KMU rejects moratorium, bats for P125 wage hike

MANILA, Philippines - Militant workers rejected a Malacañang plan to implement a moratorium on wage increases due to the global financial meltdown, saying it will further exploit them. Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said workers need a wage hike at this time just to make ends meet, especially if they cannot find other sources of income. "The wages are already quite low specially if we compare its nominal value with its true value, so the more we need the wage increases," KMU spokesman Prestoline Suyat said in an article on the KMU website. Suyat also emphasized the "urgent need" to pass a pending bill in the House of Representatives for a P125 across-the-country, across-the-board wage hike. He said that in Metro Manila, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) said the nominal P382 minimum wage has a current purchasing power of only P246.77. Yet, the cost of living for a family of six members is already more than P900, he said. Suyat added that workers' families need more money for expenses during this time of crisis, which he said is usually exploited by unscrupulous businessmen. "An example is the current inability of the Macapagal-Arroyo government to stop the spike of LPG prices because of the greed of giant oil corporations. If the prices of basic commodities keep on spiraling and there is moratorium on wage increases, where shall we get the money for additional expenses? Good for the capitalists with surplus money, they got properties and jewelries that they can sell if they ran out of cash. On our part, we got no alternative but to be willing victims of 5-6 creditors and reduce our meals to two per day, just to be able to report for work the next day," he said. He also said that to prevent job losses almost all the recommendations of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Malacanang are geared towards exploitative and worse labor flexibility arrangements. "Since the implementation of the worse labor flexible arrangements like reduced work hours, reduced work shifts, work rotation, and broken time the more we find ourselves in the losing end. All of these result to lower income for us. Woe unto them that instead of increasing our wages they intend to further reduce it," he said. - GMANews.TV