Workers storm Mendiola, condemn Noynoy ‘no’ to legislated wage hike

Workers led by labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno stormed Mendiola this morning to voice their disgust over Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino’s outright statement before employers that his government will not be pushing for a legislated wage hike.

In the Employers Confederation of the Philippines’ “National Conference of Employers” yesterday held in Marriott Hotel in Pasay City, the president said that his government has “no intention of asking Congress to legislate an across-the-board increase in wages” – a direct rebuff to workers’ calls for a substantial wage hike such as the proposed P125 across-the-board wage hike nationwide.

“This is Noynoy’s most direct rejection of workers’ calls for a substantial and therefore legislated wage hike. We are not surprised but we are appalled nonetheless. Only a few days after more than a hundred thousand workers nationwide manifested our outrage over this regime’s refusal to hike wages by a substantial amount, Noynoy comes out with this rejection,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.

“We are calling on the House of Representatives and the Senate to legislate a wage increase because we know that we workers do not stand a chance of getting a substantial wage hike through the regional wage boards. We only have a chance of getting a substantial wage hike through legislation,” he added.

“We in KMU challenged Pres. Aquino to a public debate on the issue of a substantial wage hike and he refused our challenge. He can only speak before capitalists because it is their interests that he is upholding. He has been promising continued profits to capitalists while rejecting workers’ calls for a wage hike,” Soluta said.

American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines

KMU also blasted the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines which added its voice to capitalists’ opposition to a significant wage hike, saying such a wage hike will cause factory closures and massive layoffs.

“The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines’ claim that a significant wage hike will cause factory closures is a big lie and the height of capitalist greed. American businesses in the Philippines are definitely in a better position to grant workers’ demands for a significant wage hike than independent Filipino entrepreneurs are.

“The fact that the AmCham is saying this merely proves our point: that capitalists will say almost anything to prevent a significant wage hike,” Soluta said.

In front of Malacanang, the protesters presented a visualization of how Noynoy on one and the foreign and local capitalists on the other pull the ends of the yellow ribbon strangling the Filipino masses. The workers then burned the yellow ribbon to free themselves from poverty and injustice.