PM supports TUCP wage petition

The Partido ng Manggagawa supports the P75 wage petition filed by the TUCP. Its basis is rock solid. Inflation has truly eroded the purchasing power of workers in the almost two years since the last wage order in June 2008. And price hikes in the coming months should indeed be factored into any computation of the wage increase.

From the point of views of workers, a P75 wage hike is both appropriate and just. But a salary increase will always be rejected as inimical to the economy on grounds that it will lead to a spiral in prices, the bankruptcy of companies and a host of other horror stories.

But such is only so much black propaganda at blackmail. Why should we be afraid of additional money circulating in the economy due to a wage hike when billions of dollars in remittances entering the country is always applauded? If the stronger purchasing power of OFW families is a positive factor in the economy then should not the same thing hold for more money in the hands of workers which we will use to buy the necessities of life? A wage hike will be good for the workers and will also be beneficial to the economy because it will spur the production of more goods and provision of more services.

We seek to emphasize, the labor movement stands as one body and speaks with one voice in favor of a wage hike. The differences arise only because of the nagging question—will the NCR wage board approve of the P75 wage petition?

If we base on the track record and such facts cannot be contested; the P75 wage petition will not prosper. Since the NCR wage board was established in 1989, no basic wage increase ever granted was above P30, whether the economy was in boom or bust.

Of course the representatives of the NCR wage board will point out that they need to balance the demands of workers and the interests of the capitalists. We can understand such an argument since Republic Act 6727 or Wage Rationalization Act precisely stipulated the 10-point formula for fixing wages. Part of the 10-point formula is the cost of living estimates for workers and the capacity to pay of employers.  In other words, the hands of the NCR wage board are tied in deciding the fate of the P75 wage petition. Despite its justness and correctness, in the end the interests of the employers will have to be considered and the wage petition will not be granted in full. Or maybe not even at all.

This is what we find faulty in the current wage fixing system. In computing for the wages of workers, the capacity to pay of capitalists is always a factor.

Let us think hard of this issue. Is this not a double standard? Why is it that the prices of the goods and services bought by workers are not tempered by the capacity to pay of the consumers? The answer is that prices take into account the cost of production with a margin included for the profit of capitalists. If that is how prices are fixed in this society called capitalism, then the price of the only thing sold by workers—their labor power—should also be computed in the same way. Meaning, it must be based on the cost of production of labor power. And this is precisely the cost of living of workers and their families. To think, wages do not have to take into account a “profit margin for workers,” just the daily bread of the masses, the bare necessities of life. A single criterion not the 10-point formula must be the basis for wage fixing.

This is the reason why PM advocates for the replacement of the regional wage boards and the 10-point formula by a National Wage Commission with the mandate to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. And despite the huge gap between the present minimum wage and the current cost of living, the National Wage Commission can achieve equalizing the two by a host of mechanisms among which are direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts at social security subsidies for workers.

In our own survey of the cost of living of a six-member working class household, it already reaches P1,000 a day while the minimum wage is a mere P382. Even if two members of the family earn a living—the buy one, take one policy of the state—their combined income will not even be enough for a decent life. Worse, there are many workers in the NCR whose minimum wages are legally pegged at the lower level of P345 as per the latest Wage Order 14. And there are millions more who survive without receiving the minimum wage and no capitalist has ever been jailed for such illegal practices that deprive workers of a right that is enshrined in the Constitution and internationally recognized. We can go on and on about the 101 reasons why the wage boards have failed the workers—for example the exemptions, deferments and creditability clauses of wage orders that legally rob a section of the 19 million wage and salaried workers from really enjoying the fruits of their labor.

We say this not to chastise the members of the NCR wage board. In the final analysis, this is a problem of the wage fixing system not of the people in the wage boards.

We went into this detail primarily in order to call on our brothers and sisters in the labor movement. Today we unite in calling for a wage increase. But tomorrow when the NCR wage board decides not to grant the P75 wage petition, then we must close ranks to demand a change in the wage fixing law.

Twenty one years is already too long to assess the pros and cons of wage rationalization. The yawning disparity between the minimum wage and the cost of living is the clearest expression of a system failure. It is time to push for a change in the law when the new Congress opens.

But we explained our position too as a challenge to the NCR wage board. Surprise the militant workers and prove wrong the doubts we have express efit the economy. –PM Position Paper