Women members of
the militant labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today called for a wage hike
and government aid as they decried the high prices of goods. In a buildup
activity for the coming Labor Day commemoration, women PM members bought daily
necessities at the Pritil Market out of a budget of P570, which is the minimum
wage in Metro Manila.
“Kakalog-kalog ang
basket of goods na mabibili ng P570 minimum wage. The minimum wage is a libing
not living wage,” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.
The group stated
that the impending rice crisis is not just the looming shortage of the staple
food but also price inflation. Miranda explained that the recent P2 to P3 per kilo
increase in the prices of rice alone has eroded workers’ wages further by another
P71 to P106 per month based on an average 8.9 kilo rice consumption per week
for a family according to the government’s Family Income and Expenditure Survey.
“But things are
yet to become worse as the price of rice is expected to increase by up to P6
due to the supply and demand imbalance. Anyare sa pangakong P20 na bigas?
Dagdag P2 ang nangyari!” Miranda continued.
A wage hike, along
with demands for a stop to contractualization and respect for labor rights,
will be the highlight of the Labor Day rally led by the All Philippine Trade
Unions (APTU) next Monday. The APTU is a coalition of the major labor groups in
the country and is spearheading the Labor Day march from Espana to Mendiola in
Manila.
The Labor Day protest
will be nationwide as counterpart workers’ mobilizations by PM and allied
organizations will be held in the cities of Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Iligan,
Tagum and General Santos.
PM affiliated
groups in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Cebu and Iloilo have filed petitions for a
P100 minimum wage hike. The wage boards have yet to hold any hearings on the
petitions. The group estimates that P100 has been eroded from the purchasing
power of wages as a result of inflation.
“The P100 wage
increase is a demand for wage recovery. It is just a stepping stone for a call
for a living wage or for a just share in labor productivity gains,” Miranda
elaborated.
Tomorrow, PM and
other women workers’ groups are holding an assembly at the University of the
Philippines Diliman School of Labor and Industrial Relations for a whole-day of
discussions, art workshops and a press conference to reiterate their demands
for wage hikes and ayudang sapat together with specific women issues such as
gender-based violence in the workplace.
April 27, 2023
Partido Manggagawa
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