Kowloon House workers strike over unpaid wage increases in Quezon City

The dimsum line at Kowloon House in Quezon City stayed shut as workers marked the fourth day of a strike at the restaurant and commissary, pressing franchisees to support pay increases they said had already been promised. The stoppage hit production directly, cutting off a kitchen operation that depends on steady labor to keep dumplings moving out the door and orders on time.

The workers, represented by GLOWHRAIN-KMU, said they voted to strike because their pay gap had passed P100 under earlier wage orders and their collective bargaining agreement still had not been implemented. In an open letter, they asked franchisees to refrain from ordering dimsum until they could reach an agreement with Katipunan Food Services Inc., a sign that the dispute had moved beyond a simple grievance and into a test of whether commitments in a contract and wage order would be honored.

At the center of the fight was a narrow but consequential difference in daily pay. The union said workers proposed a P25 daily increase tied to mandated raises already due under their agreement, while management countered with P13 a day. The union also said the company’s offer came even as an accumulated wage gap reached P104 over the past three years. For restaurant staff already working under thin margins and uneven schedules, that gap matters not only on payday but in whether a job can cover rent, food, and transportation at all.

The strike also reflected the pressure building across Metro Manila’s restaurant workforce. The region has seen multiple wage orders since 2023, with raises issued in 2023, 2024, 2025 and early 2026, yet workers at Kowloon House said those increases had not fully made it onto their paychecks. With inflation at 4.1 percent in March, even a small daily increase can decide whether a line cook, baker, or counter worker stays ahead of rising costs or falls further behind.

For restaurant operators watching the dispute, the message is blunt: promised raises that do not reach workers can quickly become an operational problem. At Kowloon House, the issue was no longer abstract labor talk. It was a quiet production floor, missed output, and a wage fight that put trust between management and staff at the center of the business.