00:00Two companies that bag billions' worth of contracts from the Department of Public Works
00:04and Highways are both behind the petition to put the long-awaited 85-peso wage hike
00:09in Metro Manila on hold. ReadyCon Trading and Construction Corporation received 9.07
00:14billion pesos' worth of contracts from 2016 to 2026, while R2 Builders secured 3.3 billion
00:20pesos' worth of contracts from 2019 to 2022. Among these, three contracts with a total cost
00:27of 503.3 million pesos were a joint venture between the two. Both companies previously
00:32argued against the historic 85-peso daily minimum pay increase, saying this would disrupt projects
00:38priced before the wage order was issued. After the two companies' petition, a PASIG court issued a
00:43temporary restraining order against the Regional Wage Board and the National Wages and Productivity
00:48Commission to stop them from implementing the wage hike. But Kamanggagawa Representative Eli San Fernando
00:54says,
01:15The first 60-peso
01:17trash had already taken effect on July 25, raising the daily minimum wage for non-agricultural workers
01:23from 695 pesos to 755 pesos, with an additional 25-peso hike scheduled for January 20 next year.
