Labor and Employment Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma has come under fire for steadfastly opposing the proposed across-the-board wage hike that is supposed to help workers cope with the soaring prices of commodities.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Saturday that Laguesma should not be in his position if he keeps on being the employers’ “poster boy” against a legislated wage hike, which has been long overdue in Congress.

The Department of Labor and Employment chief has routinely turned down the proposal of a legislated wage hike out of fear that it would lead to a spike in the prices of goods and services, a decline in gross domestic product growth, and the layoff of workers and closure of small businesses.

The TUCP, however, did not buy Laguesma’s rationale, saying that he was likely siding with the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the country’s biggest trade organization, which has repeatedly asserted that the proposed wage hike is a disadvantage to the micro, small and medium enterprises.

“The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has had enough of the Labor secretary’s false propaganda misleading the President and pouring cold water on the most burning issue now confronted by the Filipino people and tackled by Congress: passing the long-overdue and much-deserved ₱150 legislated wage hike,” the TUCP said.