Corncern for workers
PEOPLE can understand that many private business firms cannot grant wage increases at this time because of the current economic condition not only in the country but elsewhere.
In fact, thousands of displaced workers remain jobless because their employers, hit hard by the “paralyzing” COVID-19 pandemic, are not yet in a position to resume operations.
Due to the acute shortage of customers, owners of many small retail and service establishments in the impoverished countryside are still reluctant to rehire all their former workers.
“Gustuhin man naming tulungan ang mga dati naming manggagawa ay wala kaming magagawa dahil iilan pa lang naman ang mga kustomer,” explained a store owner.
The citizens are still afraid to go out of their homes because the coronavirus disease or COVID-19 continues to claim the lives of people across the globe, including the Philippines.
Besides, the government, through concerned offices, still restricts the movement of people in order to prevent the further spread of the virus, which originated from China.
If wage adjustment is not possible at this time, government authorities ought to ensure that unscrupulous traders, like hoarders and profiteers, “will not victimize our consumers.”
Despite the pandemic, there are still unscrupulous traders in various parts of the country. “Talagang wala silang pakialam basta ang gusto nila ay kumita ng malaki,” a housewife said.
However, government authorities, national and local, cannot afford to have consumer unrest at a time when millions of Filipinos are still jobless and underemployed.
Oo nga.
