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Saturday, June 04, 2005
'What can P15 do to alleviate workers' plight?'
"WHAT can a P15-wage increase do to substantially alleviate the sad plight of workers?" asked Zaldy Yebra, chairperson of the Bukluran ng Mangagawang Pilipino (BMP) Panay-Guimaras Chapter, on the latest wage order of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board 6.
According to Yebra, the now P205-minimum wage plus cost of living allowance is "much less than half of the cost of living, which is already estimated at close to P635 pesos a day."
"Due to inflation, the purchasing power of the peso in March 2005 compared to year 2000 prices is only 79 centavos. So the P205 actually only amounts to P161. What more when the expanded value-added tax takes its toll on their meager incomes?" the labor leader lamented.
Based on Wage Order Number 13, the P205 applies to industrial/commercial and retail/service workers employed by companies with a capitalization of more than P3 million.
The new daily minimum wage range from P155 to P215, depending on the industry/sector, will take effect June 18.
However, for the sugar industry and cottage/industry sectors, only P10 will take effect on June 18 while the additional P5, on April 16, 2006.
Legislated Wage Increase
Yebra said, "what is imperative is the institutionalization of or going back to the system of nationally-legislated wage increase."
He proposed the establishment of a National Labor Wage Commission "which would have jurisdiction over raising wages through some mechanism that is sensitive to inflationary flows."
Unity
Yebra also reiterated the Labor Bloc's call in Congress for a 125-peso legislated wage increase and called on all sectors of the labor front to unite for this demand.
"Let us raise the level of the workers' movement forward and assert our rightful and just claim for a dignified level of wages, in short, a living wage," he said.
(June 4, 2005 issue)
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