Militant group sees 2014 as ‘‘grim’’ year for labor, wages

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – A militant labor group said Monday that workers are facing a grim year ahead, citing impending increases in prices of services and deductions in their salary.

“A bleak New Year’s Day awaits us. In two days’ time, our already constrained budget shall worsen two-fold since our wages have remained stagnated since (President Benigno) Aquino came into power and regular jobs have become very scarce with the legalization of contractualization two years back,” Gie Relova, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) said in a statement.

Relova said that the increase in employee contributions to the Social Security System and PhilHealth, the hike in the prices of LPG and oil as well as in the fares of the MRT and LRT, will further add to the burden of workers.

He also cited the temporarily suspended hike in electricity rates and the second round of increase in sin taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages as factors that further diminish workers’ purchasing power.

“All these policies are detrimental to ordinary wage-earners as the government continues to sacrifice our welfare in the altar of corporate interests and has remained inutile to our most pressing concerns,” Relova said.

“The past three and a half years have opened our eyes to the painful truth that the Aquino government is undeniably anti-worker to its very core,” he said.

BMP aired its concerns in a protest rally Monday morning at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila after marching from Plaza Miranda in Quiapo. They warned President Aquino that more protests will continue if their concerns continue to be neglected.

Protesters brought symbolic firecrackers with them one of which was dubbed “Goodbye Noynoy.”