STATEMENT ON THE CONSULTATION BY THE NCR WAGE BOARD

STATEMENT ON THE ONGOING CONSULTATION BY THE NCR WAGE BOARD TO REVIEW MATTERS RELATED TO WAGES

Held at the Occupational Safety and Health Center, Quezon City

 

We came here not because we wanted a review of the wage orders issued by the NCR wage board as directed by the president on Labor Day, but to straightly express our collective sentiments regarding the failure of this body to lift millions of minimum wage earners out of poverty over the past 35 years!

 

Our position:

 

1. There is nothing to review about the Php40 wage increase received by NCR workers in July 2023 because everybody knows it is not even half of the value of wages eroded by inflation. In fact, Business World already released a calculation of the real wage of the nominal wage adjusted for inflation this April, where the Php610 minimum wage in NCR, the highest in the country, is now only worth Php502.60.

 

2. Your review, no matter how serious, cannot correct the failures and shortcomings of the regional wage boards over the past 35 years in raising the minimum wage nationwide above the poverty line, and especially not in achieving at least one thousand pesos of the estimated family living wage per day as mandated by our Constitution.

 

3. On the contrary, we collectively believe that what needs to be reviewed are the wage boards in all regions and the law that created them, RA 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989. This review should be conducted by the Congress that created this law, with the aim of rectifying the injustice suffered by workers over the past 35 years!

 

4. We have already approached Congress to legislate a Php150 wage increase to help workers recover their take-home pay affected by rising prices of goods and services, and to review the wage setting mechanisms in the country. The Senate has already passed a Php100 wage increase, and public hearings are ongoing in the House Committee on Labor for a Php150 increase. We rather urge the wage board to support our efforts in convincing Congress if you truly wish to help alleviate the difficult lives of workers and their families due to low wages and high prices of goods and services.

 

5. Lastly, we came here to say directly that it is likely that you were simply instructed by DOLE Secretary Laguesma to expedite the process to preempt and derail the impending action of Congress to legislate a wage increase, which he and ECOP vehemently oppose. The Secretary, to us, acts as a spokesperson for the capitalists by joining business groups in propagating the “catastrophic” blackmail that a P150 legislated wage hike will lead to company closures, price hikes, and drive away investors – issues that were effectively debunked by labor leaders, economists, and academe in recent public hearings conducted by the Labor Committee of the House of Representatives.

 

Nonetheless, we thank the RWPB-NCR for your invitation, allowing us to express our long-held anger and grievances against a system deliberately designed in a capitalist manner to keep workers in perpetual poverty. We apologize if we have nothing more to say that will please the Board.

23 May 2024

Labor coalition denounces Senate’s U-turn on workers’ security of tenure in CENECO case

Photo from Official Gazette

 

The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition issued a strongly worded statement, Tuesday, against the Senate majority for voting against the proposed amendment introduced by Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Risa Hontiveros, to include a security of tenure (SOT) provision to the franchise bill being sought by the Negros Electric Power Corporation (NEPC), a successor company created by the highly controversial joint venture agreement (JVA) between the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) and MORE Power.

 

CENECO is a unionized electric cooperative and cannot be considered as ‘ailing’ to merit private takeover.

 

“We are glad there remains a great minority in the Senate in the person of Sen. Risa Hontiveros and Sen. Koko Pimentel, who remain committed to the fundamental rights of workers to security of tenure as mandated by the Constitution. But shame on the majority who did a Duterte move on the issue of SOT,” said Nagkaisa in indignation.

 

Duterte, who promised to kill endo lords to end contractualization during his term, reversed himself and vetoed the SOT bill he certified and consequently was passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives in 2019.

 

“Noong 2019 ay si Duterte ang bumaliktad sa kanyang pangako. Ngayong 2024 ay ang Senado naman, kahit sa maliit lamang na kaso ng 400 na manggagawa ng CENECO na dati nang nagtatamasa ng security of tenure bilang regular workers pero pinatay ng NEPC sa kanyang anti-labor na JVA at application for franchise. Ito ay kahiya-hiyang mga pagkakataon sa ating kasaysayan. Na-Duterte din ang manggagawa sa Senado,” said Nagkaisa.

 

Sen. Hontiveros pointed out this sentiment when she reminded her colleagues that the Senate passed the SOT bill during the time of Duterte, and that laws and jurisprudence on company mergers and consolidation also do not warrant the dismissal of employees of the absorbed company, especially when the company did not cease operations.

 

But all in the majority present in the plenary last night voted against Hontiveros’ SOT amendment to the NEPC franchise. Their votes will enable NEPC to terminate and provide separation pay to CENECO employees, while the latter wait on to be prioritized in the hiring. NEPC also plans to rationalize its operation, thus, the threat of lower wages ‘based on industry standards’ absent the union and CBA for new hires.

 

Nagkaisa also made mention of Sen. Joel Villanueva who voted against the Hontiveros amendment but is the principal author of the SOT bill he refiled in the 19th Congress. Other senators who voted against the amendment also have bills filed recognizing the right of gig workers to be regularized. There are also SOT bills filed in the Senate for government employees who have already rendered long years as job orders or contract of service in the bureaucracy.

 

“Inconsistency and betrayal are truly constants in our political system where loyalty is to the kings and the kingmakers, not to the majority of the people and the working class,” concluded Nagkaisa.

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition

14 May 2024

 

Labor party wants Laguesma out of DOLE

The Partido Manggagawa (PM) is issuing this statement, which calls for the resignation of Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, primarily because of his obstinate stand against the proposed legislated wage hike.

His strong opposition against this proposal, despite the regional wage boards’ failure to raise wages beyond the poverty threshold and to narrow down the gap between the minimum wage and living wage during the last 35 years, lay bare all the pretensions about the protection of labor rights and the government’s pledge to raise the Filipino families’ standard of living.  

By speaking against legislating wages, Laguesma dropped the workers in favor of employers. His concern about the economy becomes even clearer when he blocks wage growth, which is the workers’ only source of economic life.

We want him out of DOLE for he will never represent the working class. His background speaks more of him dealing with and lawyering for corporate owners aside from being one of the richest and highest paid officials in the Marcos Cabinet.

Partido Manggagawa

09 May 2024

NATIONAL WAGE COALITION DEMANDS A PRO-WAGE HIKE VOTE IN THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT ON 15 MAY 2024

As the  House of Representatives’ Committee on Labor and Employment drags its feet on the legislated wage hike after already three hearings, the National Wage Coalition, spearheaded by the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition (NAGKAISA!), and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), demands the labor committee chaired by Rep. Fidel Nograles, to finally vote for the committee approval of the long-overdue and much-deserved wage increase in its next hearing on Wednesday, 15 May 2024. 

After three exhaustive hearings where economists, academics, think tanks, civil societies, and workers themselves already demolished the fancied threats, myths, and lies of massive price spikes, joblessness, and business closures, the National Wage Coalition calls on the House Committee on Labor to now vote for the approval of the proposed legislated wage hike measures. With a significant majority of the members of the committee as co-authors such as in the ₱150 legislated across-the-board wage recovery increase by the TUCP, the National Wage Coalition trusts that the House of the People will heed the people’s pleas and accept the resounding truth that there is an imperative for Congress to raise workers' wages now after more than three decades of token increases and starvation wages under the regional wage board system.

Instead of the inadequate presidential order to review and reform regional minimum wage rates, the National Wage Coalition demands that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. immediately certify urgent the legislated wage hike to fast-track its approval in the House of Representatives, considering that it is already passed in the Senate. The President must recognize that decades of insufficient increases from the regional wage boards must be set aside in favor of the legislated wage measures advanced by the united workers of the National Wage Coalition.

To be truly the House of the People, the National Wage Coalition demands Congress to raise the wages of all workers towards their right to a living wage, such as the P750 legislated wage hike by the Makabayan bloc through the legislated wage hike for private sector workers and a fair Salary Standardization Law to increase the minimum wage of public sector workers to ₱33,000. We call on the honorable members of the House of Representatives to co-author legislated wage hike measures and for the House Committee on Labor to immediately approve these measures and send them to the plenary for urgent deliberations and passage. For all the workers of this nation whose honest hard work creates the wealth of our nation, the National Wage Coalition forges ahead in our struggle to demand the end of senseless dribbling because all that needs to be said has been already said. The House of the People only needs to listen and heed the people's demand: DAGDAG SAHOD ISABATAS! ₱150 PATAAS! 

National Wage Coalition

9 May 2024 

May Day 2024 is “Coldest Labor Day” – Partido Manggagawa

 

Despite the scorching heat, the Partido Manggagawa (PM) labeled as “coldest Labor Day” this year's May Day celebration due to the government's icy reception to labor’s demand for a wage hike.

 

PM is part of the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, which marched along España Boulevard in Manila alongside the National Wage Coalition, advocating for “Dagdag Sahod Isabatas, P150 Pataas” or the enactment of the proposed across-the-board wage hike of not less than P150.

 

Pending before the Lower House are the proposed P150 wage hike bill authored by TUCP Partylist Rep. and Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza, and the P750 bill filed by Makabayan block. Also filed was the P33,000/month entry level wage for public sector workers.

 

Despite the urgency of these demands, the Palace's response to workers' clamor for substantial wage hike has been cold, limited to repetitive job fairs, Kadiwa rollout, and disbursement of aid like TUPAD (Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers) programs.

 

Moreover, there has been a notable absence of dialogue between labor groups and the President to address workers' concerns.

 

"President Marcos has navigated nearly the entire globe, met with business, trade representatives and military attachés of allied nations for trade and war preparations, yet he has not engaged with worker representatives to discuss labor concerns two years in office," remarked PM Chairman Renato Magtubo.

 

However, Magtubo also noted that despite the lack of dialogue, essential actions could still be undertaken, such as certifying proposed wage increase bills currently pending in the Lower House.

 

Magtubo cautioned that the continuing absence and inaction on the part of the Executive will only worsen the plight of workers in the coming months due to the compounded effects of the ongoing climate crisis and the escalating prices of essential goods and services like food, electricity and water, exacerbated by flawed privatization and liberalization policies.

PRESS RELEASE

01 May 2024