Labor groups urged a P100 wage increase before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) - National Capital Region (NCR) in a public hearing Wednesday.

In a statement after the hearing at the Philippine Trade Training Center, Partido Manggagawa secretary general Judy Miranda said: ''As of January 2023, workers have lost P88 in the value of the P570 minimum wage due to inflation. Thus, P100 is necessary to recover the purchasing power of workers’ wages."

"This wage hike demand is merely wage recovery. We are not yet even talking of workers claiming a just share in the fruits of their labor," she added.

Mercado said it took the NCR wage board more than six months before acting on the petition.

"The NCR wage board and the Department of Labor and Employment has dragged its feet on the wage hike demand for half a year already," she said.

Miranda said claims of employers that a wage hike will lead to higher inflation and more unemployment have been proven as lies.

"These are just horror stories peddled by employers without basis in science. Studies have shown that wage hikes do not result in any significant inflation or unemployment effects," she said.

"We ask that employers moderate their greed so that everybody benefits from a salary increase,” Miranda added. DMS