Militant trade union center Kilusang Mayo Uno trooped to the Department of Labor and Employment Central Office in Intramuros, Manila to protest against Francis Tolentino’s inaction amid a local court’s suspension of the PHP85 wage increase.
KMU protested with regional wage alliance Unity for Wage Increase Now, and labor groups under the National Wage Coalition. The protest coincided with a National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council meeting, which the Labor Secretary set after workers held a series of protests the past week.
“Tolentitig, luluwa na mata mo kakatunganga! Lalong nailalantad ang pagpanig mo sa mga kapitalistang ganid sa tubo sa bawat araw na wala kang ginagawa para ipatupad ang dagdag-sahod. Hindi namin kailangan ng lungkot mo, ang kailangan namin aksyon!” said KMU Chairperson Jerome Adonis.
(“Tolentitig, your eyes are going to bulge out from all that blank staring! Your bias toward profit-hungry capitalists gets more exposed with every day you do nothing to implement the wage increase. We don’t need your sadness — what we need is action!”
Note: “Tolentitig” is a pun combining Secretary Tolentino’s surname with “titig” (to stare), roughly “Tolen-staring” — mocking him for merely watching/staring at the issue instead of acting.)
KMU reiterated its call to abolish the existing wage setting mechanism – the Regional Wage Boards – which the group asserts has proven obsolete amid its incapability to implement its own Wage Order.
“Noong iisa lang ang minimum wage sa buong bansa, iisa ang nagtatakda ng sahod. At kung may reklamo, sa Korte Suprema na diretso. Wala nang turuan, wala nang panglilito sa mga manggagawa kung saan dudulog at magpoprotesta.” Adonis added.
(“Back when there was just one minimum wage for the whole country, there was one body that set it. And if there were complaints, it went straight to the Supreme Court. No more runaround, no more confusion for workers about where to file grievances and protest.”)
The group lambasted Bongbong Marcos for being the mastermind of keeping workers’ wages low.
“Bongbong, basang-basa namin ang modus mo. Ikaw rin ang pumatay sa PHP200 legislated wage increase sa nakaraang Kongreso. Makapal ang apog ng mga lokal na korte na harangan ang dagdag dahil pinamumunuan sila ng hari ng pambabarat!” Adonis ended.
(“Bongbong, we see right through your scheme. You’re also the one who killed the PHP200 legislated wage increase in the last Congress. The local courts are shameless in blocking the increase — because they’re led by the king of lowballing wages!”)
KMU called on Filipino workers to defend the PHP85 wage increase as a hard-won victory, and to continue mobilizing until all Filipino workers attain living wages or PHP1200 nationwide.
