Workers picket DOLE, slam new wage system

Two weeks before Pres. Noynoy Aquino’s third State of the Nation Address, workers picketed the Labor department’s main office in Intramuros, Manila today to condemn the implementation of a new wage system, slamming the president for cutting and freezing the wages of the country’s workers.

The workers called for the junking of the Two-Tiered Wage System – currently being implemented in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, and Cordillera Autonomous Region – which sets as first tier a floor wage fixed by regional wage boards on the basis of the government’s poverty threshold computations.

In Southern Tagalog, the floor wage set by the regional wage board is lower than the existing minimum wage, while in CAR, the floor wage is between existing minimum wage levels.

“Instead of giving workers a much-deserved and long-delayed significant wage hike, Pres. Aquino is cutting and freezing workers’ wages. The Two-Tiered Wage System is an anti-worker scheme that will cut workers’ minimum wages and freeze wage levels,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.

“We want this new wage system junked as soon as possible. It will further fragment the country’s minimum wage, making the regionalization of minimum wages even worse,” he added.

The workers burned images of the president and Labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz with the words “Kontra-manggagawa, protektor ng tubo ng kapitalista (Anti-worker, protector of capitalists’ profits)” written in them.

“The Aquino government is just trying to deceive the Filipino workers and people when it presents this wage scheme as enabling workers to receive higher wages based on increased productivity,” Soluta said.

“There is nothing to be glad about this wage scheme. Having a wage higher than the floor wage is not something to celebrate, because the floor wage is very low in the first place. Increases in workers’ wages will be based on capitalists’ whims, which won’t increase wages by much,” he added.

The wage scheme sets as second tier productivity-based wage levels which will be voluntarily fixed at the company level.

“We vow to intensify our protests against the Aquino government’s campaign to further press down the value of Filipino labor. We will show our anger at Pres. Aquino’s anti-worker and anti-poor policies in his third SONA,” Soluta said.

(Larawan mula sa pinoyweekly.org)