4 MIN READ

By JOEL CAPULONG
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) – Metro Baguio called for a “Sitdown Strike” in different public schools in the city on February 24, 2015 as part of the nationwide coordinated protest activity to demand the Aquino administration to pass the ACT Teachers Partylist House Bill 245 or the upgrading of the salaries of public school teachers and non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education.

In an interview, ACT Secretary General Thomas Milanes said, “Nag-sitdown strike ang mga guro upang isulong ang laban para sa salary increase ng mga guro at kawani ng Department of Education (DepEd) na binabalewala ni Aquino. Sa gayon ay malalaman niya na di titigil ang mga guro, kawani ng DepEd at ng ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno upang ipaglaban ang aming mga karapatan. Pag di parin niya dininig, mapipilitan kaming gumawa ng iba pang lehitimong hakbang,” (The teachers joined the Sitdown Strike to advance the fight for salary increase for the teachers and workers under the DepEd who are being taken for granted by Aquino. Through this (protest action), we will let him know that the teachers, workers of DepEd and other government agencies will not stop to fight for our rights. If he will not listen, we will be forced to take on other legitimate actions), he said.

There were ten public schools in the city and two in Benguet that participated in the Sitdown Strike, these include Baguio Central School, Lucban Elementary School, Magsaysay Elementary School, A. Tabora Elementary School, Bonifacio Elementary School, Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School, Lucban Elementary School, Baguio City National High School Rizal Annex, Baguio City National High School Dona Aurora Annex, some departments of the University of the Philippines Baguio, Ucab Elementary School and Benguet State University College of Forestry.

To maximize the activity, educational films were also shown during the “sitdown” aside from singing and chanting their calls to unity.

When asked what relevance was the teachers’ strike to the observance of the EDSA People Power Revolution anniversary, Mr. Milanes explained that the Filipino people still face the same problems confronted by the EDSA People Power then. Poverty and human rights violations especially among activists are grave. “Where is democracy?” he added.

Meanwhile, the call for a national minimum wage is raised by different progressive groups today led by the Confederation for Unity Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage).

A simultaneous protest nationwide was also called on February 17, 2015. In Baguio City, six employees’ unions and associations joined the said protest. At the minimum their protest actions included hanging protest streamers in their respective offices. The participating unions included those from the Department of Interior and Local Government CAR Employees Union, National Food Authority Employees Association – Baguio-Benguet Chapter, Population Commission – CAR Employees Association, Department of Agrarian Reform – CAR Employees Association, and the All UP Workers Alliance – UP Baguio Chapter.

The Social Welfare Employees Association of the Philippines in the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) – CAR were most colorful, they took their actions to the sidewalk all dressed in their red shirts, carrying their streamers and chanting their calls to the public.

In an interview, Enrique Gascon of SWEAP, said that the government should establish a national minimum wage of P16,000 for the government workers and all workers to cope with the high prices of basic commodities.

“Sumali kami dito sa strike kasi napapanahon na dapat itaas ang sahod. Hindi lang sa gobyerno kundi pati sa pribado,” (we joined this strike because it is about time to increase the salaries not only in the government sector but also in the private.)

All workers’ unity

This is the new version of the All Government Employees Unity of the early 2000. The new composition of this alliance includes Courage representing the government employees, ACT representing the teachers, Alliance of Health Workers representing the health workers and Kilusang Mayo Uno for the private sector. The objective of the All Workers Unity is to unite the 3.1 million employees in the country under only one call – the national minimum wage.

National minimum wage

Historically, the Philippine government was once forced to provide a minimum wage by the strong demand of the workers in 1951. But because of the Wage Rationalization Law and the Salary Standardization Law of the late former President Corazon C. Aquino, the Minimum Wage Law was abolished in 1989. Since then, “minimum wages” were determined by the Regional Wage Board which is composed by representatives from the Department of Labor and Employment, the company owners and the workers’ unions.

But since most of the unions in the factories and other establishments were bogus, and did not truly represent the workers demands while the DOLE favored the capitalists, the so called “minimum wages” are still not in favor of the working class.

In an early talk with Mr. Ferdinand Gaite, National President of COURAGE, he said that since 1989, the number of wage levels in the country has reached more than 1000. The minimum wage for government employees in the National Capital Region and other “1st class and special Cities” like Baguio is P9,000 and P5,850 for the 6th class municipalities.

Family living wage

In 1997, the National Wages and Productivity Commission started a research to formulate a family living wage but eventually terminated in 2008 because they realized that it can be used to determine the gap between the present wages and the actual needs of every Filipino family. The independent think-tank Ibon Foundation continued the research to provide figures.

In their recent study, it shows that the actual needs of a family of 5 to 6 members is P32,580 a month to cope with the high prices of basic commodities. In this situation, the present minimum wages are not enough to provide the basic needs of a family.

P16,000 monthly

All Workers Unity came up with a figure of P16,000.00 last October 2014. The basis of this amount was from the recent study of the Ibon Foundation. Assuming that there are two employed in the family and they earn P16,000 each, their salaries can at least provide the basic needs of all their members. # nordis.net