N.B. – This was published in The Lobbyist (May 12) where I write a column (Subtext).

To assure workers that he is on their side, President Noynoy Aquino announced in time for International Labor Day last May 1 that the third tranche of the salary increase for government employees will be given in June, or a month before the scheduled release. It is important for journalists to put this issue in proper context.

Just how much is the salary increase of a government employee? It actually depends on his or her salary grade. For those who don’t know, the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) which took effect in 1989 has 33 grades. With the exception of Salary Grade 33 (the President’s salary grade), each grade has eight “steps.”

Utility workers like drivers, janitors and street sweepers occupy the lowest grades, other rank-and-file employees as well as public school teachers are in the middle while the officials get the highest ones.

That government employees get uneven salaries is due to the difference in skills and scope of their responsibilities, among other factors. One expects the highest official of the land to get the highest salary as the President is, at least theoretically, the most accountable of all government officials.

It should be noted that progressive labor groups have opposed the salary standardization law mainly because of the very low salaries given to the rank-and-file employees. Just how low are the salaries? According to the salary schedule which will be implemented starting June 1, 2011, those occupying Salary Grade 1, Step 1 (SG 1-1) will get a monthly salary of PhP8,287, a mere increase of PhP712 from the current monthly salary of PhP7,575. In other words, utility workers and the like who belong to SG 1-1 will only end up with a 9.4 percent increase in their salaries.

What about President Aquino? His current monthly salary is PhP95,000. Starting next month, his monthly salary will increase to PhP107,470, or a difference of PhP12,470 (representing a 13.1-percent hike).

For public school teachers who belong to SG 11-1, their current monthly salary of PhP15,649 will be adjusted to PhP17,099. This represents an increase of PhP1,450 (or a 9.3-percent hike). Yes, they may be better off than those who belong to the lowest grades, but the salary adjustment is still not enough to make ends meet. It is actually in this context that organized teachers are calling for the re-classification of public school teachers so that they may occupy Salary Grade 15 or higher where they could get at least PhP22,688 monthly.

Based on the given data, government officials have every reason to be happy as they end up getting higher increases from their already higher salaries as rank-and-file employees get only a minuscule amount. This is what happens when the government refuses to give a fixed, across-the-board salary increase for all government employees as what organized labor groups have been calling for since August 25, 1999 (i.e., an increase of P125 in the daily wage of private sector workers and a P3,000 hike in the monthly salary of those belonging to the public sector).

Bills have been filed in the present and previous Congress but, 12 years later, the call for a legislated wage hike remains unheeded. At present, one cannot immediately conclude that there is “good” news in the release of the third tranche under SSL 3 (the last tranche of which is scheduled to be released next year). Only those with higher salaries end up benefiting from it while the rest still reels from the impact of increasing prices of goods and services.