Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Advisory: Workers vigil vs. PNoy rebuff of labor demands


Workers vigil vs. PNoy rebuff of labor demands
Today, April 30
Assembly at 5:00 pm in Morayta cor. Espana
March to Mendiola by 6:00 pm
Boiled eggs will be used to highlight line that after three Labor Days, workers have gained nothing from President Aquino
Wreath laying at Mendiola for 5 PALEA martyrs
May 1: Nationwide protests
Manila: Big rally by Nagkaisa
Assembly at 7:00 am from Welcome Rotonda to Ramon Magsaysay HS
March from Espana to Mendiola
                    Cebu: 7,000-strong rally by Nagkaisa
                              Assembly at 9:00 am downtown Colon
                              March to Fuente Osmena
Bacolod: PM and labor coalition GAWA joint rally
Iloilo: PM march-rally to Plaza Letagay in the morning

Workers belittle non-wage benefits as “scraps,” job fairs as “farce”


Press Release
April 30, 2013

As President Benigno Aquino III announced non-wage benefits for workers today, the militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) belittled it as “scraps meant for slaves.” “Workers are not children that can be pacified with candy. The Constitution mandated a living wage for workers but the State keeps minimum wages at starvation levels,” declared Renato Magtubo.

The group also criticized the job fairs scheduled on Labor Day as a “farce.” “Job fairs are simply job facilitation yet the real issue is employment generation. So-called economic growth has not translated to job creation. Unemployment remains at 7% and even college graduates constitute almost one fifth of the unemployed. The 400,000 jobs available at the job fairs cannot even provide for the 530,000 recent graduates,” Magtubo added.

In a vigil this afternoon at Mendiola, several hundred PM members highlighted the call “Manggagawa Naman” as they demanded that workers’ concerns be a priority in the national agenda. They also brought dozens of boiled eggs to symbolize their critique that President Aquino has not done anything for workers. “Sa ikatlong Mayo Uno niya sa Malacanang, bokya pa din ang mga manggagawa kay PNoy,” asserted Judy Miranda, PM secretary general.

Tomorrow the PM contingent will merge with the labor coalition Nagkaisa in a big Labor Day march from Espana to Mendiola. PM will underscore its “Apat na Dapat” demands which are regular jobs with living wages; housing, education and health care services for all; cheap prices of food and utilities; and equal rights and opportunity for women.

Members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) also attended the vigil as they laid wreaths at the foot of Mendiola for Bienvenido Ruiz, an outsourced Philippine Airlines worker who died of a stroke last Sunday. “The martyrdom of Bien Ruiz, Antonio Enero, Danny Hernandez, Alfredo Limana and Arturo Estrada—who all died during the pendency our struggle against outsourcing—embolden us to fight until victory so that their deaths will not be in vain,” insisted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.

PM is leading nationwide protests tomorrow on Labor Day. In Cebu, thousands of PM members will unite with the Nagkaisa contingent for a 7,000-strong rally from downtown Colon to Fuente Osmena. In Bacolod, PM will merge with the labor coalition GAWA for a rally at the downtown area. In Iloilo, PM will have an assembly of construction workers and then initiate a rally march to Plaza Letogay. In Davao, PM and Nagkaisa will have a joint protest at Orcullo Park. In Iligan, PM will link up with a labor unity rally at the public park in front of City Hall.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Advisory: Labor Day activities


LABOR DAY ACTIVITIES

Protest preparations
April 30, 10:00 am
@ PALEA picketline (near NAIA Terminal 3)
PM members will be making streamers for the Labor Day rally, preparing eggs to symbolize line “bokya si PNoy sa mga manggagawa,” and setting up a wreath for PALEA picketer Bien Ruiz who died of a stroke yesterday

Vigil by 200 workers
April 30
Assembly at 5:00 pm in Morayta cor. Espana
March to Mendiola by 6:00 pm
Boiled eggs will be used to highlight line that after three Labor Days, workers have gained nothing from President Aquino
Wreath laying at Mendiola for PALEA picketer Bien Ruiz
      

May 1: Nationwide protests

Manila: Big rally by Nagkaisa
Assembly at 7:00 am from Welcome Rotonda to Ramon Magsaysay HS
March from Espana to Mendiola
                    Cebu: 7,000-strong rally by Nagkaisa
                              Assembly at 9:00 am downtown Colon
                              March to Fuente Osmena
Bacolod: PM and labor coalition GAWA joint rally
Iloilo: March-rally to Plaza Letagay in the morning

Theme of Labor Day commemoration is “Manggagawa Naman,” meaning for workers issues to be a priority in the national agenda.
In particular this translates to a critique of President Aquino’s inaction on workers demands for regular jobs, wage hike and labor rights. Workers will also challenge candidates running in the elections to respond to workers demands.

Workers slam non-wage benefits as candy, want wage boards scrapped


Press Release
April 29, 2013

In a picket today at the offices of the National Capital Region wage board and the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), the militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) call for the abolition of the two agencies. The group also belittled the non-wage benefits to be announced by the government as “candy for children.” Judy Miranda, PM secretary general, said that “Workers are not slaves to be given scraps by the government.”
PM denounced the NWPC and NCR wage board for being inutile and instruments of the wage freeze policy, “The NCR wage board and the NWPC do not just share the same office, they also share the same wage freeze policy that favors the capitalists and disadvantages the workers,” declared Miranda.
The NWPC’s last cost of living estimate of P917 was still in 2008 and is outdated in the face of PM’s own study which reveals the a working class family’s daily expenses is now at P1,217. The cost of living estimate is therefore is almost three times the current minimum wage of P456 mandated by the NCR wage board.
About a hundred workers picketed the NCR wage board and NWPC office in Malate, Manila. The picket is also a buildup activity for the coming Labor Day commemoration. The call for a legislated wage hike will be one of the highlights of the big May Day rally. On the eve of Labor Day, PM will hold an overnight vigil of several hundred workers and poor at Mendiola to press for its demands against contractualization and high prices.
The group called the minimum wages prevailing in the country as starvation wages. Yesterday, to illustrate this point, a PM member went to the market today to buy life’s necessities using an amount equivalent to the minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR). “The minimum wage cannot buy a working class family their daily bread. The Constitution mandates that a worker receive a living wage. Instead the regional wage boards prescribed a libing wage,” asserted Miranda.
The group is advocating for the establishment of a National Wage Commission. “The National Wage Commission is different in that its mandate is to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. And despite the huge gap between the present minimum wage and the current cost of living, the National Wage Commission can achieve equalizing the two by a host of mechanisms among which are direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts and social security subsidies for workers,” Miranda explained.
PM also slammed the Labor Day job fairs announced by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz as a “job farce.” “These job fairs are a gimmick to cover up the truth that government is not doing anything significant to solve mass unemployment,” asserted Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.
He explained that job fairs are simply job facilitation instead of job generation. “The government is propagating the myth that the problem is job mismatch and thus the solution is job matching and facilitation. Yet the figures do not lie—the unemployment rate remains at 7%, meaning some three million Filipinos are jobless. Millions more are not officially counted as unemployed because they not anymore looking for work after months and years of desperately looking for non-existent jobs,” Magtubo lamented.
He added that “Even a college diploma does not help since 17% of the unemployed are tertiary graduates. The 400,000 jobs allegedly being offered at the May 1 job fairs will not even suffice to provide employment for the 530,000 college graduates who entered the labor force this April.”

Workers call for abolition of wage board, NWPC


Press Release
April 29, 2013

In a picket today at the offices of the National Capital Region wage board and the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), the militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) call for the abolition of the two agencies. PM denounced the NWPC and NCR wage board for being inutile and instruments of the wage freeze policy.

“The NCR wage board and the NWPC do not just share the same office, they also share the same wage freeze policy that favors the capitalists and disadvantages the workers,” declared Judy Miranda, PM secretary general.

The NWPC’s last cost of living estimate of P917 was still in 2008 and is outdated in the face of PM’s own study which reveals the a working class family’s daily expenses is now at P1,217. The cost of living estimate is therefore is almost three times the current minimum wage of P456 mandated by the NCR wage board.

About a hundred workers picketed the NCR wage board and NWPC office in Malate, Manila. The picket is also a buildup activity for the coming Labor Day commemoration. The call for a legislated wage hike will be one of the highlights of the big May Day rally. On the eve of Labor Day, PM will hold an overnight vigil of several hundred workers and poor at Mendiola to press for its demands against contractualization and high prices.

The group called the minimum wages prevailing in the country as starvation wages. Yesterday, to illustrate this point, a PM member went to the market today to buy life’s necessities using an amount equivalent to the minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR).

“The minimum wage cannot buy a working class family their daily bread. The Constitution mandates that a worker receive a living wage. Instead the regional wage boards prescribed a libing wage,” asserted Miranda.

"Our own estimate shows that the gap between the P456 minimum wage in the NCR and the present cost of living is a yawning P761 or 167% of the ordinary wage. Even if both parents work—which is the buy one, take one policy of the government—then their combined income will not be enough to feed the entire family," stated Miranda.

The group’s cost of living estimate did not provide for savings and social security which in the government’s basket of goods and services constitutes 10% of the cost of living. Furthermore, PM's study did not include items such as leisure and recreation, and the family budget for health excluded medical expenses. Miranda said that "If we include such items, and we must in a more accurate survey, then the cost of living will significantly exceed P1,200 per day."

The group is advocating for the establishment of a National Wage Commission. “The National Wage Commission is different in that its mandate is to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. And despite the huge gap between the present minimum wage and the current cost of living, the National Wage Commission can achieve equalizing the two by a host of mechanisms among which are direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts and social security subsidies for workers,” Miranda explained.

Advisory: Workers to picket NCR wage board


Workers to picket NCR wage board,
National Wages and Productivity Commission

WHAT: Workers rally to call for abolition of wage board, NWPC

WHEN:  Today, April 29 (Monday), 10:00 am

WHERE: Dy International Building, Gen. Malvar cor. San Marcelino Sts., Malate Manila

DETAILS: PM is denouncing the NWPC and NCR wage board for being inutile and instruments of the wage freeze policy. The NWPC’s last cost of living estimate of P917 was still in 2008 and is outdated in the face of PM’s own study which reveals the a working class family’s daily expenses is now at P1,217. The cost of living estimate is therefore is almost three times the current minimum wage of P456 mandated by the NCR wage board.
The picket is also a buildup activity for the coming Labor Day commemoration. The call for a legislated wage hike will be one of the highlights of the big May Day rally. On the eve of Labor Day, PM will hold an overnight vigil of several hundred workers and poor at Mendiola to press for its demands against contractualization and high prices. ###

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Minimum wage is a starvation wage, say labor group


Press Release
April 28, 2011

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called the minimum wages prevailing in the country as starvation wages. To illustrate its point, a PM member went to the market today to buy life’s necessities using an amount equivalent to the minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR).

“The minimum wage cannot buy a working class family their daily bread. The Constitution mandates that a worker receive a living wage. Instead the regional wage boards prescribed a libing wage,” asserted Judy Miranda, PM secretary general.

The group declared that the call for a wage adjustment will be one of the highlights of the big May Day rally planned by the labor coalition Nagkaisa. On the eve of Labor Day, PM is holding an overnight vigil of several hundred workers and poor at Mendiola to press for its demands against contractualization and high prices.

An erstwhile contractual worker but who is now unemployed went to the Nepa Q Mart in Quezon City to prove this point. Using a budget of P228, half the minimum wage in the NCR, she desperately tried to buy enough food to feed a family of six. Food constitutes half of the basket of goods used in cost of living estimates by the government. As families get poorer, food takes up more than half of their basket of goods.

Yesterday PM released its own study of the cost of living for a family of six in NCR that reveals it has already reached P1,217 a day. "This estimate shows that the gap between the P456 minimum wage in the NCR and the present cost of living is a yawning P761 or 167% of the ordinary wage. Even if both parents work—which is the buy one, take one policy of the government—then their combined income will not be enough to feed the entire family," stated Miranda.

The group’s cost of living estimate did not provide for savings and social security which in the government’s basket of goods and services constitutes 10% of the cost of living. Furthermore, PM's study did not include items such as leisure and recreation, and the family budget for health excluded medical expenses. Miranda said that "If we include such items, and we must in a more accurate survey, then the cost of living will significantly exceed P1,200 per day."

She added that "The National Wages and Productivity Council's cost of living estimate of P917 in 2008 is hopelessly outdated in the light of this study and in the face of continuing inflation." PM finds it a mystery why the NWPC has not updated its estimate for in the last five years.

The group is advocating for the establishment of a National Wage Commission. “The National Wage Commission is different in that its mandate is to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. And despite the huge gap between the present minimum wage and the current cost of living, the National Wage Commission can achieve equalizing the two by a host of mechanisms among which are direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts at social security subsidies for workers,” Miranda explained.

Cost of Living Estimate
for a family of 6 living in NCR (April 2013)


Items

Volume/Cost
Daily
Cost
Monthly
Cost
%
share
Food & Beverages


16,029.70
43.92
rice
2.5kg/day x P35 (sinandomeng)
87.50
2,625

ulam & gulay
3 servings (P65/pax/day x 6 pax)
390
11,700

condiments
2kg onion (P65),
1kg garlic (P109), others
7.97
239

fruits
4kg  x P40 (banana)
5.33
160

cooking oil
2 liters x P95.45
6.36
190.90

sugar
2kg x P50
3.33
100

soy sauce
1 liter P32.25
1.08
32.25

vinegar
1 liter P26.75
0.89
26.75

fish sauce
1 liter P30.75
1.03
30.75

coffee
2 (100g) x P75.90
5.06
151.80

milk
3 (900g) x P257.75
25.78
773.25

Utilities


3,400
9.32
electricity
200kwh (P11.17/kwh)
74.47
2,234

water
20cu.m. (P20.80/cu.m)
13.87
416

LPG
1 cylinder
25
750

House rental


6,000
16.44

1 month rent
200
6,000

Toiletries


1,224.10
3.35
soap
6 bars x P37.75
7.55
226.50

shampoo
2 (200ml ) x P99.80
6.65
199.60

sanitary napkins
3 (packs of 8) x P40.00
4
120

toothpaste
2 (150ml) x P67.50
4.5
135

laundry soap
24 (70g pack) x P9.50
7.60
228

deodorant
4 x P78.75
10.50
315

Education


3,748
10.27
enrollment fees
4 pax x P500 = P2000/schoolyear
5.56
167

school allowance
50 x 3 pax & 25 x 1 pax/day x 22 days x 10 months = P38,500/yr

107

3,208

theatre tickets
1 ticket x P160/grading x 4 periods x 4 pax/schoolyear
7.11
213


school projects
2 subjects x P60
/grading x 4 periods x 4 pax = P1,920/schoolyear

5.33

160

Health


198
0.54
ascorbic acid
6 (1 tablet ascorbic acid generic) X P1.10
6.60
198

Communications


1,500
4.11
phone or cellphone
at least P25/day load x 2
50
1,500

Transpo expenses


4,400
12.05
fare to and from work
2 pax x P100/day x 22days
146.67
4,400

Total

P1,216.66
P36,499.80


NOTES:

1.     Family is composed of a couple with 4 children. Children are all in public schools (3 HS level and 1 elementary), school supplies, work books expenses, internet use for research are not yet included
2.     Basket does not include bill for a house-help
3.     Utilities such as electricity and water vary from time to time depending on consumption so its ++
4.     No item for leisure/recreation
5.     Health budget does not include medical expenses
6.     No budget allotted for savings.  NWPC basket provides 10% of the total