A coalition of major labor federations warned Sunday that the fight for the “long-overdue” P200 across-the-board wage hike will persist beyond 2025, as calls for President Marcos Jr. to certify the bills as urgent have fallen on deaf ears despite years of relentless clamor.

Lawyer Sonny Matula, president of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and chairperson of Nagkaisa Labor Coalition (NLC), lamented that, more than three years in office, Marcos never sat down with the leaders from the broader labor sector to discuss the legislated wage hike for private workers, fuelling concerns about his continued reluctance on the proposed law.

“[T]here should be a dialogue between the president and the trade unions, and that has been our proposal for a long time,” Matula said in Filipino in an interview. “Three years have passed, and President Marcos still has not met with the broad leadership of the trade unions.”

The previous Congress passed bills seeking a legislated wage hike, but they failed to become law because neither the House nor the Senate was willing to compromise.

The House approved a P200 across-the-board wage hike for all private workers, while the Senate passed a smaller increase of P100. 

Neither chamber met in a bicameral conference committee to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the two bills before the 19th Congress ended. As a result, the measure did not reach the president and effectively died with the adjournment of the previous Congress.

The Congress-approved measure could have been the first legislatively mandated wage hike in nearly four decades. The last increase was in 1989 when the Wage Rationalization Act (RA 6727) was passed.

Labor groups and advocates placed the blame on Marcos, saying he could have used his power to certify the bill as urgent if he really intended it to become law.

Matula suspected that Marcos’ alleged inaction could be attributed to the employers’ group's resistance to the proposal.

Marcos has openly expressed reservations about supporting the proposed legislated wage hike, citing its economic and inflationary implications and adverse effects on businesses, particularly micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the country's biggest trade organization, has also consistently rejected the proposal, raising concerns that it may lead to layoffs or force small businesses to shut down. 

This, despite clamor from labor groups that the current wage no longer meets workers' needs amid skyrocketing prices for basic commodities such as food, housing, and transportation.

According to Matula, the National Wage Coalition—an alliance of major labor groups, namely, NLC, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, and Kilusang Mayo Uno—expects that similar proposals for a P200 wage hike pending in the present 20th Congress will finally become a law by 2026. 

This, he said, would be possible if Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma facilitated a dialogue between Marcos and the NLC to advance the proposal. 

Back in June, Marcos held a dialogue with some labor leaders, vowing that his administration would remain open to meaningful discussion about workers’ plight, particularly adequate wages. The meeting, however, excludes NLC.

“We believe this wage increase will stimulate the country's economy, and of course, if workers have more money…they will spend it here, which will boost the income of other sectors,” Matula averred. 

Earlier this month, the House committee on labor and employment approved a bill seeking to abolish the provincial minimum wage and replace it with a National Minimum Wage (NMW).

This bill aims to close wage disparities between Metro Manila and provincial workers by ensuring equal, fair wages for employees across all regions. It would amend the Labor Code of the Philippines.