Massive labor day protest set, PNoy tagged as heartless, pro-capitalist

Media Release

April 30, 2011

Massive labor day protest set, PNoy tagged as heartless, pro-capitalist

Davao City – A massive nationwide protest on Labor Day is set to be held in the city this coming Sunday highlighting the workers’ call for additional wages and to put a stop to the incessant price hikes that have pushed more Filipinos to poverty and hunger.

Research groups like IBON pointed that increasing wages by P125 daily will be beneficial to the economy as it will spur demand and stimulate the economy. It has also said that raising wages by this amount will only cut capitalists’ profits by a mere 15%.

“But President Aquino remains stubborn in giving in to these demands. He is apparently protective of the interest of his own oppressive class,” said Franchie Buhayan, secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.

“He remains heedless, too, in the call for the scrapping of 12% Valued Added Tax on oil which, as economists say, will not hurt the economy and will even spur growth as it will greatly reduce oil pump prices and allow customers to save on fuel bills,” she added.

The government’s inaction has labeled Aquino as a heartless and pro-capitalist president.

“His inaction is a blatant disregard of the people’s well-being and welfare, in favor of big foreign and local capitalists’ excessive profiteering,” Buhayan said.

While the country’s top corporations earn billions more of profits, in contrast is the dismal condition of workers whose wages have increased four times only since 2001.

Even hinting increase in wages through the regional tripartite wage and productivity boards (RTWPB), as Pnoy recently did, is no guarantee that workers will finally have substantial wages. According to Buhayan, “Record shows that since these boards were created, workers’ wages were raised by as much as P26 only. Wage boards are also used instead by capitalists to press down wage hikes to insignificant levels.”

The people’s clamor for P125 across-the-board wage hike nationwide has been pending for nearly a decade.

“We enjoin the people to go out on the streets on May 1. It will be a good day for us to show the President that if the government could not provide for us, we will claim these rights by our collective struggle,” Buhayan said.

For Reference:

FRANCHIE BUHAYAN
Secretary General
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Mindanao Region (Bayan-SMR)
0999.195.3370