Workers prepare for Labor Day protest

MANILA, Philippines - Workers from 40 trade union groups are gearing up for a massive Labor Day protest action to press for a wage hike.

Renato Magtubo, chairman of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), said members of the biggest labor coalition NAGKAISA are set to hold a vigil at Mendiola on the eve of Labor Day.

Magtubo said the call for a wage increase is one of the highlights of the May 1 rally even as he criticized the government’s announcement of no wage hike. 

He said the government is deliberately distancing itself from the wage issue amid reports of a worsening poverty rate in the country.

“Everybody is aware that poverty is deeply associated with income and the latter being the product of flawed employment and wage policy. Yet the government is trying to skirt the wage issue as if this chronic problem of poverty is not enough to warrant immediate action even prior to the Labor Day celebration,” Magtubo said.

The labor leader said a Filipino family living in Metro Manila needs at least two minimum wage earners in order to have a decent life.

 He said low wage and unemployment problems are twin issues that the government should address squarely and not through the conduct of job fairs during Labor Day.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that in Metro Manila alone, at least 171,532 job vacancies would be offered during the Labor Day job fairs.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the number was part of the more than 400,000 vacancies to be offered in DOLE’s 75 job fairs nationwide.

 â€œThe DOLE celebrates the 2013 Labor Day as a tribute to the nation’s workers, in recognition of their significant contribution to the country’s development, and to highlight their achievements as a major socio-economic pillar of Philippine society,” Baldoz said.

Meanwhile, members of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) went to DOLE office in Intramuros yesterday to dramatize their dismay over the government’s no wage hike announcement.

Labor groups under NAGKAISA held a motor caravan, which they said was just a preview of the planned protest action on Labor Day.