Tomas sees no need for wage hike!

[laagan_si_organizer]

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INCREASING the minimum wage will only make the country suffer, and the labor sector does not even represent majority of the urban poor, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said yesterday.

He said this in reaction to proposals to again increase the current wage levels because of successive increases in the prices of fuel and other commodities.

Minimum wage is currently fixed at P382 daily in Metro Manila and ranges from P180 to P320 in other areas of the country. In Metro Cebu, minimum wage stands at P267 a day.

“We’re going to suffer,” Osmeña said, acknowledging that overpopulation is one factor preventing the country from taking better care of its people.

The mayor, though, refused to be dragged into a discussion on reproductive health. He did say that as Cebu City mayor, he has to deal with overpopulation’s effects, like malnutrition and housing problems. “I’m the one who has to solve these problems,” he said.

With a population of 80 million, underemployment has come hand in hand with unemployment and reduced the productivity of Filipinos, he said.

People even accept a barangay job of cleaning the streets for a monthly allowance of just P1,500 because of the current crisis, said Osmeña.

Review figures

Early this month, Department of Labor and Employment 7 Director Elias Cayanong said the wage board will study the need for a review of the current wage levels, and that labor groups can now submit petitions for a salary increase.

But the mayor said direct foreign investors are flocking to China instead of the Philippines because the cost of labor there is much lower. “And it’s not only our wages, it’s
our labor laws which are (also) ridiculous,” he said.

Osmeña recalled that when he first became Cebu City mayor in 1988, he was accommodated in a shabby hotel in Xiamen that was reportedly the best of then. Now, he said, Xiamen could rival the facilities that the best cities in Asia offer.

During the press conference, Osmeña said that if other provinces are given the opportunity to host export processing zones, he will ask that they be exempted from the minimum wage law.

Although wages may be lower in those areas, the cost of living is also much lower.

“They get P3,000 to P4,000, they’ll accept it because they’re still in the pond. Living is cheaper instead of coming to Cebu city and becoming part of the urban poor,” the mayor said.

He believes it is the unemployed who compose the majority of the urban poor, but whose voices are seldom heard.

- taken from SunStar news

[piolo_askal]

Another big slap on the faces to the people who are thinking only of themselves.

Raise in pay should come after a raise in production, mao na ang dapat, di kay pangayo dayun ug increase tungod kay nisaka ang mga presyo.

[laagan_si_organizer]

Another big slap on the faces to the people who are thinking only of themselves.

Raise in pay should come after a raise in production, mao na ang dapat, di kay pangayo dayun ug increase tungod kay nisaka ang mga presyo.

i would have to agree with you. some people, if not all, always put the blame on the government, not looking at themselves. sometimes, we have to blame these people who keep on reproducing without thinking what to feed their children. it's a call for population growth.

[journeyman]

Unsaon man sab gub nga gigamit ra man na sa mga walhon ang mga ordenaryo nga mga trabahante para lang makamugna ud kadaut. Ang kanang mga ordenaryo nga mga tawo wa sab tawn na sila kaayo kasabot kung unsa jud ang insakto.

[taga_ipil]

i would have to agree with you. some people, if not all, always put the blame on the government, not looking at themselves. sometimes, we have to blame these people who keep on reproducing without thinking what to feed their children. it's a call for population growth.

pagkakapoy nalang man aning mga leftist oi...
murag wala man ko kadungog atong mga wal-hon nga naa na sa congress karun.

kusog man unta kaayo to sila mo rally.

basig nabusog na ilang bulsa sa pangurakot sab.

[rishee]

sakto oi!!!

ka hilas anang mga tao mag cge demand increase ang sweldo nga wala man gani trabaho!! WTF!!!

tapulan!!!

[zerk]

I'm glad the mayor share our sentiments...

grabe ka ridiculous ang labor laws nato. no offense to the lawyers in this forum pero makalagot sab kanang naa sa radyo sige solsol sa mga ord trabahante to sue their employers... why dont they spare the small time biz... musugot man gud na sila pro bono. ang abugado lang mudato ana...

[lecreigh]

sakto oi!!!

ka hilas anang mga tao mag cge demand increase ang sweldo nga wala man gani trabaho!! WTF!!!

tapulan!!!

sakto jud! ...... paningkamot sad tawn mo oi, ayaw baba pa trabahoa..

[am_believer24]

^^haha! korek jud...ka-bagag fes pud gyud...