Workers marching to press wage hike
CEBU, Philippines — Workers from different labor organizations are marching to Congress today to press for the immediate passage of the pending measure granting a ?200 legislated across-the-board pay hike.
“With only six session days left this June, this is the moment of truth for the 19th Congress,” Federation of Free Workers (FFW) president Sonny Matula said.
“We urge Speaker Martin Romualdez and our lawmakers: be the House of the People—pass the ?200 wage hike now,” Matula added.
Matula noted that the Senate has passed its version of the legislated wage increase as early as February last year.
According to Matula, the historic significance of the ?200 wage hike cannot be overstated, for it will be the first legislated nationwide wage increase since 1989.
He said over five million minimum wage earners nationwide and their families expect the “long-overdue legislation” to lift them from poverty wages.
If the 19th Congress fails to pass it this June, Matula said, the process will reset and start from step one under the 20th Congress.
“Non-passage would be a step backward, moving us further away from achieving a living wage—a right guaranteed by the Constitution but still unrealized nearly four decades since its ratification,” Matula pointed out
He said wages nationwide have fallen to below 30% of the purchasing power of the 1989 wage.
The scheduled mobilization, Matula said, is a powerful show of broad unity among labor groups determined to see this wage hike become law before Congress adjourns. – Philippine STAR News Service
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