Groups slam pitch for commission in lieu of raise

CEBU, Philippines – Labor party Partido ng Manggagawa is opposing the proposal of the Makati Business Club to give commissions instead of salary increases to workers in these times of economic difficulty.

PM chairperson Renato Magtubo said the proposal “is another illustration of the vicious attempt by capitalists to exploit the crisis in order to lower labor standards and demolish workers’ rights.”

Magtubo likened the possible scenario to what happened to plan holders of the controversial Legacy group.

“This is wholesale theft of the working class that is little different but much worse than the syndicated estafa perpetrated by Legacy on its middle class planholders,” Magtubo said.

Magtubo said capitalists reject a wage hike because it is a “one-size-fits-all formula” that reportedly favors workers. However, a commission is reportedly no different, as it would also benefit employers and disadvantage employees.

“If capitalists are willing to experiment in a win-win solution, we propose a mandatory unionization of all workers and collective bargaining negotiations on the basis of particular conditions of the different industries and enterprises,” Magtubo said.

Magtubo added that through collective bargaining, labor and management can work out wages and working conditions appropriate to the circumstances of their industries and firms.

Meanwhile, AMA-Sugbo-KMU lambasted the Trade Union Congress –TUCP- Cebu for its earlier pronouncement that this is not the time to grant wage increases.

AMA-Sugbo-KMU chairperson Wennie Badayos said the statement only reveals the kind of trade union TUCP really is.

“This is the best time to give workers economic relief. The government must take workers’ demand for the legislated P125 wage increase seriously. Otherwise current social unrest will worsen,” Badayos said.

Consequently, the Alyansa sa Mamumuo- Sugbo-Kilusang Mayo Uno urged President Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo to implement the long-overdue demand of P125 across the board wage increase.

AMA-Sugbo-KMU secretary-general Elpedio Caterbas said this demand is legitimate and if left unheeded, would reportedly compel workers to conduct a nationwide protest on May 1, Labor Day.

For its part, PM will lead more than a thousand displaced workers and urban poor for a demonstration on the eve of Labor Day and would subsequently merge with other groups for a rally on May 1 itself.

PM would push for a “bailout of the workers and the poor” through unemployment subsidy, tax refund, reform and expansion of public employment program, health insurance for the displaced, and moratorium on demolitions.

The group is also demanding for a reversal of the policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization. —Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/JMO (THE FREEMAN)