Thursday, April 17, 2008 Workers seek P100 wage hike By Mark D. Francisco and Danilo Adorador III
WORKERS in Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao, already feeling the brunt of rising prices of rice and other basic commodities, are seeking a P100 across the-board wage increase.
The Associated Laor Union, who represents the workers sector in the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB), filed the petition for the wage hike Monday.
"The P100 increase is essential if the workers are to cope with the increasing prices of commodities and cost of living, if they are to meet the basic needs of their families," said the five-page petition signed by LU regional Vice President Nicandro Borja.
Armando Naul, secretary general of the Solidarity of Transport Alliance in Region X-Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytors Nationwide (Starex-Piston) in Northern Mindanao, said they are thinking of filing a petition to increase the fares for public transportation.
"The recent oil price increases are too much to ignore. We think it's time to act," Naul said.
Transport leaders said recent increases of the fuel prices have hurt the public transportation sector.
"We can't anymore avoid a fare hike. We can no longer pretend that the situation is still okay, when its not," Virgilio Valmoria of the Transport Federation of Cagayan de Oro (Trafeco), said.
Naul said they are considering taking a two-pronged action: "Ask for a fare increase and at the same time go to the streets to demand government action."
Inflation in Cagayan de Oro City rose seven percent last February compared to 5.1 percent in January 2008, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).
Because of this, the purchasing power of consumers in Cagayan de Oro has fell two centavos to the peso in January 2008. Presently the Consumer Price Index for Cagayan de Oro is 66 centavos to the peso.
This means that a family of five in Cagayan de Oro needs to have a monthly income of P4,065 to survive.
Last Wednesday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Monday ordered wage boards nationwide to increase the minimum wages of workers to help them cope with the eroding purchasing power of the peso.
Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Northern Mindanao director Alan Macaraya, who chairs the RTWPB Northern Mindanao, said they would meet on April 28 at Pearlmont Hotel, this city to discuss the petition of the workers.
"Prices of commodities, oil, rice, wheat, canned goods and flour... these are things beyond our control. I think there is a need for a wage hike at this time," Macaraya said.
But big business represented by entrepreneur Arsenio Sebastian said they balked on the idea of giving in to the workers demand.
Sebastian said any wage hike would hit hard small businesses in rural areas like those in the towns of Pangantucan and Kalilangan, Bukidnon who cannot afford the P100 across-the-board wage hike sought by the workers.
He said the same would happen in Cagayan de Oro where there are many small businesses. Sebastian cited the case of Salay Paper Industries, a leader of handmade paper making, which is on the brink of bankruptcy.
"If you have 30 employees and their salaries will increase to P100, that's P3,000 additional operating expenses a day," Sebastian said.
But Borja and the ALU are insistent on the need to increase the wages.
Borja said consumer price index in the region has surged from 39.8 in June 1989 to 153.1 in March 2008 or a difference of 3.85 times.
Presently, the minimum wage for industrial workers in Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao is P244 a day.
