WHAT IS P10 NOWADAYS?

Workers here in the Cordillera region are not happy and will never be on the Wage Order No.11 granting of P10 increase on their wages by the Regional Tripartite Wages & and Productivity Board (RTWPB) that was approved July 12 and will take effect on August 1 of this year. This is the lowest hike in the country. It is very much insulting that the workers were given an amount not enough to pay their fare going to their workplaces and going back to their homes.

At present, the minimum wage here in the region is P225 for the industrial workers. That will be P235 as soon as the P10 increase will be implemented. It is very far from the P725 daily cost of living a family of six needs to survive as said by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC). The National Statistics Office (NSO) even showed in their data that the purchasing power of peso slid from76 centavos to 72 as of May 2006. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that the P225 nominal wage here in the Cordillera is only P159.07 as it declined to 58% in real value.

It was such disappointing and funny that the wage board claimed that it had found out the need to give a wage increase to the workers after holding a public hearing and deliberations for them to cope with the rising cost of living but actually the board did not realize that the P10 they were giving is very small compared to the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities and services. The wage board only showed its true function of putting aside the democratic demand of the working class for legitimate wage increase and taking into priority the interests of the capitalists. History of the labor movement tells that these boards were not made for the workers and they are only being used by the state maneuvered by greedy capitalists to further suppress the democratic rights of the working class and guard their voracious interests.

The workers will again wait for a long time before asking as they are begging for an increase as the wage boards said that only one increase will be done in a year. This means the workers will have to endure stretching their money in feeding their selves and their families as the gap between their minimum wage and the living wage and cost of living widens.