TUCP deplores the absence of decency, justice, equity and fairness

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TRADE UNION CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES
LABOR DAY STATEMENT
MAY 1, 2016

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) today deplores the absence of decency, justice, equity and fairness in our society. Despite the continuing growth of the economy, the wages and salaries of Filipino workers remain low and inadequate. Tens of millions of workers and employees belong to the "working poor" who are without any savings, are deeply indebted, deprived of so many good things in life, and are extremely vulnerable to economic shocks and uncertainties. Working jobs that are "precarious" in nature, these are the workers who have built the wealth of the last few years. The present administration refused to support the passage of the tax reform legislation which could have provided an additional, albeit modest amount, to the take-home pay of workers. It also betrayed the workers when the President vetoed the bill increasing the monthly pension of SSS pensioners by P2,000.

Moreover, living with already low income, our workers have to further squeeze-out their meager budget to pay for their monthly electricity the price of which remains the highest in Asia. In addition, instead of giving more subsidy to mass transportation system which our workers use every day to go to work, the government decided to withdraw all the subsidies to the MRT and LRT which resulted in the increase of fare. Add to that the dangers to life and limb who use our MRT/LRT. We don't have universal and free health care system in the country. If a worker gets seriously sick, he must be prepared to just die. The practice of labor contractualization or hiring workers on time-bound contract had also widened. Tens of millions of work are under contractual arrangements, known as "endo contracts", do not receive minimum wages, have no benefits and work in poor working conditions. The very nature of their insecure work arrangements means that they cannot join unions. Most of them are not also covered by social protection.

The situation of Filipino workers remains intolerable. We want the next administration to improve the lives of workers and their families by putting back money into their hands and by providing them economic relief. We need substantial wage increases. We want the next Congress to pass the tax reform bill to reduce the taxes on workers' income so that they will have more money in their pocket. We demand the next administration to increase the monthly pension of SSS pensioners by P2,000 to help our elderly pensioners have more money to buy food and medicine. We want lower electricity rates in the country. The next Congress must amend the EPIRA and strengthen the regulatory capacity of the ERC.

Furthermore, we want the next government to put back the subsidy for MRT and LRT to decrease the existing fares and to improve the services of the said mass transportation systems. We also wish it to create a National Health Care System that will provide free and universal health care for all with a strong focus on public health and preventive care.

Most importantly, we want the new government to support the passage of the Security of Tenure bill to provide our workers security of employment which will give them all the advantages of being regular workers. Without regularization, workers have no SSS coverage, no Philhealth, no Pag-Ibig and no hope for a better life.

We in TUCP will mobilize all our resources to achieve our vision for all workers and our families. We will continue to struggle to build a more decent, inclusive, progressive, free and humane society.

We urge our social partners both in business and government to join us in reaching a new social contract under the new government.

TUCP: Living wage is P12,517/month

​Php154 wage hike petition to wage board

THE TRADE Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Sunday justified its demand for a P154 increase in daily minimum wage in Metro Manila, saying the current wage of P481 was not enough to lift workers out of poverty.

TUCP Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said that considering inflation and its impact on the purchasing power, the real value of the daily minimum wage was actually only P315.56, way below  the government's P417-a-day estimated poverty threshold for a family to cope with the cost of living.

Tanjusay said that on a monthly basis, the real wage value was P9,467 a month, way below the P12,517 monthly income needed to meet the basic food needs of a family of five based on the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).

The requirements include nonfood needs such as clothing, housing, transportation, health and education to ensure that one remains economically and socially productive.

He cited Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimates in March that the number of workers whose wage value fell below the poverty threshold reached 7.879 million.

The TUCP said it would also file minimum wage increase petitions for workers in Region 4A as well as the provinces of Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro.

Red alert warning

"We are raising a red alert warning to employers and the government to immediately address the disparity between the minimum standard required for a family to survive and the current real value of the highest minimum wage," said Tanjusay.

"The wage boards must convene immediately to bring quality relief to workers unable to cope with the rising cost of living due to their inadequate salaries," he added.

He said a minimum wage lower than the poverty threshold affected production due to insufficient nutrition and stress.

"If this low quality of life is not acted upon, there will be more perpetrators and victims of all sorts of crime, more Filipinos would opt to work abroad, and it would breed a host of social problems," said Tanjusay.

The TUCP filed its petition to bring the daily minimum wage up to P635  with the Metro Manila wage board on Thursday.

He said a P154 wage increase would merely restore the P481 to its real value.

Last year, the TUCP filed a P136 wage increase petition for minimum wage earners in Metro Manila but the DOLE-NCR approved only  P15.

The one-year prescriptive period of the last wage increase expired on April 4, thus the need to seek a new wage increase to make the salary of Metro Manila workers more realistic, he said. - - By: Estrella Torres @inquirerdotnet Philippine Daily Inquirer

P154 Wage hike sought for Metro Manila

THE COUNTRY'S biggest labor group plans to formally seek today a P154 increase in daily minimum wage for private sector workers in the National Capital Region (NCR), or Metro Manila, arguing in a statement yesterday that current levels have been left far behind by rising cost of living.

"With (the) current wage level falling 24% behind rising cost of living," the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)-Nagkaisa faction said it would file the petition at 10 a.m. at the office of the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board-NCR in Malate, Manila.

The most recent wage order in the capital which took effect in April last year -- the law provides that the minimum wage can be raised only after a year from the last adjustment -- provided a P15 increase that took the daily minimum wage to P481 for non-agriculture workers and to P444 for those in farms, private hospitals with up to 100 beds, retail/service businesses with up to 15 workers and manufacturing establishments with less than 10 workers. TUCP-Nagkaisa had asked for a P136 raise in January last year.

Metro Manila's wage hike usually triggers similar action in the country's other regions.

"[The] current minimum wage in the NCR is P481. But because of rising cost of services and increasing prices of basic goods, its purchasing power is P364 only," TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesman Alan A. Tanjusay said in a text message yesterday.

Vicente R. Leogardo, Jr., director-general of the Employer's Confederation of the Philippines and one of two management representatives in the Metro Manila's wage board, said in a separate text that "[t]he board within 15 days from filing of petition shall conduct [a] public hearing..."

"Any party may file opposition on or before the initial hearing. Within 30 days after conclusion of [the] last hearing, the boards shall decide on the merits of the petition," he added, declining to comment on the petition itself that will be filed today.

But the Finance department's chief economist pointed out a possible flaw in TUCP-Nagkaisa's computation of the proposed wage hike.

"That is their contention," Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said in a telephone interview, when sought for comment.

"But they will have to argue based on statistics. Ang inflation rate ba nasa 24%? I don't think so."

The Finance official noted that consumer prices in Metro Manila generally increased by 1% last year. This was more than three times slower than the 3.2% recorded in 2014.

A family of five needed about P348 daily to meet basic food and non-food needs in the region, according to the Family Income and Expenditure Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority for the first semester of 2015.

"I don't think it (24%) is the appropriate inflation rate to use in computing the adjustment in wages. That's the inflation rate during the Marcos period," Mr. Beltran said, dismissing the possibility of this happening given the benign inflation outlook for the Philippines.  - By Alden M. Monzon, Reporter and Keith Richard D. Mariano /  BusinessWorld

TUCP: Underground economy workers living below poverty line reaches 27.1 million

​Informal food vendors pitch their improvised stalls and receive inadequate assistance from the government. Photographed by Tricia Aquino, InterAksyon.com.


MANILA - The number of Filipino workers in the informal economy and who cannot afford the cost of living standard of P19.50 per meal a day have reached 27.1 million since January this year, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) disclosed Monday, citing statistics from the Labor Force Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released in March this year 

According to that PSA survey, there are 27.1 million workers working in the informal sector economy out of the 67.153 million total work force beginning this year.

Informal sector workers include jeepney and tricycle drivers, wet and dry goods vendors, bus and truck drivers and conductors, truck assistants, salesladies, barbers, beauticians and port workers.

In October 2015, there were 26.853 million workers in the informal economy, PSA data further showed.

Some 40 million of the 67.153 million work force are employed, while 2.466 million are unemployed and 7.879 million are described as underemployed.

TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said the informal economy or so-called "underground economy" sector are comprised in great part by individuals who operate businesses that are very small in scale and not registered with any national of formal government agency.

Workers in the informal economy typically sell their goods or services in exchange for subsistence wages or other forms of compensation.

The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimated that a family of five needs P8,778 a month which is equivalent to P292.60 a day or P19.50 per person for three meals a day in 2012.

The two agencies also indicated that workers in the informal sector economy earn an average income of just P5,750 a month or P221.15 a day.

Based on this correspondence of data, Tanjusay said, workers need to earn a minimum of P3,028 a month more, or P100.93 more a day, in order to survive.

He observed that informal sector workers are the working people most vulnerable to risks, and often engage in variety of schemes just to cope.

"Despite their significant contribution to the growing economy, government intervention for them to survive, or to cope, is very small. They have no choice, but try to cope on their own and meet both ends day by day, not by weeks or by months.

"Most of them borrow money from loan operators despite exorbitant 6 to 10 percent interest rates. Some bet in daily, small-time illegal gambling. Some are engaged in supplemental sideline work," Tanjusay said. - InterAksyon.com