OFW Blogger

The assault on workers’ rights to decent wages in the Philippines

Workers' wages in the Philippines are significantly smaller compared to other countries, a report by the United Nations (UN) labor agency showed.

Pinoy workers in the manufacturing sector get an average of $1.41 per hour worked, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in its "Global Wage Report 2012/13."

This is the lowest wage rate in manufacturing among the 30 countries included in the report, which used data from 2010.

Historically, during the regime of Cory Aquino, the newly restored Philippine Congress thereafter passed a law granting a P25 across the board pay hike.  It was however the last of its kind since the fall of the Marcos dictatorship.

In the same year, the Herrera Law (Republic Act 6715) was also enacted which amended the Labor Code of the Philippines.  Among its major provisions is the “rationalization” of wage increases, leaving the determination of the minimum pay scale to the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board created under Republic Act 6727.

It also granted the labor secretary broad powers to assume jurisdiction over labor disputes in the name of national security and public interest, a carryover of the draconian Marcos era- Presidential Decree No. 442 (old Labor Code).  Moreover, the Herrera Law, while prohibiting labor only contracting, provided legal covers how employers can resort to labor contracting.

To add to the problem, in 1996, the then Pres. Fidel Ramos tied the country to the GATT-WTO. Dergulation, flexibilization and contractualization prevailed and the working conditions of workers deteriorated. The workers’ rights to join a union or to form unions has been nihilated, cutting off their benefits.

Today, most manufacturing and services companies have almost exclusively contract employees and workers.

The low wages resulted in the outward migration of many workers who found it impossible to anbswer the needs of the family with the salary they are receiving, or of many unemployed who found it next to impossible to find stable jobs with decent salary to support their family, bloating the nimbers of OFWs leaving the country daily.

Among developing countries, The Philippines is the third highest recipient of remittances from overseas workers this year, the World Bank said in its latest "Migration and Development Brief."

Cash inflows from Pinoys abroad are seen to reach $24.3 billion in 2012, up 5.4 percent from $23.1 billion last year.

The proportion of those defined as having "low pay" has meanwhile risen in 25 out of 37 economies.

This trend can also be gleaned from figures which show how chunks of the working population remain poor although employed.

Today, as the May day approaches, the workers are on warpath with their cry of wage increase and the lowering of prices.

Capitalism proves to be a ghastly failure in the Philippines and the masses are asking for change, for a better alternative to a system that has driven them deeper into poverty.

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