State workers demand salary hike

MANILA, Philippines – Militant government employees, most of them teachers and health workers, yesterday announced that they are intensifying their campaign for a P6,000 increase in the minimum pay of state workers.

WAGE FIGHT! convenor Ferdinand Gaite said President Aquino “has done absolutely nothing to improve the lot of the country’s 1.3 million government employees.”

The umbrella organization declared Sept. 28 as “National Day of Action for Wages and Benefits,” during which it will hold protest actions to stress their cause.

In Metro Manila, protesters will march from the Manila Film Center to the Senate to show support for the bill proposing a P6,000 increase in the minimum wage of government employees.

In the House of Representatives, HB 3746 (An Act Providing for a P6,000 Increase in the Minimum Pay of Employees and workers in the Public Sector Nationwide and for other Purposes) was sponsored by Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano and has obtained the support of several lawmakers.

In the Senate, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. has filed SB 2928, also seeking a P6,000 increase in the minimum wage of state workers.

The group also criticized the proposed P1,000 increase in the annual clothing allowance of government employees.

“Since the year 2000, our annual clothing allowance has been pegged at a measly P4,000…. A mere P1,000 increase to the clothing allowance is an insult to us, considering the P101.5 billion pork barrel allocated for Aquino – the huge discrepancy is indicative of this administration’s callousness and insensitivity towards the needs of the labor sector,” said WAGE FIGHT! spokesman Mau Aguilar. –Rhodina Villanueva (The Philippine Star)