Women Activists Protest Price
Increases, Low Wages
BY
BULATLAT
Posted
7:00 p.m., Apr. 24, 2006
Around 500 members
of the women’s group GABRIELA, most of them residents of urban poor
communities, held a march earlier today to protest against low wages
amid the rising prices of prime commodities.
Prices of basic
goods and services have soared anew amid the steep rise in the prices of
petroleum products in the world market. Meanwhile, the government has
yet to grant workers’ demand for a P125 across-the-board, nationwide
wage increase which labor groups like the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May
1st Movement) have been pushing since 1999.
The protesters, who
assembled near the Trabajo Market in Sampaloc, Manila intended to march
to the foot of the Don
Chino Roces Bridge, a few meters away
from the presidential palace. However, they were stopped by police near
the Bustillos Church, just a few steps away from the Don
Chino Roces Bridge, and had to
settle for holding their program there.
“The prices of
commodities especially food and other basic necessities have increased
again, and another series of oil price hikes has begun, but the
government does nothing to solve these,” said GABRIELA secretary-general
Emmi de Jesus. “Instead of focusing on the immediate issues affecting
the people, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo prioritizes charter
change.”
“Women have long
been making do by buying their basic needs in small quantities but the
sad thing about this is that the products they purchase in small
quantities are even getting smaller by the day and are becoming
unaffordable to many,” De Jesus added. “This shows that families who
struggle to make both ends meet find it increasingly difficult to
survive. Their conditions become more and more oppressive as they eat
less and less food, which, in turn, gets poorer and poorer in quality.”
De Jesus said that
the government should immediately scrap the Oil Deregulation Law and the
Expanded Value-Added Tax (E-VAT), as these, she said, are the reasons
behind the “uncontrollable” rise in prices.
The GABRIELA leader
also announced that their group will join the rally on May 1, in which
workers’ groups are expected to reiterate the demand for a P125 wage
increase. “If there’s anything that the government should immediately
act upon, it is increasing the small pay that workers and employees
receive,” she said. Bulatlat
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