Labor group slams employers seeking wage exemptions: “Wag kayong kuripot”

  

Joey Concepcion, big capitalist and presidential adviser

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed employers for seeking exemption from the recently announced minimum wage hikes as it shouted out to them: “Wag kayong kuripot!” The group called on workers to express outrage as the most vulnerable workers will be left with nothing if the employers get their wish.

 

Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Frank Carbon, vice president in the Visayas of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Joey Concepcion, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship, all declared that employers will be hit by the pay increases. Last Friday, the Western Visayas regional wage board hiked the minimum wage by P55 to P110. Likewise, the NCR wage board announced a P33 increase, thus raising the minimum wage in Metro Manila to P570. PM had earlier called for a P100 legislated wage hike.

 

“Pera na magiging bato pa. This is what will happen if the employers’ demand for exemption or deferment is granted. The wage hikes are not even enough to recover the value lost to inflation for the past three years. Deferring the pay increase and exempting employers will be rubbing salt on the wound,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

He added that “Doomsday scenarios of firms going bankrupt, laying off workers and inflation running amok are just the usual disinformation and scare tactics of employers in their class war against a wage increase and a profit decrease. Studies have shown that the employment and inflation effects of wage increases in developing countries are marginal. Employers are being disingenuous in saying that salary hikes will just induce price increases but they are silent on the fact that wages have already been eroded by inflation. Workers are the victims of inflation and wage hikes are not its cause.”

 

The group insisted that the pandemic-induced economic crisis is not an argument against a wage hike. “On the contrary, it is a reason to provide money to consumers through a pay increase. 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.”

 

PM pointed out that a MSME with 10 workers, will only incur an additional P330 in daily wage costs or P8,580 in monthly labor expenses which translates to a mere 0.3% of its P3 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 simply do not want to share the profit they have accumulated through the decade and a half of sustained economic growth,” Magtubo expounded.

May 18, 2022

Labor group opposes wage hike exemption and deferment

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) opposed the call of employers for exemption and deferment of the minimum wage hikes for workers in the National Capital Region and Western Visayas. “It is adding insult to injury to workers for the regional wage boards to exempt and defer the wage hike as demanded by employers. The minimum wage increases are not even enough to recover the value lost to inflation for the past three years. If the hikes are deferred and employers exempted then the most vulnerable workers are left with nothing,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

Yesterday the NCR wage board announced a P33 increase, thus raising the minimum wage in Metro Manila to P570. Likewise, the Western Visayas regional wage board yesterday hiked the minimum wage by P55 to P110. PM had earlier called for a P100 legislated wage hike.

 

The group averred that even small businesses can afford to give their workers a pay increase. “Wag kayong kuripot! 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 greedily monopolized all the new wealth produced by the blood and sweat of workers,” Magtubo explained.

 

He added “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.”

 

The group pointed out that a MSME with 10 workers, will only incur an additional P330 in daily wage costs or P8,580 in monthly labor expenses which translates to a mere 0.3% of its P3 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 simply do not want to share the profit they have accumulated through the decade and a half of sustained economic growth,” Magtubo expounded.

 

He insisted that “P50 is needed as wage recovery in the NCR. The National Wages and Productivity Commission’s own data shows that as of April 2022, the P537 minimum wage in Metro Manila is worth only P487 due to inflation since 2018.”

 

“The International Labour Organization (ILO), in its Minimum Wage Policy Guide, asserts that exemptions defeat the very purpose of the minimum wage which is to protect the income of the most vulnerable segment of the working class. ILO experts also argue that a plethora of minimum wages serves as a barrier to efficient and effective enforcement of minimum wages. This is precisely the problem in the Philippines where even in one region such as Calabarzon there are different minimum wages across different towns,” he stated.

May 15, 2022

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