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Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Philippine Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz hinted Monday that there might be no wage hike announcement on May 1 when the country observes Labor Day. Instead the government may grant non-cash benefits to Filipino workers.

Baldoz said the non-cash benefits the government is studying include housing and health benefits for employees, discounts to families for basic commodities and assistance to farmers.

However, Baldoz did not rule out the possibility that minimum wages for workers would also be adjusted to help workers cope with rising prices. She said the Metro Manila and Western Visayas regional wage board will soon start holding public hearings on hiking salaries after the government declared a supervening event in the two regions.

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said organized labor must slow down on its petition for a wage increase because of the volatile prices of oil in the world market. ECOP President Edgardo Lacson said hiking salaries could trigger higher costs of production and prices of commodities. It would be an endless cycle of pay and inflation chasing each other, and in the end it would be the workers who would lose.

Instead of a mandated minimum wage increase, Lacson said the government must encourage collective bargaining to give employees negotiating powers with employers who could afford to pay higher salaries.

The National Wages and Productivity Commission assured workers and employers the wage board will consider the welfare of both parties in the public hearings on wage increases and will include representatives from both sectors.

Since the first public hearing could only be scheduled 15 days after publication of notice, the earliest the wage board could hold the hearing is the end of April.

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