Bayan: Wage hike more urgent than Charter Change
The Senate passage of a P100 wage hike bill underscores the tremendous hardships faced by workers who earn a minimum wage that is grossly inadequate compared to the rising cost of living. Inflation, higher taxes on goods, and higher rates collected by utilities have severely eroded the monthly earnings of workers and consumers. Thus, we support the urgent demand of workers for a legislated living wage.
The initiative of the Senate will not move forward unless the government’s economic managers and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr will reverse their earlier pronouncement that there will be no wage hikes this year. Instead of a wage increase, the government continues to insult workers by handing out token subsidies.
(Photo by Pinoy Weekly)
Meanwhile, the rush in deliberating RBH7 for Charter Change in the House of Representatives is in stark contrast to the inaction of the House leadership when it comes to wage hike bills. It reveals
their misplaced priorities and indifference to the plight of workers.
It is infuriating that Marcos is enticing foreign investors to do business in the country by offering cheap wages and the current push to amend the Constitution to allow foreign ownership of land and control of the economy.
Marcos’ anti-labor policies and his anti-Filipino ChaCha proposal will be among the issues to be tackled in the February 25 mass action commemorating the 1986 People Power. The protest will also assert that instead of ChaCha, lawmakers and the government should focus on addressing the urgent concerns of ordinary citizens.
In 1986, People Power ousted a dictatorship. People Power remains relevant in advancing the people’s agenda such as wage hikes, land reform, and assertion of our sovereignty.
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