Labor Day rally set to press for wage hike

MANILA, Philippines — More than four million Filipino workers are being denied a decent life due to meager salaries, according to a coalition of labor groups, which set a solidarity march on May 1.

The Labor Day rally of coalition members will call for the immediate passage of the legislated wage hike currently pending before the House of Representatives.

“Despite the recent round of wage hikes granted by the different Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards, around 4.2 million minimum wage earners are still unable to experience decent lives,” the National Wage Coalition said in a statement.

“Most regional minimum wages fall below the government-set poverty threshold, thus condemning millions of minimum wage earners who do honest hard work for a living, to a life of poverty,” they added.

The coalition is pushing for a P150 across-the-board legislated wage hike.

“We demand the recovery of the lost purchasing power of workers’ wages due to inflation, through the P150 wage recovery increase,” they noted.

It is imperative to address the disparity between minimum wage and a living wage, the coalition stressed.

“Congress should urgently raise workers’ wages as well as review and reform the country’s minimum wage-setting mechanisms,” they said.

The coalition is comprised of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and other workers’ groups.

Pasay offers 7,000 jobs

More than 7,000 jobs will be available during the mega job fair organized by the Pasay City government and the Department of Labor and Employment on Labor Day.

The job fair will be held at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall on May 1, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to Pasay Mayor Imelda Calixto-Rubiano. — With Nillicent Bautista