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Tuesday, March 14, 2017
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ILOILO City – Militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Panay slammed Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 6 Wage Order No. 23 which increased the daily minimum wage in Panay and Guimaras islands and Negros Occidental of commercial, industrial and agricultural plantation workers by P25, and agricultural non-plantation workers by P15.
The group said the wage order was a “loose change”, a meager increase vis-à-vis the current P1,119 living wage of a family of five members.
With the increase, the daily minimum wage of commercial and industrial workers from P298.50 would be P323.50, of agricultural plantation from P266.50 would be P291.50, and of agricultural non-plantation from 256.50 would be P271.50.
KMU Panay chairperson Elmer Forro said of the wage order, “Even with the increase, it cannot compensate with the ever-rising day-to-day expenses of a family of five, from food which averages already at a minimum of P300 per day, transportation costs, water and electric bills, house rent, school payments, and health-related expenses.”
In Region 6, the last wage increase was in 2015 yet at P11.50. The increase is subject under DOLE’s Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board comprised by the employers’ group, the workers’ group and local government units.
However, Forro said the DOLE and the RTWPB have ever since favored employers.
“The Philippine Chamber of Commerce Industries – Iloilo and other big monopoly businesses in Region 6 can pay much more than P25 if we look into the profit margins they are making,” said Forro, reacting to the statement of PCCI’s difficulty to comply with the P25 wage increase.
KMU Panay called for the immediate P125 per day across the board wage increase, the closure of RTWPB, and the full realization of the P750 per day national minimum wage.
The group proposed the building of state-owned steel and oil industries as the solution to unemployment in the country and the concurrent low wage workers receive./PN
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