The General Alliance of Workers Association is supporting calls for wage hikes through two petitions filed before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) of Western Visayas and through Congress.
GAWA Secretary General Wennie Sancho said on Sunday, April 30, that they are supporting both moves, whichever comes first.
Various labor groups are staging protest on Labor Day, May 1, to demand for wage hikes.
“Today the majority of the workers are underpaid, underfed, underprotected and underemployed. What we need is an urgent economic relief in the form of a substantial wage increase in the daily minimum wage from P150 to P350 per day in Western Visayas,” he said.
“We are facing times of economic crisis, joblessness, record breaking inflation and shrinking incomes,” he said, as he stressed the need for living wages.
GAWA supports the pending bill filed by Senator Zubiri for a P150 per day increase in the minimum wage across-the-board nationwide, Sancho said.
GAWA also calls on the RTWPB in Western Visayas to act with dispatch on the two petitions for wage hikes that have already been filed, he added.
Meanwhile, other labor groups in Negros Island have united under the banner of the United Labor Alliance – Negros (ULAN) to demand for a P750 across-the-board national minimum wage during their Labor Day protest in Bacolod City.
They will hold a Labor Day protest march starting 1:30 p.m. on Monday towards the Bacolod City Government Center replica at the Bacolod Public Plaza for a rally, Noly Rosales, Kilusang Mayo Uno secretary general, said.*