Include the freedom of the press as among the positive legacies of EDSA 1, but the creation of regional wage boards is definitely out of the list, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno said today.

KMU said the creation of regional wage boards in 1989 under Republic Act No. 6727 of the Aquino administration has spawned very measly and sparse wage hikes. Since 1989, wage hikes in different regions have amounted to  an average of only P172, an insulting pittance for the hardwork of Filipino workers.

The lowest wage hike – if it can be called as is – is recorded in Region VII at P5 under Wage Order 06 issued in April 1998. An average of 14 wage orders were issued per region since 1989, most of which were single-digit increases in basic pay.

“Twenty-four years after the People Power, workers still suffer from economic disempowerment in terms of very depressed wages,  which were kept intact through the years by the regional wage boards in collaboration with big businesses,” said KMU chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog.

“The very inception of regional wage boards under the Aquino government signalled the start of a grand deception of workers in terms of wage hikes. It was really meant to keep wage increases at the slighest and company profit at its highest,” he added.

Labog said regional wage boards have made a nationwide wage hike impossible, since the burden of raising wages was diverted from the national government to regional centers.

“It would appear that dispersing implementation of wage hikes to regions would make wages more flexible to the different cost of living across the country. In reality, it has retrained wages from catching up with the rising cost of living. In effect, the policy has deregulated labor in terms of wages,” said Labog.

He cited the current minimum wage in the National Capital Region at P382, which is way too far from the cost of living in the region at P920.

KMU said the establishment of regional wage boards has divided the workers’ struggle for a substantial nationwide wage increase, since it naturally shifts bargaining to regional centers.

Recently, wage boards in Zamboanga and Eastern Visayas claimed that they are studying a P50 increase in the minimum wage, while the wage board in Western Visayas reported a possible P100 increase in the minimum wage – all to allegedly help workers cope with increases in the prices of commodities. 

“In the face of current plans for wage hikes in three regions, workers should not be deceived by such divisive gimmicks. Rather, workers in different regions should unite for a P125 legislated and nationwide wage hike,” Labog concluded. #