Militant workers storm labor office for 'low' wage hike

Militant workers on Thursday picketed a government office to protest its order of a P22 daily wage hike in Metro Manila. The Kilusang Mayo Uno rushed to the National Wages and Productivity Board office in Manila and conducted a protest, radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported. No violent confrontation was reported, even as the protesters questioned the "low" wage hike allowed by the regional wage board for Metro Manila. The regional wage board allowed a P22 wage hike, saying it was a win-win solution. But the KMU insisted on a higher wage hike, saying even the P125 across-the-board wage hike it had pushed since 2000 is no longer enough to make ends meet. Meanwhile, militant umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan contested the outgoing Arroyo administration's claim of generating six to 10 million jobs during her watch from 2004 to 2010. Bayan said the promise to create 6-10 milion jobs, or at least a million jobs a year, should have made a significant dent on the country’s unemployment situation were these accomplishments true. “The nine years of the Arroyo administration is considered as the worst period for the Filipino workers. Instead of an additional 6-10 million new jobs as promised by Arroyo, unemployment in the country turned from bad to worse. From 2001 to 2009, the country posted its most awful jobless record in more than half a century, with the annual unemployment rate averaging an all-time high of more than 11 percent," Bayan said in a study posted on its website. The group added that unemployment under Mrs. Arroyo’s watch may have surpassed previous administrations. “A simple comparison of the total number of jobless between the January 2001 and January 2010 government Labor Force Survey (LFS) shows an increase of more than 620,000 unemployed workers. Such increase only captures a portion of how job scarcity has actually deteriorated as it does not yet account for the quality of jobs available in the domestic labor market," it said. “As it is, the absolute number of unemployed under Arroyo, pegged at about 4 million a year, is significantly higher than during the time of Erap (3.17 million); Ramos (2.58 million); and Cory (2.28 million)," it added. Yet it said Malacanang will probably find ways to prettify the dismal figures by citing the 100,000 temporary jobs created via the “emergency employment program" which Mrs. Arroyo cited in her 2009 State of the Nation Address. It added Mrs. Arroyo also promised that on the question of agriculture, she shall have developed up to two million hectares of agribusiness land by making them productive and transporting their products to the markets efficiently. “According to the 2009 SONA Technical Report, government has developed 1.48 million hectares of new/idle lands for agribusiness from first quarter 2005 to first quarter 2009 that supposedly generated an estimated total of 2.19 million jobs. However, this may have also caused the physical and economic displacement of peasants and farm workers," Bayan said. “The net increase in the number of unemployed in the country, including rural unemployment, under the Arroyo administration is a clear indicator that whatever claims of jobs creation by the government’s agribusiness development plan has failed to reverse the worsening condition of employment in the country," it added. Bayan also said changing definitions of unemployment may also be used to cover up the worsening jobs crisis in the country. It added the chronic jobs crisis will be among the biggest problems that will confront the new Aquino administration. — RJAB Jr./RSJ, GMANews.TV