Labor group calls on Congress for a P100 legislated wage hike

 

In reaction to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello’s announcement that he had called on the regional tripartite wages boards to review minimum wages, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) demanded that the proposed emergency session of Congress tackle a legislated wage hike.

 

“The regional wage boards are inutile. Natutulog sila sa pansitan sa nakaraang tatlong taon. Instead workers want Congress to pass a law mandating a P100 across-the-board wage increase,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

He explained that “Metro Manila workers last got minimum wage increase in October 30, 2018, more than three years ago. The most recent wage hike was for Region 2 in February 4, 2020, on the eve of the lockdowns. The worst off are workers in Calabarzon, where most factories are now situated, who last got a minimum wage increase in February 28, 2018. None of the regional wage boards have done anything for the pass three years since they are an instrument to cheapen wages.”

 

The group pointed to the government’s National Wages and Productivity Commission’s own data that shows that as of February 2022, the P537 minimum wage in Metro Manila is worth only P494 based on inflation since 2018. “This is of course an underestimation. Thus, we call for a P100 legislated wage hike for all workers, even for those receiving salaries above the minimum wage,” Magtubo elaborated.

 

He added that “P100 is really not enough to raise minimum wages to the level of the cost of living. Thus, a wholistic approach necessitates a cash aid, price discounts and a jobs program in response to the spike in food prices. Families of the unemployed and informal workers should be given a cash assistance of P10,000 a month. In the long-term, support for farmers must be accelerated, food sovereignty must be promoted and land conversion must be stopped. Local programs that connect farmers to consumers and workers’ communities must be encouraged.”

 

The group is also supporting the labor coalition Nagkaisa’s call for an emergency jobs creation program called unemployment support and work assistance guarantee or USWAG. PM and other labor groups coalesced under the Alliance of Labor Leaders for Leni signed a covenant the tandem of Vice President Robredo and Senator Kiko Pangilinan that calls for approximating the living wage and abolishing the system provincial wages. 

March 10, 2022