Labor groups uncertain subsidy for minimum-wage earners to get OK

In Photo: Workers are seen in file photo on one of the many construction projects in Metro Manila. Most construction workers are minimum-wage earners, and are among those being eyed to receive a subsidy endorsed by Department of Labor and Employment officials.

WILL he or won’t he?

Labor groups are divided on the possibility of President Duterte approving the proposal of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to provide government subsidy to minimum-wage earners.

Despite demanding the subsidy, the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said the proposal is unlikely to be approved by Duterte due to opposition from economic managers.

“I caution minimum-wage workers not to expect they will benefit from the proposed subsidy. We expect the economic managers to recommend to President Duterte to turn it down,” ALU-TUCP Spokesman Alan Tanjusay said in a statement.

Tanjusay was referring to the previous statement of the National Economic Development Authority that the government will thumb down ALU’s proposal for a P500 subsidy for minimum-wage earners, as it will be too costly for the government.

Nonetheless, Tanjusay remained hopeful that Duterte will still consider approving the subsidy to allow workers to cope with the rising cost of living.

TUCP Vice President Luis Corral sees a strong chance Duterte will implement the program.

“Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III would not have made the pronouncement without prior consultations from other Cabinet members,” Corral told the Business Mirror in a phone interview.

He said the P200 subsidy is much lower compared to what was initially proposed by ALU-TUCP.

He, however, expressed concern on how the subsidy will be distributed once it is approved.

“How will they determine its target beneficiaries? Will it be through the use of the database of the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] or that of the SSS [Social Security System]? This needs to be clarified,” Corral said.

TUCP is proposing to have the distribution of the subsidy accompanied by a seminar, with minimum-wage earners oriented about their basic labor rights.

Last week the DOLE announced it is eyeing to provide a P200 monthly cash subsidy for 4.1 million minimum-wage earners this year. It will be raised to P300 per month in 2019 and P400 in 2020. - By Samuel P. Medenilla

Image Credits: Nonoy Lacza

Calida security firm hit for alleged nonpayment of SSS premiums

Owned by Solicitor General Jose Calida's family, Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency 'is no sacred cow,' says the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines

ALLEGED NONPAYMENT. Labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency has allegedly not been paying its employees' Social Security System remittances for years.

MANILA, Philippines – The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) on Sunday, July 1, said Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc allegedly failed to remit required payments to the Social Security System (SSS) "for years."

Vigilant Security is owned by Solicitor General Jose Calida's family. The company provides security personnel in several government offices such as the House of Representatives, the Department of Justice, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, among others.

In a statement on Sunday, ALU-TUCP said Vigilant Security has been operating in "blatant violation" of labor standards.

"It is the moral and legal obligation of the Vigilant Security Agency (VSA) as principal employer to ensure that all its employees' monthly SSS deductions are remitted to the system in time," said ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.

"The timely and faithful payments of SSS are also a crucial safety net protection when their employees reached retirement age," he added.

Rappler has sought Vigilant Security and Calida for comment, but has not received a response as of posting time.

ALU-TUCP urged the SSS to investigate Vigilant Security's alleged nonpayment of SSS premiums and to retroactively issue payments for the period of noncompliance.

The labor group also called on the Department of Labor and Employment to look into the practices of Vigilant Security to ensure it complies with general labor, occupational safety, and health standards for its employees.

"The VSA is no sacred cow. The rule of law must be applied to all establishments including VSA to ensure that all its employees are protected," Tanjusay said. – Sofia Tomacruz / Rappler.com

ALU warns ‘work from home’ setup may thwart labor bargaining rights

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said work from home flexible work arrangement may deprive workers’ rights to organize and collective bargain for better wages and benefits.

(Flickr / MANILA BULLETIN)

“While the flexible work scheme may save urban workers from an average 2 to 4 hours daily agony and disease-causing stress caused by commuting through traffic jams and poor mass transport system, cut fuel, transport and parking expenses and improve work-life balance, the arrangement may also deprive workers of their right to organize themselves as a union and to collective bargain for better wages and benefits,” said Gerard Seno, executive vice president of ALU, in a statement.

“It is very important, therefore, for its tripartite-drafted implementing rules and regulation (IRR) to be crafted by the Department of Labor and Employment that guides employees and employers in the application of the scheme at the same time to promote the right to organize and to collectively bargain,” Seno said.

He said workers social protection insurance and exposure to occupational safety and health hazard must also be addressed effectively in the preparation of the IRR.

ALU-TUCP Spokesman Alan Tanjusay is also concerned that the distance between workers may make it more difficult for workers to become organized.

“We are worried that the distance between workers may make organization of unions more difficult since they won’t be seeing each other in the workplace,” he said.

Still, the labor group believes that House Bill 7402 or Telecommuting Act otherwise known as the work from home proposal will bode well for employees, who had been dealing with hazards caused by traffic congestion and inadequate mass transport infrastructure.

“The flexible work scheme may save urban workers from an average 2 to 4 hours daily agony and disease-causing stress caused by commuting through traffic jams and poor mass transport system, cut fuel, transport and parking expenses and improve work-life balance,” said Seno.

“Workers may also minimize exposure to pollution during commute and hazards caused by floods and typhoons,” he added.

Seno’sstatement comes after the proposed Telecommuting Act, otherwise known as the work from home bill, passed the third reading in the House of Representatives two weeks ago.

It is now pending in the Senate for the counterpart measure.

Expected to benefit from the measure are employees in the sectors of IT, business process management, business process outsourcing, animation, journalist, writers, transcriber, social media management, data entry, customer service, project management, and web designer and developer.

On the other hand, jobs that require operating machines, rendering frontline services, and doing agricultural work are not seen to benefit from the work-from-home scheme. - By Leslie Ann Aquino

Labor groups slam, employers back trade chief’s ‘minimal’ wage hike

File photo / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Labor groups on Thursday denounced Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez for saying that any wage increase should be “minimal” to avoid increasing production costs and consumer prices.

Alan Tanjusay, spokesperson for the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), said workers needed a substantial across-the-board wage increase to cope with surging prices.

“The country’s wage rates are so small and inadequate that it needs a significant increase in the light of extraordinary inflation caused by the inutile leadership of Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez to arrest profiteers and control prices of commodities combined with the inflation as a result of excise tax on fuel by the (tax reform) law, increase in the prices of oil in the world market and the felt depreciation of the value of peso against the US dollar,” Tanjusay said in a statement.

The highest monthly gross pay of P12,300, which minimum wage workers in Metro Manila receive, is “way below” the P42,000 that the National Economic and Development Authority had stated was needed by a typical Filipino family to live decently, Tanjusay added.

‘Dangerous’

Lopez told a briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday that he was not in favor of a nationwide wage increase because this would be “dangerous.”

“If we increase wages, this will increase costs and this might trigger rise in prices of goods, and it will not only be the wage earners but the whole population that will be affected. So those who did not benefit from the wage hike will also get affected,” he said.

“So if you ask me, there could be minimal adjustment. But that should not be more than what is necessary—because you will really create a strong pressure on inflation,” he added.

Tanjusay said that if employers refused to raise wages, the workers and their families would become more impoverished and vulnerable to unlawful and immoral means to survive.

“Hunger encourages more social upheaval, chaos and anarchy,” he said.

Not proworker

Tanjusay said any major wage increase would be spent “to purchase basic commodities, pay loans, pay for siblings’ matriculation, and remitted to parents in rural provinces benefiting businesses and job opportunities in the process.”

Julius Cainglet of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) said Lopez was clearly not standing for workers and their families.

“His heart only beats for employers,” Cainglet said.

The administration should make amends for failing to end contractualization and implementing the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act by granting a significant wage hike, he said.

Kilusang Mayo Uno’s Elmer Labog said Lopez was lying because prices had been increasing even without any wage hikes.

“On the contrary,” Labog said, “increasing the workers’ purchasing capacity would make the economy more vibrant as they could buy more goods and services. DTI and the Duterte government should stop treating the Filipino workers like slaves.”

Lopez only wants more belt tightening for workers while the price of basic commodities rose steadily, said Renato Magtubo of Partido Manggagawa.

“It says much about how insensitive this administration is when it comes to increasing workers’ pay in order to provide them relief amid rising cost of living,” Magtubo said.

Regional wage boards

Asked to clarify what he meant by a “minimal” wage increase, Lopez said the regional boards should be left to decide what “reasonable position” to take.

“They [the regional boards] consider and decide on what’s the balance between the plight and needs of the workers and those of the business to make the operations still viable and without affecting jobs generation,” he told the Inquirer.

Under the Wage Rationalization Act, regional boards determine and fix minimum wage rates applicable in their respective regions. Each board is composed of representatives from the government, labor sector and management.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the largest business group in the country, said it would only back a minimal wage increase.

PCCI chair George Barcelon declined to give a range of wage rates that businessmen would be comfortable with, noting that it was difficult to set it “arbitrarily.”

Barcelon said his group was “OK” with a small wage hike, as long as its effects on the economy had been considered.

“The other thing that we should also bear in mind is our competitiveness,” he told the Inquirer. “We strive to be competitive in many ways, not only in wages. But labor can be a factor [in our competitiveness].”

The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) also deferred to regional boards to make the decision on any wage hikes.

“The regional boards are a good system for bringing together representatives of employers, workers and government. It has been approving increases for some years that reflect inflation yet keep the Philippines competitive with most large [economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations],” AmCham senior adviser John Forbes told the Inquirer. - By: Stephen C. Canivel, Tina G. Santos - @inquirerdotnet