P22 COLA in NCR bad precedent for regions – KMU

A day after the Eastern Visayas wage board approved a P15 cost of living allowance (COLA) for workers in the region, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno slammed anew the Aquino government for granting meager COLA’s in the face of unabated price hikes, saying the approval of a P22 COLA in Metro Manila has set the tone for even smaller COLA’s in the country’s regions.

“As the approval of a P15 COLA in Eastern Visayas shows, the P22 COLA in Metro Manila is a very bad precedent. Since the start of the regionalization of wages in the country in 1989, wage hikes in the NCR have acted like ceilings which wage increases in other regions cannot go beyond. This, despite higher prices of oil and other commodities in other regions,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.

“As if adding insult to injury, the P15 COLA in Eastern Visayas will still be given in two installments which workers will receive in full only by September. By that time, if the present trend continues, the prices of petroleum products would have already increased another 13 times as they have in the first four months of this year,” he added.

“With this kind of precedent, we won’t be surprised if the regional wage boards in Mindanao would approve a P5.00 COLA in Mindanao at the most. The president himself has said no to a wage hike, so the National Wages and Productivity Commission will not give a wage increase,” he said.

KMU also said workers of Eastern Visayas have the chance to air their condemnation of the approval of a P15 COLA in the Visayas-wide consultation for House Bill 375 in Tacloban on June 2-3. The consultation is initiated by the House of Representatives Labor Committee with the prodding of Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Rafael V. Mariano, HB 375 sponsor.

“We urge the workers of the Visayas to attend the regional consultation on the P125 wage hike bill and air their condemnation of the P15 COLA, as well as their demand for a significant wage hike. The Filipino workers and people across the country are united in fighting for an immediate relief amidst the skyrocketing prices of basic goods and services especially oil,” Soluta said.

“We also urge legislators of the Visayas and the country to listen to the demands of their workers constituents who are calling for a significant wage hike and the passage of HB 375. We urge them to stand with their constituents against the dictates of big capitalists in the country who want nothing but to increase their already huge profits,” he added.