Cordillera labor group doubts wage hike move

BAGUIO CITY (Nov. 7) — Cordillera workers affiliated with Kilusang Mayo Uno-Cordillera doubt the hearing on wage hike on November 21 by the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB-CAR) saying it would not be a repeat of the last year’s wage increase hearing for the Cordillera Region in Baguio City.

KMU said the last hearing resulted only in giving the region’s wage-earners the smallest increases in the country, with only 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.

According to KMU, the said increase was a mere display of favoring big business instead of looking at how the workers’ could cope up with the continuously rising prices 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,” said KMU in its press statement.

KMU hopes RTWPB will not be a simple relay office of the business sector, as it has been, setting aside the poor workers’ welfare.

At present, Cordillera industrial workers get P235 while agricultural workers have P229, which are way below the P749 daily cost of living for the family of six.

“If we are going to look at the continuously rising prices, the daily wage 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” the KMU statement read.

Last month, the price of LPG rose by P5/kilo making it P55 more per gas tank or around P650 in neighborhood convenience stores.

“Prices of other goods and produce 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, conceptualization and anti-worker labor policies,” the workers’ group said.

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 higher wages but because they have to cope with the sky-rocketing cost of living,” KMU said. # Aldwin Quitasol/KMU-Cordillera