Anakpawis calls for passage of national minimum wage, ban contractualization

By Cheneen R. Capon
Militant partylist group Anakpawis urged Dabawenyos to support efforts to call for a ban on contractualization and the passage of a national minimum wage (NMW) for private and public sector workers.
“The lowly worker can no longer survive given poverty wages now. The family living wage today as computed by research group Ibon Foundation is P1,088 daily. Compared to what a Davao worker earns today which is P312.00 daily, a worker is earning merely 29% of the family living wage. Despite price increases and inflation, workers are only given loose change as wage increase by the regional wage boards,” Ariel Casilao, first nominee of Anakpawis Partylist, said in a statement.
Casilao said the group is supporting the call for a national minimum wage amounting to P750 daily for private sector workers and P16,000 monthly for public sector workers.
“Implementing a national minimum wage will bring immediate relief to the sector by whose sweat the national economy is founded upon,” he added.
Alongside the call for higher wages, Casilao also urged Dabawenyos and Dabawenyas to join the fight to ban contractualization saying that the practice not only depresses workers’ wages but also strips them of human rights and dignity.
“Contractualization is a scheme that transforms our entire labor force into a cheap, docile, and disposable reserve of workers who have no rights, benefits, and who earn below the minimum wage, which is presently not enough to survive on. Contractualization is an affront to the dignity of our workers and must be banned,” Casilao said.
Wages and job security, he said, are two key election demands of the labor sector for the upcoming national elections where all candidates will be scrutinized. 
He urged the public to vote for pro-worker and pro-poor candidates who have concrete positions on the issue of contractualization and higher wages.
Wearing  headdresses and waving flaglets, the members of the Anakpawis Partylist-Davao joined last Wednesday’s parade for the celebration of the Araw ng Dabaw commemorating the 79th founding anniversary of the city  to gather support from fellow Dabawenyos  on the calls of the labor sector for higher wage and the banning of contractualization scheme in work places.