MANILA — A labor group has refiled its petition after the wage board junked an earlier filing seeking a P470 increase in the daily minimum wage in Metro Manila.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines president Raymond Mendoza said that in the refiled petition, the term "across-the-board," which would be given to everyone regardless of salary level, has been removed.

"We just took out what they said is not their jurisdiction, which is 'across-the-board," he told ANC's "Rundown" on Thursday.

• NCR wage board rejects petition for P470 across-the-board wage hike

The National Capital Region’s Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board has said an across-the-board wage hike petition is outside its authority.

According to the wage board, its mandate is “limited only to minimum wage fixing and determination in the region," citing a Supreme Court ruling.

The TUCP has proposed to hike the wages of over 5 million daily minimum wage earners in Metro Manila to cope with the recent hikes in prices of basic goods.

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Mendoza noted that the daily minimum wage was last adjusted in 2018. His group did not file petitions in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"But this time, there must be wage increase... Take note that the poverty threshold in NCR is P640 a day, and why are we giving minimum wage below poverty threshold?" he said.

The current daily minimum wage in Metro Manila is P537.

"We are actually intentionally making sure that the minimum wage earners are below poverty line," Mendoza said.

The TUCP has also asked for a P430 wage hike in Central Visayas, and for the minimum wage in the Davao region to be raised to P814.

The labor department has said that wage hike petitions for Metro Manila workers would be decided in May.

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