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MILITANT
groups reiterated Tuesday the call for legislated wage
hike and urged President Arroyo to certify as urgent the
P125 wage-hike bill in the wake of the increasing price
of rice and other basic commodities in the Philippines.
In a
joint statement, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang
Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and the Unyon ng
Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) said instead of tasking
the regional wage boards across the country to act on
the workers demand for wage increase, President Arroyo
should certify as urgent the bill that will legislate
wage hike of P125 for the workers’ daily take- home pay.
House
Bill (HB) 345, which calls for a P125 across-the-board
wage increase was filed by militant party-list
lawmakers, namely, Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, Bayan
Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño and Gabriela
party-list Reps. Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan.
“Mrs.
Arroyo should instead dismantle the unproductive and
antiworker wage boards and send marching order to
Congress to pass HB 345 on or before May 1. The law can
be passed and signed in less than a week’s time if
President Arroyo is really sincere in her wage-hike
proposal,” the statement said.
Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap and UMA
national chairman Rene Galang said the regional wage
boards, by orientation and by design, are meant to
further keep the daily take-home pay of Filipino at
“depressed levels.”
“The
regional wage boards are forever white elephants to
workers and chiefly serve the best interests of capital.
The passage of the P125 wage-hike bill is very material,
very urgent and the most politically, legally and
morally correct way of addressing the pressing need of
the working class of this country,” the groups added.
Pamalakaya said the passage of the P125-wage increase
has become a political and economic necessity for the
country given what he described as seemingly unstoppable
increases in the prices of rice and other basic needs,
which are further compounded and complicated by the
weekly increases in the prices of petroleum products.
Citing
the recent study made by the National Wages and
Productivity Commission (NWPC) that each family of six
needs P768 per day to survive in Metro Manila,
Pamalakaya said the P350 minimum wage, which is
regularly received by nonagricultural workers is way,
way below the required amount for a family of six to
survive.
The NWPC
also said the P350 minimum wage is actually worth
P245.61 today based on the present inflation rate. In
the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, this has the
lowest minimum wage pegged at P200 a day, a family of
six needs P1,008 a day to survive. However, the nominal
basic pay of P200 if translated to a real wage would
only be P136.71 today.
For his
part, Galang of UMA said the real value of workers’
wages had also seriously been eroded. Citing the study
made by independent think tank Ibon Foundation, the
union leader said the purchasing power of the peso in
Metro Manila fell to 70 centavos from 72 centavos from
April 2006 to April 2007.
“This
means that a worker has lost P2 of actual buying power
for every P100 he or she earns. This is despite the fact
that the workers’ productivity has increased from P9,265
per month to P9,560 per month from April 2006 to April
2007. |
