[APWSLMembers 277] Upcoming LPG price hikes will absorb measly wage adjustments

[Kilusang Mayo Uno]

KMU NEWS RELEASE
June 30, 2006

Upcoming LPG price hikes will absorb measly wage adjustments

Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today said that the P25 wage 
adjustment approved by the NCR regional wage board as well as other 
upcoming wage hikes to be issued by various regional wage boards will 
only go to paying higher oil prices, particularly for the consumption 
of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which are scheduled to increase by 
as much as P22 per 11 kilogram tank starting tomorrow.

"Whatever wage adjustments that workers will receive will only be 
absorbed by the rising cost of petroleum products and as an automatic 
effect, subsequent increases in other basic goods and services. While 
workers have yet to benefit from the paltry wage adjustments, big and 
small oil companies are once more racing against each other in hiking 
their pump prices," said KMU Women Department Secretary Nenita Gonzaga.

"Profiteering is the main reason for the upcoming LPG price hike. How 
can oil companies justify the upcoming LPG price increase when the 
Contract Price (CP) of LPG (at 30% propane and 70% butane) for June 
2006 remains the same as the previous month at $470/metric ton."

Woman labor leader Gonzaga, a mother herself who tends the budgetary 
needs of her family's household, shares the sentiments of other 
Filipinos especially mothers who are expected to suffer most from the 
upcoming LPG price hike.

She said that the impending LPG price hike will severely affect 
working mothers and ordinary housewives who are tending the daily 
budget for their families' food expenses and other household 
expenditures. "It is very hard to make do with a very limited 
household budget. To be able to stretch our means, we are forced to 
lessen our daily budget for food. Instead of providing nutritious and 
sufficient food requirements for our families, mothers often buy 
instant foodstuff like noodles, canned goods including sardines and 
other 'no cook' foodstuff.

Based on the Department of Energy's (DoE), price monitor, as of June 
25, the prevailing prices of LPG in Metro Manila is between P440 to 
P490 plus 12-percent value-added tax or VAT per 11-kg cylinder. 
According to the LPG Marketers Association, LPG prices will increase 
by as much as P512 to P530 per 11-kg cylinder.

Aside from the high prices of LPG, consumers are complaining of 
underfilled LPG tanks, substandard LPG tanks and tampering of 
cylinders and other malpractices done by LPG retailers.###






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