Labor groups seeking legislated wage hike

Various labor groups are now priming up to fight for a legislated wage increase in Congress as talks and consultations have begun among their lot on how to make the government concede to such a call.

The Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo-Kilusang Mayo Uno yesterday said it is now discussing strategies with other labor groups and other sectors to form a bigger alliance that would push Congress to enact a wage hike.

They said now is the right time to increase the meager pay of workers who can hardly cope up with high prices of basic commodities due to the soaring prices of oil products and the coming implementation of the expanded-value added tax.

"Labaw nang kinahanglan sa mga mamumuo ang omento sa sweldo karun kay grabe na naaguman sa mamumuo tungod sa sunod-sunod nga pagsaka sa presyo sa gasolina, pletehan, bayranan sa tubig og mga palitunon. (A wage hike is now needed more by workers who are suffering more because of a series of price increases in oil, fare, water bill, and commodities)," said Nicasio Igot, AMA-Sugbo-KMU chairman.

The Alliance of Progressive Labor agreed with the contention of Igot's group but said it is still consulting with its members while weighing its options on the matter.

APL regional chairman Joe Tomongha said they are supporting the call for a legislated wage hike but would bat for a living wage of P485 per day in the region where a worker's family of six could live decently, as against the present P223 daily wage.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno and its allied organizations said they would not go for wage hikes decided at the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board, but in Congress where party-list groups filed bills seeking for P125 across the board legislated wage increase.

The national government recently ordered the regional wage boards to study the possibility of adjusting workers' wages but Igot said this was just mere words to try to appease the workers who have been fed up with the government's lack of concern for the plight of the workers.

"The government is just trying to appease the workers to prevent them from joining protests calling for Arroyo's ouster. If it is really sincere to give us increase, it should give our long-overdue demand, which is the P125 legislated wage," said Igot.

Three years ago, bills were filed in the House calling for P125-across-the-board wage increase for the private sector and P3,000 for government workers. Then in August last year, labor representatives in the House filed similar bills but without apparent results.

Last May 27, the Central Visayas wage board granted a P15-peso wage adjustment for workers in the region, raising their daily rate from P208 to P223.

Labor regional director Rodolfo Sabulao however said recently that the regional wage board cannot grant any round of wage hike this year, unless "there is a supervening event" to do otherwise. - Wenna A. Berondo