Sunday, May 04, 2008 Labor group fears private sector workers will get low wage rate By Grace L. Plata
A LOCAL labor group fears that with the measly 10 percent wage hike afforded to government workers, private sector workers would get even less.
"Barya kaayo ilang gihatag sa public sector. Wala gyud nila lantawa ilang kapakanan maski gamay na lang ang value sa real wage after a series of inflation, tax increases, among other factors. Posibleng mas mubo ilang ihatag sa private sector, tungod kay gani hangtod karun wala pa gihapon sila nagpagawas ug new page order maski tanang tra-bahante naga-demand na niini," said Michael M. Ibanez, Alliance for Progressive Labor (APL) Davao secretary general.
Ibañez said that as per government data, the real value of regional nominal wage at P250 is only P168.75. The real peso value calculations are often published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) using the year 2000 as a reference year.
"Ang real peso value mao ni siya ang worth or buying capacity sa imong kwarta. As of present, .68 percent lang ang real peso value sa atong regional wage rates," Ibañez said.
As the wage hike for government workers is still to be implemented in July 1 and the private workers still waits for orders from the regional wage boards, Ibañez said the delay would have greater adverse effects to the workers.
With the number of enrollees continuing to decrease each year, out-of-school youths also continue to increase -- simply because education, aside from other basic necessities, is not affordable anymore.
