AN OBVIOUSLY pissed off coalition of labor unions is recalibrating its next move following the court’s issuance of a temporary retraining order (TRO), which effectively suspended the implementation of salary adjustment for workers based in Metro Manila.
In a statement, the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition stood firm against the Pasig City Regional Trial Court’s issuance of TRO against the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board – NCR Wage Order 27
According to the coalition, the TRO is unacceptable.
“The TRO delays relief for millions of minimum wage earners, who have already waited too long for a modest wage increase amidst soaring prices of food, electricity, transport, and housing,” reads part of the statement.
“Workers cannot eat TROs. Families cannot survive on injunctions,” it added.
The issuance of the TRO, they added, is contrary to the provisions of the Labor Code of the Philippines — particularly Article 124 which provides that any party aggrieved by a wage order may appeal before the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), and that the filing of such an appeal does not stay the implementation of the wage order.
“The Labor Code is unequivocal. Congress vested wage-fixing authority in the RTWPBs and provided a special and exclusive remedy: appeal to the NWPC and not through an original action before the Regional Trial Court,” said the group.
“This is not a mere error of judgment. When the law is elementary, explicit, and even quoted in the very order being issued, ignoring it raises serious questions of gross ignorance of the law,” added Nagkaisa.
In response, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) stood firm on the validity of the wage order issued by the RTWPB-NCR, assuring workers that the government would contest the TRO issued by the Pasig City RTC.
“We are cooperating, and we are coordinating with the Office of the Solicitor General to argue that this latest wage order is valid, and that we followed the process,” Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said.
“We did this for the sake of Filipino workers… all of this is for the welfare of both the workers and the employers.”
Meanwhile, RTWPB-NCR chairperson Sarah Mirasol said the wage order was issued after the wage board adhered to due process.
“We discussed the different positions, comments of labor, the employers, as well as the government. We are confident in the fact that we followed due process, and we followed the process as provided in the guidelines for minimum wage fixing,” said Mirasol in a separate interview.
Under Wage Order NCR-27, the RTWPB-NCR granted a P85 minimum wage increase in Metro Manila to be implemented in two tranches. The first tranche of P60 was supposed to take effect on July 25, while the second tranche of P25 will take effect on January 20, 2027.
