“Wag kang kuripot”—labor group to Joey Concepcion

Photo from Manila Bulletin 

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called out presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion for opposing the demand for a wage hike. “Wag kang kuripot! Workers have been waiting for two to three years already for a minimum wage hike. Asking them to wait for the possible suspension of the excise tax betrays the greedy capitalist in Joey Conception,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and Marikina City councilor.

 

The group asserted that even small businesses can afford to give their workers a pay increase. “Before the pandemic, businesses, both big and small, accumulated revenues and profit without sharing the productivity gains to their workers. From 2001 to 2016, the economy doubled in size and productivity increased by 50% but real wages remained stagnant. The pie became larger but the slice of workers remained the same. Employers pocketed the productivity gains accruing from the blood and sweat of workers,” explained Magtubo.

 

PM had earlier called for a P100 legislated wage hike even as Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello asked the regional wage boards to review the possibility of a minimum pay hike. The group is asking that the proposed emergency session of Congress tackle a legislated wage hike.

 

“Numerous studies suggest that minimum wage hikes do not lead to increases in unemployment nor prices. Inflation and retrenchments are just convenient bogeys for government and employers to scare the public against a wage hike,” Magtubo clarified.

 

He added that “P100 is just a wage recovery not a real increase in salaries. From 2018 to the present, real wages have declined by a significant amount of 8%. 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.”

 

“The economic slump is not an argument against a pay increase. Instead it is a reason to provide money to consumers through a wage hike. Boosting the purchasing power of consumers—especially lowly paid workers who spend most of their take-home pay compared to high income earners—will pump prime the economy and lead to the revival of MSMEs,” Magtubo averred.

 

PM pointed out that a MSME with 10 workers, will only incur an additional P1,000 in daily wage costs which translates to 10% of its P 3 million asset size. “This will definitely not bankrupt an MSME. But a lack of market because of low consumption will kill an MSME. A wage hike will create a virtuous cycle in the economy. Capitalists just do not want to share the profit they have accumulated through a decade and a half of sustained economic growth,” Magtubo expounded.

March 14, 2022