Amidst high inflation, labor group renews call for P100 wage hike

 

Photo by OneNews.PH

In reaction to the 3-year high inflation of 4.9% this April, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) reiterated its call for a P100 wage hike. The Philippine Statistics Authority released the inflation rate which is a rapid monthly increase of 0.9% over the previous inflation data for March.

 

“P100 is wage recovery, not a real increase in salaries. From 2018 to the present, real wages have declined by a significant amount of 8%. The rising inflation rate further erodes real wages. The National Wages and Productivity Commission’s own data shows that as of February 2022, the P537 minimum wage in Metro Manila is worth only P494 due to inflation since 2018,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and a Marikina councilor.

 

The wage hike was among the demands raised by PM and other worker groups in the nationwide Labor Day activities a few days ago. PM is asking that an emergency session of Congress tackle a legislated wage hike. “The regional wage boards are useless. Instead workers want Congress to pass a law mandating a P100 across-the-board wage increase, even for those receiving salaries above the minimum wage since everyone has been affected by inflation,” asserted Magtubo.

 

He added that “P100 is really not enough to raise minimum wages to the level of the cost of living. Thus, a holistic 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.

 

Magtubo explained that “Metro Manila workers last got a minimum wage increase on October 30, 2018, more than three years ago. The most recent wage hike was for Region 2 on 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 on February 28, 2018. None of the regional wage boards have done anything for the past three years since they are an instrument to cheapen wages.” 

 

May 5, 2022

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

Labor group says cost of living has breached P1,000/day

Press Release

April 28, 2011

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) estimates that the cost of living for a family of six in Metro Manila has breached PhP 1,000 a day as of March this year. PM based its estimate on its own cost of living study last year and the inflation rate over the past year. Thus the group criticized the declaration of Malacanang and the Labor Department that no wage hike is forthcoming on Labor Day.

“There will be no good news for the workers on May 1, just a consuelo de bobo. Non-wage benefits should complement not supplant a wage hike. But even if NCR wage board later grants the PhP 75 petition, it will not be enough to bridge the yawning gap between the minimum wage and the cost of living,” declared Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

PM announced that their conservative estimate of the cost of living is PhP 1010. They arrived at the figure using PM’s PhP 984 April 2010 survey of the daily cost of living and the National Statistics Office’s 2.6% estimate of the inflation rate from April 2010 to March 2011 [1010 = 984 + (984 X 2.6%)].

Magtubo also slammed employers for threatening layoffs and closures in the response to the demand for a wage hike. “This is just the usual capitalist black propaganda and blackmail. Employers will not go bankrupt with a wage hike but they will lose some of their profit,” he explained.

Tomorrow, PM together with the Phillipine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will lead a “Workers Caravan for Regular Jobs and Living Wage” that will go around the economic zones of Cavite. The workers caravan is a buildup to the nationwide May 1 protests. On Labor Day, PM together with PALEA will assemble at 9:00 am at Mehan Garden in Manila then proceed to Mendiola for a labor unity rally at Mendiola and mass to be officiated by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo. PM will also lead Labor Day protests in Cebu City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Iligan City and Dipolog City.

“The gap between the PhP 404 minimum wage in the NCR and the cost of living is PhP 606 or 150% of the ordinary wage. Even if two members 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 Magtubo.

The group is pushing for the establishment of a National Wage Commission. “The National Wage Commission will be different from the wage boards in that its mandate is to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. And despite the huge difference between the minimum wage and the cost of living, the National Wage Commission can bridge the gap by a host of mechanisms among which are direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts and social security subsidies for workers,” Magtubo explained.

He added that “The National Wages and Productivity Council's (NWPC) cost of living estimate of PhP 917 in September 2008 has to be updated in the light of this study and in the face of continuing inflation. We wonder if the NWPC stopped releasing cost of living estimates because it unwittingly exposes the cheap labor policy of the government.”

PM’s cost of living study 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. Magtubo said that “If we include such items, and we must in a more accurate survey, then the cost of living will even be bigger.”

He also argued that “Since we should not impose the burden of household chores and child rearing to the female parent, then the basket of goods should provide for a house-help. That is not anymore a luxury especially in the light of the insistence of the state that both parents must work instead of having just a single breadwinner.”

Labor party wonders why living wage figures remained at 2008 level

Press Release

April 15, 2011

While prices of basic goods and services keep on rising, the government’s calculation of Family Living Wage (FLW) remained at 2008 level, provoking curiosity from the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

According to the group, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) website contains all the necessary information on wages, except on FLW estimates which has never been updated since September 2008. The link to the site has been “under construction” since then.

“Was it arbitrary on the part of the government to put an embargo to this very important information?  If it cannot even update its figures how much more in complying with the Constitutional mandate of providing labor the right to a family living wage?,” lamented PM chair Renate Magtubo.

Living wage is defined as the amount of family income needed to provide for the family’s food and non-food expenditures, including a 10% proportion of "other components" to allow for savings.

The NWPC’s September 2008 figures put the FLW estimates in the National Capital Region (NCR) at P917 a day to as high as P1, 322 in the ARMM region. PM’s own estimate put it at P1, 000 in 2009.

Magtubo said the NWPC may have opted to “reconstruct the truth” to hide or mask the ever widening gap between real wage and the living wage.  NWPC calculated the real wage value of the P404 minimum wage in NCR at PhP239.76.  It cannot be compared to the current FLW since new numbers are missing.

“For this evidently clear act of omission labor has the right to call for NWPC’s abolition together with the equally hopeless regional wage boards,” argued Magtubo.

A regular and timely estimate of FLW is important since it shows the movement of a family’s current cost of living relative to its income thus must be principally considered in making wage adjustments. 

In fact first on the list of the 10 criteria for the current minimum wage fixing is the workers’ demand for living wage which includes not only the right to recover the lost value of their wages but also improvement on their living standard.

“The truth is there is clearly a mismatch between the actual needs of workers and their level of income because the present system puts more weight on capitalist’s ‘capacity to pay’ rather than on labor’s ‘capacity to buy’,” explained Magtubo.  

Magtubo said the country’s wage levels remain at “starvation level” since the PhP125 and PhP75 demand, even if granted, can only cover about half of a worker’s actual needs.

Aside from pressing for a wage increase, PM has also been proposing for the replacement of the current wage fixing mechanism by a new system that would institutionalize living wage as the principal criterion for determining the basic minimum wage.  It wants a new National Wage Commission mandated with this new framework take the place of the regional wage boards.