Tag Archives: Living wage

[Press Release] Labor group says poor needs living wage, regular jobs to adapt to climate change -CTUHR

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Labor group says poor needs living wage, regular jobs to adapt to climate change

As the world celebrates Earth day this week, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights said that calls for living wage and regular jobs become more imperative especially for the urban poor in light of the country’s high vulnerability to climate change.

CTUHR logo

Based on the climate change vulnerability index, the Philippines is among the top 10 countries at extreme risk to climate change and Metro Manila is second to Bangkok as the most vulnerable city to climate-change related disasters.

The group recently published the results of its climate justice feminist participatory action research (CJ-FPAR) on urban poor communities lying along the Tullahan River in Metro Manila. The research revealed that apart from damage to homes and properties due to massive inundation following typhoons and prolonged southwest monsoon rains, urban poor women and their family members also lost days of work thereby lowering family income during and after the calamities. The report also noted that because of the precariousness of livelihood and employment urban poor women have, it becomes almost impossible for families to recover from disasters.

The CJ-FPAR is part of multi-country research, initiated and supported by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development (APWLD), a leading regional feminist network that has a consultative status at the United Nations.

“Extreme weather events such as typhoons and consequent flooding in Metro Manila that occurred repeatedly and more frequently in recent years have aggravated the urban poor’s condition. Combined with poverty wages and informal or contract employment, these disasters will keep the poor ever mired in poverty. Building resilience and adaptive capacity of the poor to climate change should therefore include providing living wages, regular jobs, more viable livelihood and social services to the poor,” Daisy Arago, CTUHR executive director explained during a Solidarity Walk for climate justice held in Novaliches QC last Saturday, 18 April.

The Solidarity Walk organized a recently formed local alliance, Kilusan ng Mamamayan para sa Hustisyang Pangklima (KMHP), comprised of women organizations, trade unions and church people, called for decent work, livelihood, and rights as part of a “just” adaptation policy to climate change.

Meanwhile, CTUHR underscored that all talk of adaptation will be rendered useless if big countries do not significantly lower their emissions.

“Rich countries such as the United States benefit immensely from the use of fossil fuels and extraction of natural resources, while developing countries like the Philippines suffer the consequences of a warming planet. They have amassed and continue to amass huge sums of profits at the people’s expense,” Arago said.

“We call on the people to unite and strengthen calls for climate justice and build broader grassroots movement to end a system that is exploitative to both the environment and the people,” Arago averred.

For reference: Jane Siwa, CTUHR public information coordinator 09174682829.

PRESS RELEASE
20 April 2015

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[Press Release] Workers belittle non-wage benefits as “scraps,” job fairs as “farce” -PM

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Workers belittle non-wage benefits as “scraps,” job fairs as “farce”

pmLogo1As President Benigno Aquino III announced non-wage benefits for workers today, the militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) belittled it as “scraps meant for slaves.” “Workers are not children that can be pacified with candy. The Constitution mandated a living wage for workers but the State keeps minimum wages at starvation levels,” declared Renato Magtubo.

The group also criticized the job fairs scheduled on Labor Day as a “farce.” “Job fairs are simply job facilitation yet the real issue is employment generation. So-called economic growth has not translated to job creation. Unemployment remains at 7% and even college graduates constitute almost one fifth of the unemployed. The 400,000 jobs available at the job fairs cannot even provide for the 530,000 recent graduates,” Magtubo added.

In a vigil this afternoon at Mendiola, several hundred PM members highlighted the call “Manggagawa Naman” as they demanded that workers’ concerns be a priority in the national agenda. They also brought dozens of boiled eggs to symbolize their critique that President Aquino has not done anything for workers. “Sa ikatlong Mayo Uno niya sa Malacanang, bokya pa din ang mga manggagawa kay PNoy,” asserted Judy Miranda, PM secretary general.

Tomorrow the PM contingent will merge with the labor coalition Nagkaisa in a big Labor Day march from Espana to Mendiola. PM will underscore its “Apat na Dapat” demands which are regular jobs with living wages; housing, education and health care services for all; cheap prices of food and utilities; and equal rights and opportunity for women.

Members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) also attended the vigil as they laid wreaths at the foot of Mendiola for Bienvenido Ruiz, an outsourced Philippine Airlines worker who died of a stroke last Sunday. “The martyrdom of Bien Ruiz, Antonio Enero, Danny Hernandez, Alfredo Limana and Arturo Estrada—who all died during the pendency our struggle against outsourcing—embolden us to fight until victory so that their deaths will not be in vain,” insisted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.

PM is leading nationwide protests tomorrow on Labor Day. In Cebu, thousands of PM members will unite with the Nagkaisa contingent for a 7,000-strong rally from downtown Colon to Fuente Osmena. In Bacolod, PM will merge with the labor coalition GAWA for a rally at the downtown area. In Iloilo, PM will have an assembly of construction workers and then initiate a rally march to Plaza Letogay. In Davao, PM and Nagkaisa will have a joint protest at Orcullo Park. In Iligan, PM will link up with a labor unity rally at the public park in front of City Hall.

Press Release
April 30, 2013
Partido ng Manggagawa
Contact Renato Magtubo @ 09178532905

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[Press Release] Low wage policy, job fairs won’t bring Pilar and Pepe out of chronic poverty -PM

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Low wage policy, job fairs won’t bring Pilar and Pepe out of chronic poverty

pmLogo1The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) deplores the “no wage hike” on Labor Day announcement made by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) the other day, saying it is the country’s unemployment problem and low-wage policy that keeps Pilar and Pepe suffer a life of misery under chronic poverty.

The group declared that the call for a wage adjustment will be one of the highlights of the big May Day rally planned by the labor coalition Nagkaisa. Today the coalition is holding a motorcade that will pass by different government agencies including DOLE. On the eve of Labor Day, PM is holding an overnight vigil of several hundred workers and poor at Mendiola to press for its demands against contractualization and high prices.

The no wage hike announcement coincided with the release by the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB) of a report indicating the country’s failure to cut poverty incidence during the last six years (2006-2012).

The same report also revealed that those who produce the country’s food requirements—the agricultural workers and fisherfolks—were the lowest paid among employed workers.

PM chair, Renato Magtubo, said he found Malacanang’s wage freeze announcement as a deliberate attempt to distance itself from the wage issue in anticipation of this poverty report by the NSCB.

“Everybody is aware of the fact 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,” lamented Magtubo.

The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) in its last estimate (2008) placed the family living wage (FLW) in NCR at PhP 917 per day. FLW is significantly higher in the poorest region of ARMM where it was estimated to reach PhP 1,322.

PM is advocating for the implementation of the living wage concept provided under the 1987 Constitution as against the minimum wage concept under Republic Act 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Law. The minimum wage in Metro Manila stands at only PhP446 a day or less than half of the desired FLW.

“To live a decent life, a Filipino family needs at least two minimum wage earners to survive a gruelling daily life in Metro Manila. Sadly 27.9% of the population based on NSCB report cannot even get out of the poverty line as they have no source of income to meet the basic food and non-food requirements now estimated to be at PhP 7,821 a month or PhP 260 a day,” said Magtubo.

The labor leader likewise stressed that low wage and unemployment problems are twin issues that the government should address frontally and not through mega showcase such as job fairs done during Labor Day. PM is advocating a paradigm shift in the economic policy of the government as a step towards resolving the job and income crisis.

PRESS RELEASE
Partido ng Manggagawa
25 April 2013
Contact: Renato Magtubo
09178532905

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[Blog] Why Higher Wages Make Economic Sense -politicsforbreakfast.blogspot.com

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Why Higher Wages Make Economic Sense
MAY 15, 2012

Last May 1, the usual arguments of the business sector were unleashed with its central theme: No, business cannot afford wage hike. Beset with high cost and poor business climate, business simply cannot survive added cost of labor. How do we attract investments if we increase wages? Look at China and Vietnam. Didn’t they have a cheap labor policy? Aren’t they getting much more investments than us due to lower minimum wages?

As if the anti-wage-hike position isn’t entrenched enough, an army of economists follows with a recital of the dogma of “labor flexibility”. They say, wage level should be equal to the so-called “marginal productivity of labor” – which is economese for whatever the employer wants to pay them. Labor is supposedly not exempt from the law of supply and demand. Raising minimum wage will only increase unemployment, as it supposedly disallows all voluntary labor wage contracts that pay below the minimum wage. It will also introduce inefficiency in the labor markets, now faced with a “deadweight loss” due to the intervention of the government who will always fail to set prices right.

But why, if they are right, aren’t we attracting investments still? What explains Philippine firms’ low level of competitiveness? Why does unemployment remain high? The response has always been, never mind the workers, that it is not enough. Lower wages a bit more, then we’ll get the investments that would have gone to China. Lax regulations a bit more, and we’ll have more productive factories and viable businesses. Dismantle a little bit more unions, and businesses will be more efficient and will eventually increase their wages in the long-run.

Read full article @ politicsforbreakfast.blogspot.com

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[Statement] P125 Minimum Wage Increase Now! www.masa.ph

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by Partido Lakas ng Masa

The Workers Create the Wealth of the Society!
We Deserve Better!

The Regional Wage Board’s decision of giving NCR workers a 22 pesos non-wage benefit is unacceptable and considered an insult to all non-agricultural workers. The additional Php 22 was too little to make any economic impact for the workers because it was given way too late when prices of basic commodities and transportation fares were already increased.  We can say that the adjustment is really not an adjustment to help but a mere pampalubag loob (consolation).  President Noynoy Aquino (Pnoy) made an announcement before May 1, International Labor Day, that he has good news for the workers.  But instead of making good of his promise to help alleviate a little the economic condition of the workers, he failed the expectations of the Filipino working class for the nth time.  This decision and the inability of Pnoy to act in favor of the majority, made it clear that Pnoy’s bosses are not the ordinary people but the elites.

The Php 22 is not a wage increase which the workers are asking.  It is way below the Php 125 or the Php 75 that the workers are asking, and is too little for a Living Wage needed by a worker to live a decent life.  The Php 22 that will be added to the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) will not be subject to over time and night differential and 13th month pay computations, making the Board’s decision more favorable to employers than the workers who badly need a salary increase.

This decision is a manifestation that the ruling elite of this country is highly favored by this government.  The Private Partnership Program (PPP) of Pnoy is in full motion to the detriment of the working class.  All those who will benefit from this shenanigan are the capitalists who are cashing in on the government’s inability to protect the interest of the working class who produces the wealth of the society.

The Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Laboring Masses) calls on Pnoy to do something for a change, to do something to benefit the ordinary Filipino, especially the Working Class.  What he needs is a political will to put forward policies that will benefit the poor majority of the society.  What the workers are asking is a Php 125 salary increase, the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law, and the cancellation of EVAT for basic commodities!  And we will not settle for anything less!

11 May 2011

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[Press release] Labor party wonders why living wage figures remained at 2008 level – PM

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File photo source: PM

While prices of basic goods and services keep on rising, the government’s calculation of Family Living Wage (FLW) remained at 2008 level, provoking curiosity from the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

According to the group, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) website contains all the necessary information on wages, except on FLW estimates which has never been updated since September 2008. The link to the site has been “under construction” since then.

“Was it arbitrary on the part of the government to put an embargo to this very important information?  If it cannot even update its figures how much more in complying with the Constitutional mandate of providing labor the right to a family living wage?,” lamented PM chair Renate Magtubo.

Living wage is defined as the amount of family income needed to provide for the family’s food and non-food expenditures, including a 10% proportion of “other components” to allow for savings.

The NWPC’s September 2008 figures put the FLW estimates in the National Capital Region (NCR) at P917 a day to as high as P1, 322 in the ARMM region. PM’s own estimate put it at P1, 000 in 2009.

Magtubo said the NWPC may have opted to “reconstruct the truth” to hide or mask the ever widening gap between real wage and the living wage.  NWPC calculated the real wage value of the P404 minimum wage in NCR at PhP239.76.  It cannot be compared to the current FLW since new numbers are missing.

“For this evidently clear act of omission labor has the right to call for NWPC’s abolition together with the equally hopeless regional wage boards,” argued Magtubo.

A regular and timely estimate of FLW is important since it shows the movement of a family’s current cost of living relative to its income thus must be principally considered in making wage adjustments.

In fact first on the list of the 10 criteria for the current minimum wage fixing is the workers’ demand for living wage which includes not only the right to recover the lost value of their wages but also improvement on their living standard.

“The truth is there is clearly a mismatch between the actual needs of workers and their level of income because the present system puts more weight on capitalist’s ‘capacity to pay’ rather than on labor’s ‘capacity to buy’,” explained Magtubo.

Magtubo said the country’s wage levels remain at “starvation level” since the PhP125 and PhP75 demand, even if granted, can only cover about half of a worker’s actual needs.

Aside from pressing for a wage increase, PM has also been proposing for the replacement of the current wage fixing mechanism by a new system that would institutionalize living wage as the principal criterion for determining the basic minimum wage.  It wants a new National Wage Commission mandated with this new framework take the place of the regional wage boards.

PRESS RELEASE
Partido ng Manggagawa
15 April 2011
Contact:  Renato Magtubo
@ 09178532905

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