Friday, July 11, 2008 Traders oppose another wage hike
THE Employees Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI) on Thursday rejected calls for another wage increase which they said could do more harm than good, including further increasing inflation.
Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., president of Ecop, said a wage increase was approved in May and such adjustment "will do more harm than good".
"Even in the last wage increase and even with the escalating prices, a lot of companies suffered already; and you know that the statistics have shown that employment in the formal sector is going down and if you make another increase, that will make a lot of people unemployed," he said.
He suggested that to help cushion the impact of rising prices of commodities, more jobs should be created instead. He also agreed to the non-wage benefits being provided by government.
Ortiz-Luis said Ecop is now in discussions with the Department of Labor and Employment on non-wage benefits and programs "which our companies can give to the employees".
"We are just formalizing that so that more companies can join," he added.
PCCI president Donald Dee, for his part, said the expansion of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) is one way of cushioning the impact of rising prices of oil.
"This will be a big help, expand or additional capacity of MRT and LRT. We must now find a way to increase its frequency," Dee said.
More people are turning to the LRT and MRT system which provides a cheaper and faster means of transportation.
Both Dee and Ortiz-Luis also expressed support for the continued provision of subsidies to the public, which is funded through the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) on oil.
They also favor the retention of the VAT as long as it is wed back to the people.
"We are in favor of a system wherein the original target, the incremental should be plowed back but we are not very particular on it. But we do not agree to the scrapping of the law because that will take a lot of, you know. So there must be some way that this can be addressed," Ortiz-Luis said. (JMR/Sunnex)
