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She added that "The National Wages and Productivity Council's cost of living estimate of P917 in 2008 is hopelessly outdated in the light of this study and in the face of continuing inflation."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

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