The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) is calling for a wage hike and government aid as the group prepares for a big rally on May 1, Labor Day.
The group also decried increasing prices, claiming they bought daily necessities at the Pritil Market out of a budget of P570, which is the minimum wage in Metro Manila.
“The basket was half empty of goods bought for our P570 minimum wage. The minimum wage is a “libing not living wage,” according to Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.
The group stated that the impending rice crisis is not just the looming shortage of staple food but also price inflation.
Miranda said that the recent P2 to P3 per kilo increase in the prices of rice alone has eroded workers’ wages further by another P71 to P106 per month based on an average 8.9-kilo rice consumption per week for a family according to the government’s Family Income and Expenditure Survey.
“But things are yet to become worse as the price of rice is expected to increase by up to P6 due to the supply and demand imbalance. What happened to the P20 rice prices?” Miranda said.
A wage hike, along with demands for a stop to contractualization and respect for labor rights, will be the highlight of the Labor Day rally led by the All Philippine Trade Unions (APTU) next Monday.
PM-affiliated groups in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Cebu and Iloilo have filed petitions for a P100 minimum wage hike. The wage boards have yet to hold any hearings on the petitions. The group estimates that P100 has been eroded from the purchasing power of wages as a result of inflation.
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez meanwhile said the decision to issue new wage orders is under the jurisdiction of Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs).
“We will leave it to the processes and mechanisms established in determining if there is a need to revise the existing minimum wages in the different regions,” Benavidez said at the Laging Handa briefing when asked if there is a possibility that the wage boards will issue orders adjusting the salary of workers before May 1, Labor Day.
Under the Wage Rationalization Act, the minimum wage rates shall be established by the regional wage boards.
“What we know is that there are eight petitions filed and pending in the different RTWPBs in different regions,” the DOLE official added.
The eight petitions were filed before wage boards in National Capital Region (NCR), Region 4-A (Calabarzon), Region 6 (Western Visayas), and Region 7 (Central Visayas).
In Metro Manila, the Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa filed a petition asking for P100 wage adjustment while the Unity for Wage Increase Now is seeking an increase of P571 for workers.
In Calabarzon, the Organisasyon ng mga Manggagawa sa EMI, and the Metal Workers Alliance of the Philippines, are asking for salary adjustments of PHP100 and PHP280, respectively.
Meanwhile, the United Labor-Western Visayas and the Iloilo Pepsi Cola Workers Independent Union are asking an increase of PHP100in their separate petitions before the wage boards in Western Visayas.
In Central Visayas, labor groups Cebu Labor Coalition et al. and the Partido Manggagawa et al. have petitioned an increase of PHPP292.50 and PHP100, respectively.
Workers are pointing to the soaring inflation rate in the country in pushing for salary increases ahead of Labor Day celebrations.