Saturday, August 25, 2007 Militant group: P10 Cola increase a shame By Grace L. Plata
MILITANT labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) insists that lowly workers need at least P125 across the board wage increase and not the pittance of P10 hike in the cost of living allowance (Cola) that the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB)-Southern Mindanao has approved.
"Despite our hard work, the RTWPB, a lowly mouthpiece of capitalists, seems to always push us further to deprivation. We are outraged by the insulting pittance that they have decided to shove onto our plates while the capitalists of Davao region continue to fatten their bellies with the millions of profit from our sweat and blood," said Romualdo Basilio, chairman of KMU-Southern Mindanao.
Basilio in the same statement said that when Wage Order No. 14 takes effect, non-agriculture workers will be receiving P250 daily wage while workers of other industries shall receive even lower daily rates.
"It's a shame to even call it an increase since it is not incorporated in the basic pay. Worse, the previous P16 Cola of Wage Order No. 13 was not absorbed in the basic pay, which still basically pegs workers' wages at P224,” Basilio explained.
"What with the rising cost of food and other basic needs, how far will P250 go? It does not even come near to half of what we need to shell out every day to put food on the table, send our children to school and pay for all our other necessities," Basilio added.
The National Economic Development Authority (Neda) reports that in Davao region, the daily cost of living for a family of six is about P600.
Basilio, however, said they have expected this miniscule amount after the wage board in Metro Manila approved a measly P12 Cola increase.
"The writings were on the wall; and indeed, the wage boards seemed to have orchestrated a nationally-coordinated attack against our economic welfare. For almost two decades that the RTWPB ran the business of giving substantial increase in wages, all it has proven to accomplish was becoming the minion of capitalist greed. For the longest time, we have called for the abolition of the wage board because we believe only Congress has the mandate to increase workers' wages," Basilio said.
He also said the insignificant Cola proves only that what "development and progress" President Gloria Arroyo boasted in her recent State of the Nation Address (Sona) were all deceitful lies.
"She has the gall to grandstand her illegitimate administration's contrived figures of soaring stocks and indexes when all the while we are eating less than three meals a day," Basilio said.
Basilio said the call for P125 legislated wage increase remains the struggle they pursue.
"We vow to heighten our protest actions until Congress and Senate mutually agree to give us our due," he said. (With Press release)
