• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Labor groups Kilusang Mayo Uno-Negros and the National Federation of Sugar Workers are expected to renew calls for a legislated salary hike or a national family living wage of P1,200, as the country marks Labor Day today, May 1.
A press conference will be held this morning in Bacolod City, with KMU Negros and NFSW set to present the current state of workers in Negros Island, especially that of farm and sugar workers, as well as “the deepening economic and social crisis under the Marcos administration”.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, meanwhile, urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to certify as urgent the proposed P200 legislated wage hike.
“(This) is the only hope for the vast majority of our workers without unions and no collective bargaining agreements,” the TUCP said in a statement. “The Marcos administration should walk the talk and demonstrate that ‘Bagong Pilipinas’ is not just for businesses and oligarchs, but also for the ordinary workers who rise each day to do honest hard work to feed their families, send their children to school, and get a shot at a decent life.”
“Talk to the workers, Mr. President, to know if your economic managers are serving you and the Filipinos well,” the TUCP stressed.
It added that Marcos’ economic managers and the Department of Labor and Employment should be sensitive enough to talk to the workers, the backbone of the economy. “Given the widespread poverty and crisis-level hunger, it is unwise for the government to hide behind bureaucratic layers and rely on the same old ‘business-as-usual’ directives.” | CGC
