Labor leaders running for Senate think daily minimum wage must be P1,500
Labor leaders Leody de Guzman and Luke Espiritu at the Partido Lakas ng Masa convention on September 27, 2024. (Photo from PLM–Partido Lakas ng Masa/Facebook)
MANILA, Philippines — Senatorial candidates and labor leaders Leody De Guzman and Luke Espiritu intend to file a bill seeking to increase the daily minimum wage to P1,500 nationwide.
This is if they will win a seat in the Senate.
Both aspirants said this is the first proposal they will file in the chamber.
The current daily minimum wage amounts to P645 for the non-agricultural sector in Metro Manila.
De Guzman and Espiritu noted that the monthly expenses of each household in the country reach about P30,000.
“Umaabot sa P30,000 buwan-buwan ang kailangang gastusin ng isang pamilya para lang matugunan ang pinakapayak na pangangailangan,” De Guzman observed.
(A family has to spend up to P30,000 per month just to meet the simplest needs.)
“Hindi tama na ang manggagawa, abonado pa at mababaon sa utang matapos ang kanyang trabaho,” he said.
(It is not right for a worker to be underpaid and buried in debt even after he has worked.)
“Dapat lang ibigay sa kanya kung ano ang nararapat – yung sahod na tunay na makakabuhay sa kanya at kanyang pamilya,” he added.
(He should be given what is appropriate – a salary that can truly support him and his family.)
For his part, Espiritu pointed out that calling for wage increase “is just the first step on the path to improving worker welfare.”
“Workers in this country are in a dismal state. The current conditions require systemic reform which we will push for in the Senate,” he said.
“The call for a higher minimum wage is just the first step, an urgent reform needed to just keep workers’ breathing space as we work to truly uplift their condition,” he explained.
Espiritu also cited the essence of the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises Act of 2002 or the Republic Act No. 9178, and the Wage Rationalization Act of 1995 or the RA No. 6727.
“The law allows micro and small-sized enterprises to be assisted in meeting minimum wage requirements,” the candidate emphasized.
“Even now, the government has “Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita” Program (AKAP), a program supposed to assist those affected by inflation and those earning less than the minimum wage,” he noted.
“Instead of using the P26 billion budgeted for the program to give to the Ayuda program, the government can use this fund to help subsidize the P1,500 minimum wage proposal without needing the intercession of congressmen and senators,” he recommended.
De Guzman and Espiritu are among the candidates and groups that unveiled their unified labor agenda.
The agenda includes a wage increase and the following goals for workers:
- Regular and decent employment
- Full recognition of the right to freedom of association, right to unionize and upholding of human rights
- Quality public services
- Taxing billionaires, not the workers
- Climate justice and climate action
- Agricultural and industrial development
- End of discrimination and abuses
- End to political dynasties and corruption
- Ensuring accountability/apl
