KMU lambasts BSP, ECOP, TUCP for reiterating wage cuts amid growing reports of retrenchments

Kilusang Mayo Uno slammed today pronouncements of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo, Employer’s Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Secretary General Ernesto Herrera – all of which go against wage hikes.

BSP said that no significant inflation has occurred recently so government has no basis to raise wages. “We know that this is plain lie, as we felt prices of basic goods and petroleum products rise since the start of the year. Besides, current wage levels can barely cope with the price spikes we have been experiencing since long ago,” said KMU Executive Vice President Joselito Ustarez.

Ustarez further lambasted Guinugundo’s claims that wage hikes were not appropriate unless it will surely result to increased worker productivity. “The productivity of the Filipino worker has long been proven, that’s why the government is proud to export us as products for other countries. We deserve well deserve a wage hike, for we are the main creators of the businessmen’s riches and the main movers of the economy. Actually, it is the likes of Arroyo and her cohorts that are not only unproductive, but destructive to this nation.”

Ustarez also slammed ECOP for saying that the real employment problem is more on job skills mismatch and not lack of jobs.

“Jobs generated here are actually much under the skills and capabilities of a Filipino worker. Big businesses, in connivance with government, are either denying education and training needed by workers by raising matriculation, or honing them to be submissively skilled workers through the present educational system.”

For the TUCP’s statement that wage hikes are “unreasonable” at this present time of crisis, Ustarez said “They only reveal what kind of a trade union center they are – definitely not the one that represent the workers.

“It is the capitalist’s logic not to raise wages to save its business, but is the people and the workers that should be saved, not profits of the wealthy few.” ###