Workers' organizations in Cebu have started preparations for the staging of protest actions on May 1, Labor Day, when Malacañang is expected to announce a package of benefits for the working class.
The Alliance of Progressive Labor, Associated Labor Unions, and their allied groups under the Cebu Labor Coalition said they met on Wednesday to plan their May 1 activities.
APL chairman Jose Tomongha said they will also be negotiating with other labor groups and coalitions for the holding of a bigger rally, following the usual practice on Labor Day every year to demand from the government better benefits for workers.
Among their demands this year are adjustment in the workers' wages and other non-wage benefits like tax exemption for those earning below P100,000 a year, and fair labor practices.
The APL and its allied labor unions have filed a petition for an increase of at least P150 in the daily minimum wage of workers in Central Visayas.
Elpidio Caterbas, secretary general of Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo-Kilusang Mayo Uno, said his group will hold a series of build-up activities in the runup of the Labor Day mass protests.
Drivers, fisherfolks, urban poor and other sectors, affected by the increases in prices of oil products and basic commodities, will join his group's activities, said Caterbas.
He said that they will be pushing Congress to approve the proposed P125 across-the-board legislated wage increase.
President Gloria Arroyo, similar to her acts every Labor Day celebration, is expected to announce a package of benefits for private workers, consisting of both wage and non-wage benefits.
Arroyo is also expected to announce the 10 percent across-the-board wage hike for over a million government workers that would shore them up through the difficult and trying economic times. – Wenna A. Berondo/RAE