Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK-KMU), the regional labor center in Southern Tagalog, claimed the newly-issued daily wage hike in CALABARZON area is an insult to the productive forces in the region.

“This new round of wage order has made mendicants out of impoverished workers in the region. Workers need a decent wage hike, instead of morsels,” said PAMANTIK secretary-general Luz Baculo.

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board IVA (RTWPB IVA) issued today, September 4, the hot-off-the-grill Wage Order No. IVA-12 for private sector minimum wage earners in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (CALABARZON).

Baculo added, “The P10 to P13 wage hike can only buy 2 packs of instant noodles or a can of sardines. It is even insufficient to buy a kilo of NFA rice. With Wage Order No. IVA-12, DoLE Secretary Arturo Brion expects a boost in labor efficiency and productivity. It is stupid of Secretary Brion to expect higher labor productivity by merely feeding the workers with instant noodles or sardines.”

According to independent think-tank IBON Foundation, a family of six in the National Capital Region (NCR) needs at least P766 (US$16.42) for its daily cost of living.

“The daily cost of living in Southern Tagalog may only be a few pesos behind NCR, still the new wage hike remains insufficient to the daily needs of a worker and his family, even if both parents work. You get the same or even much higher price of commodities in provinces in CALABARZON. It is in this respect that regional wage boards have further enacted wage diminution.”

“Workers in Southern Tagalog still insist on a legislated P125 wage increase across the board, nationwide. House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s claim that the wage bill is ‘dead in the water’ only proves the government’s insincerity to alleviate the country’s productive forces from the quagmire of depravation and devastation,” concluded Baculo.