As May 1 approaches, more sectors are mounting mass actions to call for wage increases and job security, alongside calls to lower commodity prices. Some of the mass actions are the following.

Kadamay held the yearly Kalbaryo ng Maralita, a week-long protest of the urban poor in time for the Holy Week of the Christian faith. A People’s Mass was held on April 2 at the Bustillos Church in Sampaloc, Manila. The urban poor brought with them palm leaves with written demands for wage increase, job security and decent housing. On Holy Monday, they once again gathered at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila for wages and livelihood. The activities will conclude with the Pasyon ng Masa on April 4.

Petition for wage increase in Calabarzon. Workers under the Workers Initiative for Wage Increase (WIN4WIN) filed a petition for wage increase to the Calabarzon (Region IV-A) wage board to reach the ₱750 minimum daily wage. At present, there are four different minimum wage categories in the region.

Payday Protest. Workers under the Unity of Wage Increase Now trooped the DOLE national office on payday, March 31 to call on the agency to act on its demand and petition for wage increase.

Regularize contractual government employees. On March 24, government employees protested to call for the junking of DBM and COA’s Joint Circular No. 2 S. 2020 which authorized government agencies to hire workers from labor agencies. At present, there are 700,000 contractual, casual and hired through job order government employees.

They also called for salary increase of all government employees to ₱33,000 monthly. The protest was held in front of the DBM office.