CL workers firm on P125 pay hike demand

ANGELES CITY – Despite data showing that the prices of basic commodities in Central Luzon have gone up by 14 to 56 percent, labor leaders in the region said they are sticking to their 10-year-old demand for a legislated P125 across-the-board increase in minimum wage.

This, as they scoffed at the latest annual “poverty threshold parameters” of the National Census and Statistics Office (NCSO) placing the acceptable family income at P17,298 or P47 per day.

“This is ridiculous. That threshold income is only for a ganta of rice these days,” said Angie Ladera, who chairs the Workers’ Alliance of Region 3 (WAR 3), at a press conference here yesterday.

Workers from various parts of Central Luzon are marking Labor Day today with a march from the city library here to the Clark Freeport where, their leaders said, many workers are victims of “contractualization.”

Ladera said the current regional minimum wages ranging from P158 to P287 per day are not enough for families.

“Majority of workers’ families are experiencing hunger and diseases because they cannot eat enough and at times content themselves with only two meals per day,” she said.

Ladera said complementing the NCSO’s outdated poverty parameters are the standards of the National Wages Productivity Commission (NWPC) that place at P749 the threshold income for a family of six.

“The figure is higher, but it allocates only P13 for food for each family member. How can one survive on this, considering that the price of rice has gone up 44 percent, fish by 14.3 percent, pork by 23 percent, chicken and vegetable by 20 percent, fruits by 25 percent, and cooking oil by 56 percent?” Ladera said.

She said she found it ridiculous that the NWPC allocates the remaining P446 for non-food items such as payment for utilities, transportation needs, medicine, soap, clothes, and other items for all six members of a family.

Ladera said WAR 3 and most labor groups in Central Luzon have been boycotting the regional tripartite wage and productivity board in tackling wage issues.

“Wage boards do not really work for the welfare of the workers. Workers never get their demands through wage boards,” she said.