MABALACAT CITY -- A party-list representative has urged the public to support the P750 national minimum wage campaign.
Anakpawis party-list Representative Ariel Casilao asked the country’s workers, especially the mass of wage earners, their wives and children, to sign the P750 National Minimum Wage Signature Campaign.
The campaign was initiated by Anakpawis to consolidate public support for House Bill 7787 or the P750 National Minimum Wage bill, which the Makabayan bloc filed last Monday.
“Anakpawis is launching the signature campaign so all wage earners and their families, everyone who wants a substantial wage increase, can have a vehicle through which they can be on board in pressuring Congress to immediately enact our bill”, Casilao said.
He even claimed that the P750 national minimum wage, which the bill proposes, will not even close the yawning gap between wages and the cost of living.
The highest minimum wage is P512 in the NCR and the lowest is P265 in Armm while the cost of living nationwide has soared to P1,168/day for a family of six, according to the representative.
Casilao said that P750 is a realistic demand because it is calculated in a way that it would not hurt business while giving substantial relief to the country’s mass of workers who are now groaning under the onerous burden of surging prices brought about by new Train taxes and fuel price increases.
“For decades, under the regionalized minimum wage, workers have been given ‘barya’ for wage increases. It is now time that they be accorded a minimum wage that is commensurate to their labor and could give them a shot in the arm,” Casilao stressed.
“That’s why the public should stand united behind the P750 National minimum wage,” he added.