The needed adjustments in wages will help arrest the growing number of people who experience hunger, Aguilar added.

"The most effective way to address poverty is to give workers decent wages," he said.

Wennie Sancho, labor representative on the RTWPB of Western Visayas, said the board will convene to deliberate on the petition for a P75 wage hike.

Aguilar said the TUCP is filing for P75 pay hikes before wage boards around the country.

On calls of militants groups for a P125 legislated wage hike, Aguilar said they have been doing so for the past 10 years while TUCP has been seeking wage increases every year before the wage boards.

The increases we have gotten from wage boards since the militant groups called for P125 has already exceeded that amount, he said.

At the National Capital Region the wage increases we have gotten totals P189 over the 10 year period, he said.

Meanwhile, Aguilar said TUCP will announce the senatorial bets it will support on Labor Day.

He said they sent out questionnaires to all senatorial candidates on their positions on labor issues that will serve as their basis for choosing whom they will endorse.

So far, only Team Unity senatorial bets Miguel Zubiri and Michael Defensor have replied and TUCP is most likely to endorse their candidacies, he said.*CPG

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