P100 daily pay hike for private workers pushed

Over 4.2 million minimum wage earners in private companies nationwide would benefit should the Senate pass a bill granting a P100 daily minimum pay increase.

Senators would soon start the plenary debates on Senate Bill No. 2534, which was sponsored by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, chair of the committee on labor, employment and human resources development, during Wednesday’s plenary session.

Under the bill, all employees in the private sector, whether agricultural or nonagricultural, would be entitled to a P100 minimum wage increase.

READ: P100 daily wage hike bill reaches Senate floor

Estrada noted that the last legislated wage hike implemented nationwide was in 1989 with the enactment of Republic Act No. 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act, which effectively declared that salaries would be set on a regional basis by wage boards.

From the original proposal of P150, Estrada said his committee recommended a P100 daily pay hike as almost all regional wage boards had ordered an increase ranging from P30 to P90 last year. —TINA G. SANTOS