Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Workers need P100 wage hike just to recover lost value of wages

 

Workers in the National Capital Region have already lost at least P80 in the value of their wages due to inflation, the Nagkaisa labor coalition said Thursday, following the 6.9% headline inflation rate reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority for the month of September.

 

“Marapat lang na may P100 wage hike sa first 100 days,” said Nagkaisa spokesman Renato Magtubo, referring to the first 100 days of the Marcos administration confronted by unmitigated rise in prices of goods and services.

 

Magtubo said their demand is merely for the recovery of the lost value of wages due to inflation and not yet for the rise in workers’ standard of living which is only possible through a living wage which is now at the range of P1,200 - P1,300/day.

 

“Wage recovery pa lamang ito. Hindi pa dito kasali ang mas malaking utang ng negosyo at gobyerno sa sweldo kung ang hahabulin ay ang mandato ng Konstitusyon ng family living wage o para makarating sa golden age ang mga manggagawa,” said Magtubo.

 

The current minimum wage in NCR is P570 per day but its real value today, according to Nagkaisa, is P488 only.

 

Nagkaisa said it will work to have a bill amending the wage setting mechanism passed while letting its affiliates file appropriate petitions in their respective regions as the situation would be more difficult in some regions where inflation rates are much higher than NCR.

 

The group also took note of the high inflation rate for electricity (21.4) and gas at 9.8 but added that while the rising inflation is rooted in the current global crisis, it didn’t help that government is failing to ensure the supply of needed commodities as can be seen in the sugar crisis fiasco and higher inflation on food products.

 

Pay hike for teachers, too

 

In celebrating Teachers Day today, Nagkaisa also joined the call by the public sector unions to raise the salary of schoolteachers as well as the hiring of more teaching and non-teaching personnel.

 

“Tapusin na ang panahon na ang mga guro ay kailangan pang magsangla ng kanilang ATM para mairaos ang pang-araw araw na buhay ng kanilang mga pamilya,” said Magtubo. 

5 October 2022

Renato Magtubo

Spokesperson

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition

 

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