Labor coalitions, networks, and unions, spearheaded by Defend Jobs Philippines (DJP) launched anew the Labor Vote campaign on February 10 at the University of the Philippines (UP) Hotel, Quezon City, for the coming 2025 midterm elections to push forth workers’ demands and advocate for pro-labor platforms.
“Most of the candidates running in the election, especially the incumbent believe that there is no labor vote. It is because workers are unorganized, scattered, and are demonized for forming unions. Big businessmen and capitalists continue to prevent the formation of workers’ unions,” DJP executive director Benjamin ‘Banjo’ Cordero said.
Cordero emphasized that the objective of the labor vote campaign is to mobilize Filipino workers and become a motive force in the 2025 elections.
In a Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data for December 2024, the national labor force is estimated at 51.81 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over or those who were either employed or unemployed.
According to the PSA data, there is also an uptick in the underemployment rate from 10.8% in November 2024 to 10.9% in December 2024 which is equivalent to 5.48 million Filipinos. This only means that many Filipino workers are still forced to put up with insecure, temporary, and/or irregular jobs with little-to-meager wages.
P200 welcomed but not enough; workers call for P1,200 family living wage
On January 30, the House Committee on Labor and Employment approved a bill mandating a PHP200 daily across-the-board wage increase for private sector workers.
While the labor groups welcomed the push for a P200 wage hike, they argue that it remains insufficient given the relentless rise in the cost of essential goods and services.
“The P200 pesos wage hike is just like amelioration. Its purpose is to merely alleviate the depreciated real wages after the pandemic. This means the pre-pandemic minimum wage cannot afford the cost of goods post-pandemic,” Cordero added.
According to Cordero, even when such an increase is added to the current minimum wage, it still falls short of what is needed to meet the daily expenses of workers given the soaring prices and financial burdens.
Think tank IBON Foundation supported this argument as rising inflation continues to erode the real value of earnings among workers. Notably, data from IBON on basic necessities and prime commodities in NCR revealed a sharp increase in prices from November 2019 (pre-pandemic) to January 2025 (post-pandemic).
The research group further revealed that since 2019, real wages only went up by P64. IBON explained that while nominal wages (the actual amount that workers receive) have increased over time, real wages (the purchasing power of workers after adjusting for inflation) have declined.
IBON added that the current minimum wage remains far below the estimated P1,200 family living wage (FLW) which would allow workers to afford a decent standard of living.
Gerry Serue of Kiusang Mayo Uno – NCR added that the P200 will do little to uphold workers’ purchasing power and not just compensate for the past losses, emphasizing that wages should be raised following the FLW or the real cost of living especially given the impact of inflation.
Abolish Herrera, Wage Rationalization Act
“As mentioned earlier, the majority of the workforce is contractual. This is due to the enactment of Republic Act (RA) 6715, also known as the Herrera Law. Workers’ wages also remain low because of RA 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Law,” Serue explained.
Workers continue to assail that the above-mentioned laws are deemed unfair and unjust, asserting that these were only imposed to further undermine the situation among workers.
“Regular workers have become the minority while contractuals are the majority and this is because of RA 6715 and with the help of RA 6727, wages were brought even lower,” Serue highlighted.
The Wage Rationalization Act pushed to rationalize the fixing of minimum wages depending on respective regions. This includes the creation of Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) to determine the minimum wages in every region.
KMU NCR further called for the abolition of Herrera Law and Wage Rationalization Act among other existing anti-worker policies in the country.
