A LABOR group has called out the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLe) and the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) for ignoring the constitutional rights of more than 4 million private sector workers to a living wage.

The Associated Labor Unions (ALU), one of the largest labor federations in the country, said that under the Wage Rationalization Act (Republic Act 6727), living wage tops the 10 criteria in determining wages, but it has been ignored for the last 35 years.

"We remind our social partners in government, especially DoLE and NWPC, and our friends in business that no less than our fundamental law guarantees the right to a living wage, which the State shall defend at all times," the group said in a statement.

"Yet for nearly four decades, we are scandalized why little to no consideration is given to what really is a 'living wage.' Why are we sticking to a policy of paltry increases and poverty wages?" it said.

Section 3, Article XIII of the Constitution, entitles workers "to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage," while Section 3(3), Article XV mandates the state to defend the "right of the family to a family living wage and income."

ALU lambasted what it described as an inhumane massive wage gap between the estimated family living wage and regional minimum wages, a gap that economic think tank IBON Foundation highlights as an indictment on the chronic neglect of the regional wage boards, NWPC and DoLE of their Constitutional and legal mandate.

"Worst, DoLE and NWPC are the leading talking heads in insisting that living wages are mere aspiration, akin to a pipe dream, instead of working together towards making it a reality. How can they turn a blind eye to the harsh fact that minimum wage earners cannot even afford half the living wage to sustain a decent life for their families?" ALU said.

ALU President Michael Democrito Mendoza said the daily pay received by over 4 million minimum wage earners could not even purchase half the food, water, electricity, their children's access to schooling, decent housing, and other basics that they would need.

Mendoza said the NWPC did its duty in estimating the family daily living wage at P917 in 2008 or 16 years ago, but "not even one of the regional [tripartite] minimum wage [boards] have met that standard."

"The regional minimum wages in 2024 is way below the living wages estimated in 2008. IBON's finding that the average daily family living wage gap of P762 is almost double the average daily minimum wage of P440 across all 17 regions is disgraceful," he said.

He said ALU fully supports the immediate passage by the House of Representatives Bill 7871, or the Wage Recovery Act, saying that the P150 legislated wage hike will go a long way in helping workers cope with the spiraling cost of living.

"We are dumbfounded why the government — DoLE itself and the NWPC — and corporate giants are still engaging in overkill in public hearings in the House, ganging up against a P150 legislated wage hike," he said.

P150 "will only recover the lost purchasing power due to two years of high inflation and nearly four decades of poverty wages," Mendoza said.

Big business is against any legislated wage proposals, preferring that pay increases be determined by wage boards.

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