GMA meeting with labor leaders to push through

President Arroyo’s Labor Day meeting with leaders of various labor groups to discuss workers’ demands will push through today, Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said yesterday.

Around 300 members of the Labor Solidarity Movement (LSM) will also join the President in a morning Mass at Malacañang, Sto. Tomas said.

"The leaders are eager to hear the administration’s response to the 10-point agenda embodied in the workers’ manifesto which they presented to President Arroyo last Tuesday in a breakfast meeting at Malacañang," she said.

And the President will respond to each of the demands, she said.

The moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), one of many labor groups under the LSM umbrella, is expected to reiterate its 10-point demand to the President.

Topping the agenda are the P78 across-the-board increase for the daily wage of private sector workers and the passage of the third phase of the Salary Standardization Law for government workers.

TUCP spokesman Alex Aguilar said they are also seeking the exemption of workers who earn the minimum wage and below from paying withholding taxes.

Aguilar said they also want "contractualization" and agency-hiring schemes be outlawed.

He added the labor force is seeking the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Act, which he stressed is causing local fuel prices to soar uncontrollably, resulting in higher costs for basic goods. This is why, he said, the TUCP seeks a close monitoring of prices and enforcement of price controls, especially on basic goods and services.

Aquilar appealed to the public to help sustain the fight for the rights of the work force, and for the "people’s participation" against eradicating corruption in government, tax evasion and smuggling that deplete the country’s coffers.

The group is also demanding the speedy dispensation of labor cases before the National Labor Relations Commission, Department of Labor and Employment and the courts.

TUCP has also urged the government to put overseas Filipino workers, farmers, fisher folk and rural workers under coverage of the universal health care insurance program and to allocate ideal public lands for workers’ housing.

The group also seeks the strengthening of "tripartism," or the appointment of trade union representatives to tripartite agencies, a credit allocation for workers cooperatives and support for workers’ enterprises.