Labor Watch: Blaming the storms

By ALDWIN QUITASOL

“An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday did not happen today.” — funny Laurence J. Peter quotes

If only illusions could fill our stomach, then we should listen to the claim of the present administration recently that the Filipinos will have bright future because of the improving economy. It is very nice to believe that our lives will be better thanks to the country’s “booming” industry. What a life!

The hard thing is, reality is always there to tell every poor Filipino that his/her life is still at the face of uncertainty. A poor man’s actual impoverished condition shows that the empty stomach grumbles louder than any fictitious pronouncement of a “booming” industry.

But recently, reports showed the growing number of unemployed. There is a relative rise on the number of poor families. In short, Filipinos who cannot afford to eat three times a day grew by the millions. Why, what turned wrong?

What the National Statistics and Coordination Board (NSCB) personnel are saying that the reason why the Philippines suffered a sudden economic downfall is because of the strong typhoons that visited our country the past years is really fun to hear. It seems that because of the natural economic disasters, the good economy we are enjoying disappeared. So… we must ban ever typhoons entering our country so that the life of every poor Filipino people will not turn from bad to worse.

Should we tell then the legislators and head of our government to pass a law prohibiting typhoons and storms here in the Philippines. They must prioritize this rather than analyzing why many poor Filipinos especially the workers demand a legitimate wage hike to cope with the sky rocketing prices of basic goods and commodities. They should put aside the cry of the people that security of tenure in every workplaces should be strengthened. They should forget why many Filipinos are asking a nationalized industry instead of favoring the big foreign businessmen and monopolists and giving them incentives setting aside the Filipino interest of a quality life.

x x x

The Philippine Labor Code provides that any employee working eight hours a day a should be paid according to what the law requires. That is why the minimum wage law, although it was and will never be enough, is enacted.

But still, many businessmen and employers do not adhere to it. They still pay the workers so small or sometimes, not at all.

Do you know that employees in a bus company in Governor Pack Road, Baguio City are not being paid by the hours they work for? Everyday, they have to submit a fixed share of P1,000 for the use of the bus to the management. This means, the drivers including their conductors must collect more than P1,000 a day so that they will have something to take home to their respective families. Oftentimes, they end up with nothing. #