P125 Minimum Wage Increase Now!

P125 Minimum Wage Increase Now!

by Partido Lakas ng Masa

The Workers Create the Wealth of the Society!

We Deserve Better!

The Regional Wage Board’s decision of giving NCR workers a 22 pesos non-wage benefit is unacceptable and considered an insult to all non-agricultural workers. The additional Php 22 was too little to make any economic impact for the workers because it was given way too late when prices of basic commodities and transportation fares were already increased. We can say that the adjustment is really not an adjustment to help but a mere pampalubag loob (consolation). President Noynoy Aquino (Pnoy) made an announcement before May 1, International Labor Day, that he has good news for the workers. But instead of making good of his promise to help alleviate a little the economic condition of the workers, he failed the expectations of the Filipino working class for the nth time. This decision and the inability of Pnoy to act in favor of the majority, made it clear that Pnoy’s bosses are not the ordinary people but the elites.

The Php 22 is not a wage increase which the workers are asking. It is way below the Php 125 or the Php 75 that the workers are asking, and is too little for a Living Wage needed by a worker to live a decent life. The Php 22 that will be added to the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) will not be subject to over time and night differential and 13th month pay computations, making the Board’s decision more favorable to employers than the workers who badly need a salary increase.

This decision is a manifestation that the ruling elite of this country is highly favored by this government. The Private Partnership Program (PPP) of Pnoy is in full motion to the detriment of the working class. All those who will benefit from this shenanigan are the capitalists who are cashing in on the government’s inability to protect the interest of the working class who produces the wealth of the society.

The Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Laboring Masses) calls on Pnoy to do something for a change, to do something to benefit the ordinary Filipino, especially the Working Class. What he needs is a political will to put forward policies that will benefit the poor majority of the society. What the workers are asking is a Php 125 salary increase, the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law, and the cancellation of EVAT for basic commodities! And we will not settle for anything less!

11 May 2011

PLM Statement on May Day 2011

PARTIDO LAKAS NG MASA MAY DAY STATEMENT-- 2011

"Sobra na ang Kahirapan!

Tama na ang Pagpapabaya ng Pamahalaan!"

Enough of Poverty!

Enough of Government Neglect!

Intensify the Struggle Against Capitalism

and towards Socialism of the 21st Century!

This May 1, despite getting rid of the hated government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and electing a new President Noynoy Aquino who has promised to end corruption and poverty, over 100 years since the first May Day, Filipino workers and the poor have very little to celebrate. Despite the high expectations of large sections of the working class and the poor who voted for President Aquino, his government has failed to address any of the substantial questions facing Filipinos today: poverty and hunger, low wages, unemployment.

The latest SWS survey showing an increase in hunger is a major concern that must be taken seriously and not brushed off in a squabble over statistics. According to the March 4-7 poll 20.5% of respondents -- or an estimated 4.1 million families -- have gone hungry at least once in the past three months. This is up from the estimated 3.4 million families recorded in November 2010, i.e., almost one million extra families are going hungry today due to poverty. Along with the other examples of poverty and marginalization – such as the shocking deaths of up to 30 people in Palawan, including children, due to easily preventable ailments such as diarrhea – this demonstrates that the situation of the masa is deteriorating.

The fact is that wide-spread poverty, and related hunger, continues to exist and is the most serious socio-economic problem that the country faces today. We don’t need statistics to tell us this. The masa know this and we experience it in our daily lives. The deteriorating situation of the masa and the seeming inability of the government to reverse the trend represent the failure of the government to carry out its promise of poverty reduction during its first year in office.

We needed far reaching reforms and strategies – at least 12 months ago. Without meaningful measures and reforms the situation for the masa will continue to worsen, and poverty and hunger will increase. The President must put forward a concrete development plan. The President must have a clear strategy for poverty reduction and must have the political will to implement them. At the heart of such a strategy and plan should be far-reaching measures for job creation for the country’s citizens – not Conditional Cash Transfer programs. There is no time to waste. The people are hungry and are getting desperate.

This May I the Partido Lakas ng Masa commits to intensifying the struggle around a series of demands that will provide immediate protection for the working class and the poor. We will now take up the fight in direct opposition to the government of President Noynoy Aquino. PLM and our allied mass organizations will launch a series of campaigns around the following demands:

Scrap the Value Added Tax!

Price Ceiling Now!

Extend the Moratorium on Demolition!

For a P125 daily minimum wage increase!

Job creation program for the youth!

In intensifying our struggle around these demands, we reaffirm our commitment to the unity of the left and progressive movements who also support these demands and we will explore all avenues to maximize the unity of the mass movements to strengthen our struggles to protect and defend the masa.

This May 1 PLM also reaffirms its commitment to international solidarity. We will draw on the lessons and the inspiration provided by workers and comrades struggling around the world, to challenge the capitalist order and build socialist alternatives -- from peoples power in the Middle East, to the mobilization of workers and students against cutbacks in Europe, to the comrades in Latin America who are showing us the way towards the Socialism of the 21st Century.

We also extend our warm solidarity to our sister socialist parties in the Asia region and we will continue to support all initiatives to strengthen our networks and relations.

With renewed determination to intensify the struggle we declare:

Long Live May Day!

May Day, 2011