The labor group
Partido Manggagawa, on SONA (State of the Nation Address) day, advised their
fellow workers not to pin their hopes with the hype of a ‘golden era’ being
promoted by the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., saying the value of
this campaign narrative, the same as wages, has already been eroded by hard
realities.
Because the truth is,
argued PM Chair Renato Magtubo, “Never has there been a golden age for workers
under any administration and neither will it be realized under BBM, or until
full employment, living wage, safe workplaces, and healthy environment are
achieved.”
Magtubo explained that
over the last few decades, the army of unemployed and underemployed dominate
the labor force, with the real value of wages failing to catch up with even
half of the living wage.
In the face of soaring
inflation, the real value of the P570 minimum wage in the National Capital
Region (NCR) today stood only at P508.02, according to the National Wages and
Productivity Commission (NWPC). On the other hand, the living wage requirement
for a family of five has already reached P1,300/day based on PM’s earlier
estimates.
Thus, together with
the Nagkaisa labor coalition, PM is advocating not only for an outright wage
increase but also for a change in wage fixing mechanism and, in addition, a
package of universal social protection programs that aims to lower households’
daily cost of living.
The country’s
workplaces, added Magtubo, remain unsafe as far as workers’ freedom of
association is concerned as the anti-union policies of the capitalists do not
only enjoy maximum tolerance but are, in so many ways, aided by the state
itself such as contractualization (endo), red-tagging and worst, extrajudicial
killings.
The Philippines
remains in the list of 10 countries where trade union work is most dangerous,
according to the latest report by the International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC).
The group pointed out
also that despite the unemployment rate tilting back to the pre-pandemic
levels, most of the jobs that were either recovered or created remain
irregular, self-employment, and low-paid. Thus, the call of PM and
Nagkaisa for employment guarantee and support to key sectors of the economy
like the health sector, MSMEs, agriculture, and the environment.
Likewise, echoing the
claim of climate activists that there’s hardly any jobs to talk about under a
burning planet, PM is asking the government that fighting the climate crisis
and creating climate jobs be made one of the major priorities of this new
administration.
“Otherwise, if Marcos Jr. simply goes on as business-as-usual during his first SONA, the rest of his six years will be the same over and over again, or even worse,” concluded Magtubo.
25 July 2022
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