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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume IV, Number 13 May 2 - 8, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume IV, Number 13 May 2 - 8, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
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LABOR WATCH Workers Need Wage Relief Now The
need of workers for immediate relief from the effects of the deepening
socio-economic crisis in the country is irrefutable while the so-called
disadvantages of a wage hike are either false or exaggerated to dampen the
burning campaign for substantial wage increase nationwide. By
The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, Inc. (EILER) It
is a familiar doomsday scenario. Workers’
demand a substantial wage hike in the wake of spiralling costs of basic goods
and services. On cue, big business
screams even louder that inflation, closures and lay-offs would be the result of
any such wage hike. Columnists and
commentators who otherwise wouldn’t deign to speak about workers’ rights and
welfare are suddenly concerned about jobs and job losses, echoing the perennial
refrain of big business. If only
they were as vociferous in their protest against the shameless profiteering of
the oil cartel, the multinational drug companies, and other TNCs in the country,
the privatization and commercialization of social services, as well as the
fanatical liberalization of the economy that is the real culprit behind the
country’s job-loss growth pattern.
In
reality, the need of workers for immediate relief from the effects of the
deepening socio-economic crisis in the country is irrefutable while the
so-called disadvantages of a wage hike are either false or exaggerated to dampen
the burning campaign for substantial wage increase nationwide. 1.
The need of workers for a substantial increase in wages
across-the-board is undeniable. The
current minimum wage of P250 in Metro Manila (where it is highest) is less than
half of the daily cost-of-living, now estimated to be P594 in Metro Manila (as
of February 2004). It can barely
cover the minimum food basket for a family of six as prescribed by the Food and
Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI). The
P30 “emergency cost-of-living allowance” (ECOLA) mandated by the regional
wage boards last year is not even enough for one meal.
Besides, it certainly is not a wage hike since it is not added on to
basic, overtime and 13th month pay.
Contractual
workers are worse-off, receiving between 40-50% less than their regular
counterparts on the average. 2.
Big business is using SMEs as a foil against the just demand of workers
for a wage hike. While
working families experience new depths of deprivation, the share of profits in
the national pie has been growing. The
gross profit margin of the top 1000 corporations averaged 18.6% in 2001 which
was a crisis year. The revenues of
MNCs in the Philippines top 1000 for example have risen 68% between 1999 and
2001. Labor productivity in
industry increased by almost 10% from 1999 to 2003 in real terms yet the real
value of the minimum wage has been eroded by over 18% since 1999.
Clearly
MNCs and the local business elite can afford to pay their workers much more than
what they are currently paying. After
all, they seem to be the only ones benefiting from neoliberal globalization
while workers are forced to choose between hellish jobs or hellish unemployment.
That’s
why big business is forced to dissemble by claiming to have the interests of
small businesses and their workers at heart when they rail against wage hikes.
But in truth, majority of wage and salaried workers are employed in
establishments employing 10 or more employees.
Only 37 percent of workers are employed in firms with less than 10
employees (even if such micro-enterprises comprise majority of establishments).
More importantly, labor productivity or the value-added created by each
worker in establishments with 10 or more employees clearly indicate that their
capitalist owners can afford to raise the wages of their workers by a
substantial margin and still profit.
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