Workers challenge presidentiables on wages and jobs issues

Nationwide rallies by labor groups on Bonifacio Day raised the twin workers issues of living wages and regular jobs. With the elections looming, the partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) challenged presidential candidates to heed the workers clamor.

Rene Magtubo, PM chair and its partylist bet, stated that “Hinahamon naming ang mga kandidato sa eleksyon: Manggagawa naman! Kung buhay si Andres Bonifacio at si Heneral Luna, masisigaw nila ‘Punyeta ang mababang sahod at mataas na buwis! Punyeta ang kontraktwalisasyon at globalisasyon!’”

Members of PM ripped copies of temporary employment contracts and pay slips with withholding taxes in a symbolic reenactment of Bonifacio’s tearing of the hated cedula that started the Katipunan’s revolution against Spanish colonial rule.

“We condemn the epidemic of contractualization perpetrated by capitalists to demolish labor standards and lambast the government for killing the proposed tax cuts that would have raised the take home pay of workers,” Magtubo argued.

PM joined other workers groups in the Nagkaisa labor coalition in a several thousand-strong march from UST Espana to Mendiola. Mobilizations in cities like Cebu, Bacolod, Tacloban, Davao and General Santos picketed ticketing offices of Philippines Airlines in a show of solidarity for 117 employees who were victims of a recent mass layoff. The union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) has a pending notice of strike over the latest retrenchment.

Magtubo explained that “Giving tax breaks to wage earners is not a loss to the government because increased take home pay leads to bigger spending for goods and services. Such will spur growth in manufacturing, agriculture and services sector, and thus enlarge tax collection by the government.”

With the Paris COP21 talks on climate change about to start, the Bonifacio Day appeals by workers also included calls for climate justice, climate jobs and just transition. “Labor’s demand for decent work is integral to adaptation and mitigation as people with regular employment and social insurance are better prepared to face recurring disasters,” Magtubo elaborated.

There was also an internationalist angle to the local celebration of Bonifacio Day as workers of Korean companies based in the country expressed solidarity with the Korean labor movement which has been the subject of raids and arrests by the government of Park Geun-Hye. Placards signed by the workers unions of Tae Sung Phils. in Cavite and KEPCO Cebu read “Solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Korean labor movement! Stop the raids on union offices and arrests of labor leaders! No to state repression!”

PM vowed to continue solidarity actions for the embattled Korean labor movement even as the group criticized Korean companies in the country for union busting and unfair treatment of workers. The partylist group cited the labor disputes at Tae Sung and KEPCO Cebu and also the deaths of dozens of workers at the giant Hanjin shipyard in Subic to buttress its point.

Workers join Black Friday protest, condemn PNoy for rejecting tax reform bill

The workers party list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today condemned the Aquino government for rejecting the proposed bill lowering income taxes as it called on its members to join the Black Friday protest. “If Heneral Luna was alive today, he will be part of the #BlackFriday protest while shouting ‘Punyeta ang mataas na buwis sa manggagawa!’,” exclaimed Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and one of its partylist bets for the coming elections.

Magtubo stated that PM members in factories are holding lunch break actions today in support of the #BlackFriday protest called by groups pushing for lowering of income taxes. “Factory workers in Metro Manila and the export zones in Cavite and Cebu, and also members of the Philippine Airlines union PALEA are participating in the #BlackFriday protest.” Magtubo explained.

PALEA members are holding pickets today at Philippine Airlines offices at the airport to demand the reinstatement of 117 employees to be laid off on November 30. Besides opposing the mass layoff, PALEA members are also raising the call for lowering income taxes.

“Inclusive growth is just a marketing gimmick if it cannot be made concrete by tax reform benefiting workers. Workers, as fixed income earners subject to withholding taxes, carry the onerous burden of primarily financing the coffers of the state but suffer from poor social services that are subject to political patronage,” Magtubo elaborated.

He challenged presidential candidates to heed the clamor of workers for progressive taxation and lowering of income taxes. “Mar Roxas’ alibi that tax reform during the election season is not timely is a lame excuse. If daang matuwid does not lead to tax reform then it is a deadend for workers,” Magtubo argued.

PM vowed to push for tax breaks for workers as part of its electoral platform. The labor partylist group’s “Apat na Dapat” platform includes lowering of prices, living wages, regular jobs and quality public services. PM insists public services must be funded from the proceeds of progressive taxation that shifts the burden from workers and the poor to the rich and employers.

November 27, 2015

Labor party-list study show cost of living in Calabarzon is P800 a day

Press Release
May 3, 2010

The labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) released its own study of the cost of living for a family of six in Calabarzon as of April this year that reveal it has already reached P808 a day. "This survey shows that the gap between the P320 minimum wage in the most urbanized part of Calabarzon and the present cost of living is a yawning P488 or 153% 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 Raquel Monzon, a trade union leader of PM in Rosario, Cavite.

The group’s computation is an underestimation since it 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. Monzon said that "If we include such items, and we must in a more comprehensive survey, then the cost of living may reach P900 per day or more."

In reaction to Malacañang’s order to all regional wage boards to deliberate on a wage hike, PM doubts that the Region IV-A wage board will grant a substantial salary increase. “Since the Calabarzon wage board was established in 1989, no basic wage increase ever granted was above P20, which today is not even enough to buy an additional kilo of the cheapest commercial rice. The wage boards must be abolished for being inutile. Its wage orders are always delayed, stingy and benefits merely a small section of workers because it is not across-the-board and riddled with exemptions, deferments and creditability clauses," declared Monzon.

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 equalize the two by a host of mechanisms among which are direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts at social security subsidies for workers,” Monzon explained.

She added that “The formation of a National Wage Commission should be on the agenda of the next Congress and must be certified as urgent by the new President, if his administration will bring real change to workers lives.”

Monzon 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."