Southern Mindanao workers press wage hike

DAVAO CITY – The labor sector in Southern Mindanao continues to press for wage increase and other benefits for thousands of workers in this agricultural region.

Thousands of workers from all over Southern Mindanao trooped yesterday to the main thoroughfares of Davao City to join the 105th International Labor Day celebration at the Rizal Park here.

The different labor unions here affiliated with the Associated Labor Union and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) filed last Monday a petition before the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board-XI (RTWPB-XI) for a P75-wage increase for workers in Southern Mindanao.

TUCP local officials here asserted that the P75 wage increase was a result of the group’s monitoring of the consumer price index, fluctuating oil prices, share in the region’s economic development as well as the adjustments in the water and electricity rates.

Meanwhile, the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chapter in the region is pushing for the long-delayed legislated wage hike of P125.

KMU officials here explained that government has to immediately amend the law concerning the wage boards which they said should be disbanded because they have not served its purpose.

"We do not recognize the mandate of the regional wage boards because they represent the management sector and not the labor sector. Based on our experience with the RTWPBs, the workers have always been in the losing end and have not received what is really due them," KMU Southern Mindanao secretary-general Omar Bantayan told The STAR.

Despite the conflicting positions of the TUCP and KMU, both labor groups are pushing that the existing wages of workers in the region should be increased.

The KMU regional office here also lamented the unabated killings of activists and militant leaders, including labor leaders, under the Arroyo administration.

Bantayan said at least 70 labors leaders have already been summarily executed in the last three years.