Group eyes pay hike ahead of May 1
THE labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) is calling for a wage hike and government aid as the group prepares for a big rally on May 1, Labor Day.
The group also decried increasing prices, claiming they bought daily necessities at the Pritil Market out of a budget of P570, which is the minimum wage in Metro Manila.
“The basket was half empty of goods bought for our P570 minimum wage. The minimum wage is a “libing not living wage,” according to Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.
The group stated that the impending rice crisis is not just the looming shortage of staple food but also price inflation.
Miranda said 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. What happened to the P20 rice prices?” Miranda said.
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.
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.
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez meanwhile said the decision to issue new wage orders is under the jurisdiction of Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs).
“We will leave it to the processes and mechanisms established in determining if there is a need to revise the existing minimum wages in the different regions,” Benavidez said at the Laging Handa briefing when asked if there is a possibility that the wage boards will issue orders adjusting the salary of workers before May 1, Labor Day.