AS the 16th Congress starts regular sessions, workers led by labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno picketed the Batasang Pambansa this morning to call for the immediate passage of the bill which seeks to legislate a P125 across-the-board wage hike nationwide.
KMU said workers need a significant wage hike, not incremental adjustments, and that it’s Congress and the Senate which should hear calls for a wage hike, not the regional wage boards which have refused to increase wages by a significant amount.
Bills for a P125 across-the-board wage hike nationwide have been filed since 2001 and the bill for the 16th Congress has been refiled this month as House Bill 253 by Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Fernando Hicap.
“After decades of minimal wage adjustments and soaring prices, workers urgently need a significant wage increase. We vow to work for the P125 Wage Hike Bill’s passage in the 16th Congress,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.
“The country’s regional wage boards should be abolished for refusing to grant a significant wage hike and intensifying hunger and poverty among workers. It’s Congress and the Senate which should respond to calls for a wage hike,” he added.
The labor center said it is not happy with the Metro Manila wage board’s announcement that it will start hearing petitions for a wage hike on August 8, saying increases in the prices of basic goods and rates of basic services have been outpacing increases in workers’ wages because of the wage boards.
KMU cited independent think-tank Ibon Foundation’s May 2013 study which shows that the Family Living Wage or “the minimum amount needed for a family of six members to meet their daily food and non-food needs plus 10% allocation for savings” in Metro Manila is already at P1,034.
It also called on Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, newly-appointed chair of the House Committee on Labor and Employment, to prioritize hearings for the P125 Wage Hike Bill.
The P125 Wage Hike Bill was passed by the House COLE last February 6, and under new rules approved by the 15th Congress, bills that have been passed at the committee level will be considered approved at that level and will not start from scratch when the 16th Congress opens.
“We call on the country’s legislators to defy the dictates of Malacañang and big capitalists and to heed their constituents’ call for a significant wage hike. We vow to make the call for a significant wage hike louder to a point that legislators won’t be able to ignore it,” Soluta said.
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