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
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