SSS urged to step up campaign against erring capitalists

SIX biggest labor organizations and alliances on Friday have strongly prodded the leadership of the Social Security System (SSS) to step up its campaign against capitalists who deliberately refuse to remit their monthly financial obligation collected from their employees.

Leody de Guzman, president of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), said the leaders and managers of the SSS must oblige all the employers to ensure that they will remit their employees’ monthly obligation and the corresponding employers’ share to the SSS.

Alan Tanjusay, spokesperson of the alliance of Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa), added that the SSS should conduct a regular inspection or reminder to all private firms covered to remit to the government’s social security agency the monthly payment of the employees and the corresponding employers’ share.

On September 21, The Manila Times reported that the SSS was able to collect about P1.6 billion from employers who refused to remit to the SSS the employers’ and employees’ monthly financial obligation for the past years.

The Times also reported that the SSS managed to send to jail at least 24 capitalists out of the 7,000 who intentionally violated the SSS Law.

For these accomplishments, Partido Manggagawa (PM) spokesman Wilson Fortaleza said the SSS leadership should step up its efforts so that more capitalists will be incarcerated for violating the agency’s law.

Fortaleza added that the 24 jailed capitalists were not enough since PM strongly believes that there are many businessmen still refuse to give the SSS the monthly payment of the employees together with the employers share.

Although the law stipulates that company employees should lodge a complaint against erring employers before the SSS, Tanjusay, who is also chairman of the Labor Party of the Philippines (LPP), said there is still a huge number of employers who deliberately ignore remitting to SSS the money they collect from their employees.

He also pointed out that the SSS would not act unless an employee will file a complaint against his or her employer who refused to remit the money they chopped from their employees.

Sonny Matula, president of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), said the action against any erring employer should not only be done by the SSS but by the employees as well in order to win against the SSS Law violators.

Matula stressed that the employees’ decision against their employer is an important act to help SSS do its obligation.

But Matula, who is also a lawyer, should be reminded that the mindset of Filipino workers is filled with fear. They are afraid to file a complaint against their employers who violated even a series of non-remittance to the SSS amounting to two years.

A good example was a call center employee who failed to get her financial incentive from the SSS when she gave birth to her third child two months ago, because her employer did not remit the money they collected.

The employee was then advised to lodge a complaint so that legal actions could be done against the SSS Law violator, but she later on refused out of fear that she might be fired from the company. - by NELSON S. BADILLA, REPORTER / The Manila Times