Labor groups concerned over Pasig court's TRO on NCR wage hike

The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and the NAGKAISA Labor Coalition have expressed strong concern over the Pasig Regional Trial Court's issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) on NCR Wage Order No. 27. This order temporarily halts the P85 minimum wage hike for workers in Metro Manila. In a statement, FFW president Atty. Sonny Matula said the Labor Code provides, "No preliminary or permanent injunction or temporary restraining order may be issued by any court, tribunal or other entity against any proceedings before the Commission or the Regional Boards.” "Yet, despite acknowledging this express statutory prohibition, the RTC proceeded to issue the very temporary restraining order that the Labor Code forbids," said Matula, who's also the chairman of the NAGKAISA coalition. In an eight-page order, Judge Marie Joyce Manongsong said the petitioners Readycon Trading and R-II Builders, Inc., sufficiently established the basis for the TRO on the minimum wage increase. "A TRO is issued only if the matter is of such extreme urgency that grave injustice and irreparable injury will arise unless it is issued immediately. In this case, the court finds that the elements were sufficiently established by petitioners," the order read. "At the outset, this court deems it necessary to state that it approached the issue not through a binary perspective, or viewed the parties as groups with absolute dichotomy of interests, but with a recognition that they are actually interdependent," it added. "That said, this court finds that the peculiar circumstances of this case justify the issuance of a temporary restraining order to briefly stall the implementation of the assailed wage order," the order read. The court conducted a hearing on the petition on July 28 after Executive Judge Achilles Balauitan issued a status quo ante order on the implementation of the minimum wage hike on July 24, a day before the effectivity of the wage order. The Office of the Solicitor General appeared for the respondents, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region and the National Wages and Productivity Commission, which have been enjoined from implementing the wage hike until August 13. The FFW and NAGKAISA said while ₱85 is the largest nominal peso increase ever granted in the National Capital Region, "the total increase under Wage Order No. 27—from ₱695 to ₱780—amounts to 12.23%. Philippine wage history records several increases that were proportionately higher." These include: The increases granted in 1997 (12.12%) and 2000 (11.86%) were substantially comparable to the present adjustment. "Millions of Filipino workers have endured years of declining purchasing power brought about by inflation, soaring food prices, rising transportation costs, increasing electricity rates, and higher housing expenses," Matula said. "The wage adjustment approved by the Regional Wage Board is already modest when measured against the actual cost of living. Delaying its implementation only prolongs the suffering of workers and their families," he added. —NB, GMA News