The Workers are entitled to Just and Living Wage!

The Cordillera workers under the flag of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno-Cordillera doubt the hearing on wage hike on November 21 scheduled by the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB-CAR) will not be a repeat of the last year’s wage increase hearing for the Cordillera Region in Baguio City. KMU said that the last hearing resulted only in giving the region’s wage earners the smallest in the country. They (workers) were only given a P10.00/day increase in their basic salaries. This was approved in spite of petitions for wage hikes filed by various labor organizations and sectors.

KMU said the said increase was a mere display of giving favor to the big businessmen instead of looking on how the workers’ salaries cope up with the continuous rising of process of basic commodities. “The RTWPB’s answer to the petitions of some labor sectors for instance the Cordillera Workers’ Alliance’s demand for P125 wage increase is purely in favor to the big businessmen by saying that it may be a big burden to the employers and many businesses will close and will create more unemployment.” The KMU hopes that the said agency will not be again a simple relay office of the business sector and set aside the welfare of the poor workers.

At present, the Cordillera industrial workers are receiving P235 while the Agricultural sector is P229 which are far away from the P749 daily cost of living for the family of six.

“If we are going to look at the continuous hiking of prices, the salary of a worker is not enough to feed his family and even himself. Now, what we should demand should be based on the actual needs of the workers and not just asking for pittance. Actually, our demand for an increase of P125 is already small amount compared to the high prices of today’s commodities and services” KMU said.

Last month, the price of LPG rose to P5/kilo making it P55 more per gas tank. Prices of other goods and products will surely follow because of this. As the workers are worried on how to stretch their small salaries amidst high prices, they are also facing the uncertainty because of threats of unemployment, contractualization and anti-worker labor policies.

The KMU stressed that because of hard works through the years building the economy of the country, the workers then have all the rights to demand for a genuine increase in their wages. This is not because they just want to have a higher salaries but this is because they have to cope with the rocketing standard cost of living.