MORE than four million members of the workforce earning minimum wage rates are being denied decent lives due to their meager salaries, according to a coalition of labor federations and workers organizations.
In a statement, the National Wage Coalition (NWC) said that approximately 4.2 million minimum wage earners are unable to live decent lives despite the recent round of wage hikes granted by the different Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards.
“In the Philippines, approximately 4.2 million minimum wage earners cannot ensure their decent life or even feed their families nutritious meals,” said NWC.
“Most regional minimum wages fall below the government-set poverty threshold, thus condemning millions of minimum wage earners, who do honest hard work for a living, to a life of poverty,” it added.
The umbrella group said this is the reason why they are continuously calling for the passage of the bill calling for a P150 across-the-board legislated wage hike.
In particular, they said they are calling on congressmen to immediately pass the legislated wage hike currently pending at the House of Representatives.
“We demand the recovery of the lost purchasing power of workers’ wages due to inflation, through the P150 wage recovery increase,” they said.
“In the pursuit of justice, it is imperative to address the disparity between minimum wage and a living wage,” the groups added.
The National Wage Coalition is composed of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Nagkaisa Labor Coalition (NAGKAISA), and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), and other workers organizations.
The groups are set to march in solidarity on May 1 (Labor Day) to call for the immediate passage of the legislated wage hike.
