Sunday, October 6, 2024

Workers group slam billionaire app owner running as partylist nominee

 


The workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the owner of the platform app Angkas who is running as the first nominee of the Ang Kasangga partylist. “How can a billionaire like George Royeca represent ordinary app riders? This is another Mikey Arroyo, son of then President Gloria Arroyo, who ran as nominee of a fake security guards partylist group. Royeca is a poster boy for the undermining of the partylist system as a reform measure,” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.

 

She added that riders have been misclassified as freelancers by platforms and as a result have been denied the protection of labor standards and social security. “Riders have been organizing against abuses by platforms such as arbitrary cuts in pay. How can Royeca speak and fight for riders’ rights and welfare when he owns the app?,” Miranda averred.

 

According to the COMELEC, 73 partylist groups have filed their certificates of nomination and acceptance. But more are expected as 170 partylist groups have been accredited by the COMELEC.

 

“The Constitution provides for the partylist system as a mechanism for representation of marginalized groups such as workers who traditionally have been excluded from Congress as a result of elite domination of politics. Unfortunately, fake partylist groups, like Ang Kasangga of the Angkas CEO, have provided a backdoor for trapos and capitalists to enter the House of Representative. They have squeezed out legitimate partylist organizations truly representing workers and other basic sectors,” Miranda explained.

 

Ang Kasangga first ran in 2010 ostensibly as a partylist of small entrepreneurs but the COMELEC disqualified its first two nominees—a businessman and a former mayor—for not belonging to a marginalized group. In the same election, Mikey Arroyo won as security guards partylist representative.

 

PM was among the second batch of partylist groups which successfully put leaders of marginalized groups into the House of Representatives. Rene Magtubo, a factory worker and union president, sat as PM partylist representative for two terms until 2007.


Miranda called on app riders to reject Ang Kasangga and instead vote for partylist groups which truly represent workers and other underrepresented groups. 

October 7, 2024

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Grupo, tinuligsa ang bagong wage orders na nagpapalalim ng “poverty wages”

Photo from Philstar

Tinuligsa ng grupong Partido Manggagawa (PM) ang wage boards ng Rehiyon 2, 3, at 12 sa “pagpapatuloy ng cheap labor policy” dahil ang kanilang mga minimum wage order ay malayo sa mga hinihingi ng mga manggagawa na P150 dagdag sahod upang maibalik ang kanilang nawalang purchasing power.

 “Ang mga bagong minimum wage ay napakababa para sa pantawid ng mga pormal na manggagawa at kanilang pamilya. Ang trabaho ay hanapbuhay, ibig sabihin, ang layunin ng pagtatrabaho ay upang kumita ng sapat para sa isang disenteng buhay. Sa halip, ang sistema ng wage regionalization ay lumilikha ng isang hukbo ng mga nagtatrabahong mahihirap or ‘working poor,’” sabi ni Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general ng PM.

Dagdag pa niya, “Nagtatrabaho ang mga tao ngunit nananatiling mahirap. Kung ibabatay sa kalkulasyon na 26 na araw na trabaho kada buwan (kahit na sinasabi ng PSA na ang karaniwang araw ng trabaho ay 22 lamang sa halip na 26), ang mga buwanang minimum wage ay hindi umaabot sa antas ng kahirapan. Alalahanin pa nating kontrobersyal ang poverty threshold dahil sa pagiging labis na mababa.”

Anang grupong PM, ang real wage, o kung ano ang mabibili ng mga manggagawa sa kanilang suweldo, ay hindi tumutugma sa produktibidad ng paggawa. Isang pag-aaral ng gobyerno ang nagpakita na ang real wages ay nananatiling stagnant habang ang produktibidad ay tumaas ng 50% mula 2001-2016. Para kay Miranda, “Kayang magbigay ng mas magandang sahod ang mga kumpanya ngunit ang sistema sa pagtatakda ng sahod ay patuloy na nambabarat sa mga manggagawa.”

Binanggit sa Wage Rationalization Act ang apat (mula sa sampu) na pamantayan tungkol sa isang living wage ngunit ang mga wage order tuwinang nakabatay lamang sa inflation—sa pinakamainam na sitwasyon. “Ang mga minimum wage ay naging isang ceiling, hindi isang floor. Nangangahulugan ito na ginagamit ng mga employer ang minimum wage bilang pinakamataas na handa nilang ialok sa mga manggagawa. Oras na para buwagin ang wage boards,” paliwanag ni Miranda. 


New Daily Wage

Monthly Wage (x22)

Monthly Wage (x26)

PSA Poverty Threshold

Region 2

480

10,560

12,480

13,400

Region 3

550

12,100

14,300

16,046

Region 12

430

9,460

11,180

12,241

October 2, 2024

Monday, August 19, 2024

Minimum wage earners are poor according to PSA “fact reveal”

 

Photo from Rappler

The latest poverty statistics released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) last week show that families with a minimum wage earner as a breadwinner live below the poverty line. “PSA’s ‘fact reveal’ exposes the sad truth that minimum wage earners are working poor as their families survive below the poverty threshold which is unrealistically low. Thus, the urgency of a PhP 150 legislated across-the-board wage hike for all workers,” stated PM national chair and a Marikina city councilor.

 

“The minimum wage is highest in Metro Manila, where the wage board has already granted an adjustment last month. Yet the monthly income of a minimum wage earner in NCR is just PhP 14,190 (P645 x 22 working days). This falls below the PhP 15,713 poverty threshold in Metro Manila, according to the PSA,” Magtubo explained.

 

He added that the same working poor scenario exists for minimum wage earners in highly industrialized areas like Calabarzon, Central Luzon and Cebu. “The ‘minimum wage-poverty threshold gap’ is worse for workers in Calabarzon, Central Luzon and Cebu where no salary adjustment has been granted yet by the inutile wage boards. In Calabarzon the monthly minimum wage is PhP 11,440 but the poverty threshold is PhP 15,457. In Central Luzon the wage is PhP 11,000 but the threshold is PhP 16,046. Finally, in Cebu the monthly minimum wage is PhP 10,296 while the poverty threshold is PhP 14,397. The minimum wage-poverty threshold deficit ranges from PhP 4,000 to 5,000 in a month for these industrialized areas where minimum wages are higher than the rest of the country, except Metro Manila,” Magtubo elaborated.

 

He called for a legislated across-the-board wage hike of P150 to recover the lost purchasing power of workers nationwide. PM is calling on Congress to act on the demand for a salary increase.

 

Magtubo added that “It is a scandal that the minimum wage—which is a floor supposed to protect workers and their families—fails to rise above the poverty threshold. And this holds not just for Metro Manila but for all regions. We are a nation of working poor. Sa kabila ng sipag at tyaga ng mga manggagawa, nanatiling mahirap ang kanilang mga pamilya.”

 

“Further, we can question the accuracy of the poverty threshold estimates. Suffice it to say that even Sec. Balisacan found it difficult to defend the P64 food poverty threshold and stated that it needs revision. This admission from officials is good to hear but action from government is what the working poor need,” Magtubo averred.

August 19, 2024

Sunday, August 18, 2024

“Gutom Na Pilipino” (GNP) persists despite economic growth

Photo from UCA News

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Minimum wage earner families are food poor—Partido Manggagawa

Photo from Panay News


The P64 food poverty threshold means that families with a minimum wage earner as breadwinner are food poor. This is the reaction of the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) to NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan’s statement on the latest poverty threshold estimates. Tomorrow, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is set to hold a presscon to announce the results of the poverty survey for the full year of 2023.

 

“Basing on the publicly available PSA data, the first semester 2023 poverty threshold for Metro Manila is P18,704, of which P13,061 is the allocation for food. The minimum wage for Metro Manila, which was increased last month, is just P645 per day or P16,770 for one month. Thus, the income of a family of five with a minimum wage earner as breadwinner falls well below the poverty line and is food poor,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and a Marikina city councilor.

 

He called for a legislated across-the-board wage hike of P150 to recover the lost purchasing power of workers nationwide. PM is calling on Congress to act on the demand for a salary increase.

 

The P13,061 poverty food threshold for Metro Manila in the first semester of 2023 implies that a person needs more than P87 per day to be considered not poor. This is above the P64 mentioned by Sec. Balisacan which refers to the national average for the full year of 2023. Magtubo declared that “The P64 food poverty threshold is well above NCR’s food poverty threshold since the cost of living is higher in the capital. But despite the higher minimum wage in Metro Manila that is still not enough to sustain a family. Therefore, workers deserve a wage hike.”

 

He added that “It is a scandal that the minimum wage—which is a floor supposed to protect workers and their families—fails to rise above the poverty threshold. And this holds not just for Metro Manila but for all regions. We are a nation of working poor. Sa kabila ng sipag at tyaga ng mga manggagawa, nanatiling mahirap ang kanilang mga pamilya.”

 

“Further, we can question the accuracy of the poverty threshold estimates. Suffice it to say that even Sec. Balisacan found it difficult to defend the P64 food poverty threshold and stated that it needs revision. This admission from officials is good to hear but action from government is what the working poor need,” Magtubo averred.


August 14, 2024