As thousands
of workers march today in Labor Day rallies across the country, the partylist
group Partido Manggagawa (PM) vowed to “fight endo until the endgame.” The
demand to abolish contractualization and provincial wage was at the top of the
issues raised in the Labor Day commemoration.
Last
night women members of PM and PUP students under the group SPEAK held a
candlelight protest at Mendiola to call for regular jobs and a living wage.
“The
Senate should heed the cry of the thousands of workers and to pass the Security
of Tenure bill in its last session this month before Congress ends its term,”
explained Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary-general.
She also
clarified that “We support all initiatives to augment the income of workers
such as the recent petition for a P710 across-the-board wage hike or a legislated
salary increase for all workers. But we believe the best solution is to abolish
the present system of regional wage setting that is the fulcrum of the policy
of cheap labor. It is high time to institute a wage commission with the mandate
to set national wages at the level of cost of living.”
Today PM
and allied organizations National Federation of Labor, Agila, Umalab Ka, Pwersa
and Kilos Maralita assembled at the Petron gas station along the eastbound side
of Blumentritt in Espana at 7 a.m. The group then linked up with other groups
for a short program at Welcome Rotonda. Then the Labor Day march led by the
Nagkaisa labor coalition started at 9 a.m. towards Mendiola. Some 10,000
workers are expected to participate in the march to Mendiola.
PM also
held Labor Day mobilizations at Cebu, Bacolod and Iligan. The rally in Cebu was
a joint Nagkaisa-KMU rally at downtown Colon in the morning. The Bacolod mass
action was a march by sugar workers and factory laborers through the Fountain
of Justice in the afternoon. The Iligan march was led by the Federation of
Democratic Labor Organizations.
“We
challenge the candidates of the opposition to make a stand on the demands of
workers for regular jobs and a living wage. After three long years, the
administration has not delivered on its promise to end endo and end provincial
wages. But ordinary voters will not be inspired by the Otso Deretso if they
cannot make a straight forward commitment to workers’ demands for regular jobs
and a living wage,” Miranda averred.
May 1, 2019
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