BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental-based labor group General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA) is hoping that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will also tackle issues hounding the sugar industry and the labor sector in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) today.
According to GAWA secretary-general Wennie Sancho, the labor sector needs a wage increase, and stable and decent jobs.
Private sector workers in Western Visayas need a P500 per day wage increase to prevent the continuing erosion of their purchasing power and to cope with the high cost of living, he added,
Better salaries and quality jobs make workers more productive, Sancho also said.
Regarding sugar import liberalization, Sancho pointed out that importing huge volumes of sugar without proper consultation from stakeholders, particularly farmers and beneficiaries of agrarian reform, will weaken and kill the sugar industry.
He warned that sugar import liberalization would displace thousands of workers in the local sugar industry, adding that the proposal would only benefit sugar traders and smugglers.
According to the labor group, if the President wants to be recognized as someone who delivers justice to the poor and marginalized, he should demonstrate actions that reflect the concerns of the majority. (Watchmen Daily Journal)
