Workers support CBCP’s “pro-poor” requirement for May 2007 candidates

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Labor Center is backing the “pro-poor” requirement of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for May 2007 candidates. In a pastoral letter by the CBCP, they urged their flock to vote for candidates who are “pro-urban and pro-rural poor.”

According to Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, National Chairperson of the KMU, workers are willing to support candidates who have a sound electoral platform for wage hikes. “We agree with the CBCP that the electorate should strongly consider candidates who are willing to help alleviate poverty, especially among the ranks of the urban and rural poor. Most workers belong to this sector and an immediate wage hike is what is needed.”

Recent increases in prices of basic commodities have stretched the purchasing power of ordinary working family and have pushed poverty to alarming levels. “According to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), current family living wages should be Php768 or $16 ($1-P48). Real minimum wages in the NCR is only Php 246,” Labog stressed.

Labog also dismissed the “doomsday scenario” concocted by the chorus of big business and their defenders in government. Citing statistics by the Ibon Foundation, a research think-tank, Labog stated the productivity levels of workers have increased in recent years. “Since 1999-2006 productivity levels have increased 56.3% in nominal terms and 13.1% in real terms. We work hard day-in-day-out and we deserve a much needed wage hike,” cited Labog.

According to Labog, this is not the first time that the Church and KMU have agreed on issues of workers. Last April 2006, Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales supported the call of workers for a wage hike.