Workers from the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) condemned the ₱50 wage increase for this year the National Capital Region regional wage board recently announced. To protest the order, around 300 workers marched in Baguio City, where the KMU’s 13th National Congress, which began on June 27 and will end on June 30, is being held.

The workers carried the call for a living wage of ₱1200 for all. At the same time, progressive lawmakers in Congress refiled the proposal for a ₱1200 wage increase so that the incoming 20th Congress can discuss it.

“Year in, year out, Bongbong Marcos thinks that these meager wage increases will satisfy Filipino workers. He strongly opposes any legislated wage hike and, together with his cronies, considers a significant wage increase harmful to the nation. However, those of us gathered here clearly know that workers aspire to achieve a living wage for their families and to have our fundamental rights respected,” newly elected KMU chairperson Jerome Adonis, said.

The meager increase was announced after the Marcos regime killed the proposed law that would have added ₱200 to the wages of all minimum earners nationwide.

“We will relentlessly take action. We will use all democratic spaces—dialogue, picket protests, creative forms, and, as our weapon, the strike—to persistently assert the wages, jobs, and rights of workers nationwide. Fellow workers, our strength is in unity, and our victory lies in our collective action!” Nexperia Workers Union president and newly elected KMU secretary general Mary Ann Castillo, said.