KMU hails House Labor Committee resolve to take up P125 Wage Hike Bill

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno welcomed statements made by Northern Samar Rep. Emil Ong, House Committee on Labor and Employment chair, which are supportive of the P125 Wage Hike Bill, saying workers are glad the congressman does not see the P22 Cost of Living Allowance granted to NCR workers as enough.

“We are glad that Rep. Emil Ong is showing resolve in pushing the P125 Wage Hike Bill forward. The Aquino regime wants people to think that meager COLA’s are enough, that is why we are glad that the House Committee on Labor and Employment has not abandoned House Bill 375 despite the approval of meager COLA’s across the country,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.

“The regional wage board route has dashed all workers’ hopes of having a substantial wage increase, that is why Rep. Ong’s statements are such good news. He is showing unity with what workers demand: a legislated substantial wage increase,” he added.

The congressman clarified that basic pay is entirely different from COLA and that the approval of meager COLA’s does not in any way give reason to not tackle or dismiss the bill filed by Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Rafael V. Mariano, together with other progressive partylist groups, which seeks a P125 across-the-board wage increase nationwide.

“With Rep. Ong’s statements, we hope that the House Committee on Labor and Employment will soon proceed to conduct hearings on the P125 Wage Hike Bill. We also hope that the committee would decide in favor of workers’ long-overdue call and pass the bill,” said Soluta.

The P125 Wage Hike Bill has repeatedly been filed in Congress since 2001 by the late labor leader Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran. Ten years since its first filing and three years after Ka Bel’s death, it still remains a bill.

“It is high time that the P125 Wage Hike Bill is passed, which would bring the minimum wage to its highest real value ever since the regionalization of wages in 1989. We urge other members of the House of Representatives, as well as of the Senate, to support the bill and side with the workers who have long been suffering from starvation-level wages,” Soluta ended.