HOTSPOT

There’s a raging debate online about living wages and the minimum ₱30,000 starting salary sought and expected by Gen Zs. The young ones are raising anew why the Philippines refuses to give decent pay to workers. They are revolted by the idea that while the national inflation rate, the national cost of living, and the national consumer price index, national oil prices, national onion prices, and other things national are going up – but wages are pressed down at local levels and backed by a long list of non-sequitur excuses. The government and businesses promised to GenZs that going through K-to-12 would make them “more competitive” and they could even start working even if they choose to skip college. They are not even returning the promissory note about this. Not yet. What irks them is whether blue collar or white collar, the wages and salaries are too measly and laughable. They say that the low wage regime impacts on their physical and mental health. The only way they could escape it is to literally flee the country, and work in countries where pay is a lot fairer and commensurate to the job. Quite expectedly, lawmakers, labor officials, policymakers and Big Business have not participated in it. But their voices are heard, loud and clear, courtesy of what we could argue are former optimists-turned-cynics. The most eager oppositors to a living wage are some micro- small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs. This is understandable because they really cannot possibly grant a living wage or the starting pay sought by the young ones – on their own. This is where the state must and can step in. In many countries, MSMEs enjoy a lot of state support ranging from low-interest or zero interest capital loans, wage subsidies, tax breaks and exemptions, and other measures that reduce their cost of doing business. Many years back, the country’s real estate brokers’ association came out openly in support of a legislated across-the-board wage increase as long as the government takes steps in lowering the cost of capital. They argued if such a step is taken, they could even manage to give workers a living wage, not just a minimum wage increase. Unions and labor centers have largely focused their campaign for a wage increase at the state and Big Businesses, which have reaped huge profits even amid the pandemic. They are careful not to unduly agitate the MSMEs. We could only hope MSMEs come together, speak for themselves and not allow Big Businesses to pretend to speak for them, and fight for what they deserve as the biggest employers in the country. The workers cannot speak for them, but they would surely support them. We could only hope the debates and discussions continue, and help reopen the Pandora’s Box of labor and low wages in the country. For instance, another challenge is the regionalization of wage levels, which has kept wages at the lowest levels in the poorest regions while depriving a living wage the so-called most prosperous regions. The regionalization of wage levels could be the reason why poor areas remain poor or have gone poorer. Only hocus pocus can excuse giving workers in Bulacan or Cavite a minimum wage level lower than those for Metro Manila, when prices don’t go down when workers leave the city boundaries. Another is contractualization and the refusal of either the state and Big Businesses to guarantee social benefits for workers. This is a ticking time bomb that could give heartaches and headaches to younger ones once the perennial contractuals retire from work. The young ones would be forced to shoulder the cost of their retirement and health maintenance. There’s no denying that small business owners should have daring and business acumen, and workers have to work to gain experience and then win promotions. They know that, and they are good, innovative and highly-productive. They kept the nation and the economy during the pandemic, remember? The challenge is  to put it mildly  we all have to do work harder to make government work for them too: to radically change national policies and laws to honor them, to support MSMEs, to adopt a billionaire tax, to end contractualization and regionalized wages, to raise wages and then implement a living wage. To make politics work for MSMEs and workers. This is easier said than done. But saying, mentioning, debating, and discussing are important. It could lead to organizing, uniting, alliance- and coalition-building, mobilizing, winning and — yes — doing.