TUCP backs 12 Senate bets who will further workers’ agenda

TUCP representative, Lawyer Raymond Democrito Mendoza (center) announces the senator candidates that they group will be supporting in the election. | Rosalie O. Abatayo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has announced on Tuesday, May 7, their endorsement of 12 senatorial candidates whom they believe can further their cause for the welfare of the labor force.

TUCP President and Party Representative Lawyer Raymond Democrito Mendoza named former Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares and Federation of Free Workers National President Sonny Matula as their “fellow worker” bets.

Reelectionist Senators Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito and Bam Aquino are also among TUCP’s list of senatoriables along with Taguig City Representative Pia Cayetano.

TUCP also backs the candidacy of administration bets former Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, former police general and Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos and former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chief Francis Tolentino.

Mendoza said that they believed that candidates that they were supporting would be able to help them pass measures in the Senate to address the concerns of the workforce.

“After consultations with TUCP leaders and the heads of our affiliates, these are the senatorial candidates that our members believe and feel can help sponsor, support and pass legislation which will address the concerns of workers and their families through legislative policy-making,” Mendoza said.

Among the recent measures that TUCP has initiated are the P710 across-the-board daily wage hike in Metro Manila and P386-wage hike in Central Visayas.

Mendoza said they would endorse the 12 senatorial candidates to their affiliate labor federations with unions in manufacturing, agriculture, and services sector nationwide and to overseas workers. -
DBS

DOLE looks into PHL’s return to national minimum wage

Workers assemble a car in a factory in Santa Rosa, Laguna, in this BusinessMirror file photo.

Efforts to revert to setting a national minimum wage are now in the initial stage, as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said a review of existing wage policy of the Philippines is ongoing.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III formally announced last week that the study is now under way as lawmakers have included it in their legislative agenda.

“Once there is a bill in Congress [about it], they will be asking the wage boards. That is why we should be ready with this,” Bello told reporters in an interview.

DOLE’s National Wages Productivity Commission (NWPC) said the review is in compliance with the request of the Senate.

“It is the Senate which requested the Secretary [of Labor] to commission a third party expert to review the existing policy,” NWPC Executive Director Maria Criselda R. Sy told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
‘Transparent’

She said a local expert and specialist from the International Labor Organization (ILO) will be tasked to come out with the “inception report” that will detail how the review of wage setting mechanism will be conducted. The inception report is expected to be completed this year.

“We have to make sure it will be as open [to the stakeholders] as possible,” Sy said.

As for the role of the DOLE in the study, she said it will be to provide “technical inputs” in the undertaking based from its 30 years of implementation of the Republic Act (RA) 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act.

Implemented in 1989, RA 6727 allowed Congress to delegate its powers to adjust minimum-wage rates to the regional wage boards.

Labor Undersecretary Ciriaco A. Lagunzad III said among the issues to be tackled by the experts are the statistical indicators that should be used in the new alternative minimum-wage setting system.

“We would like to be more accurate with our indicators and statistics, which serve as basis for wage increases,” Lagunzad said.

The former executive director of NWPC also noted this will allow them to anticipate potential impact of wage increase to ensure it will be absorb by the economy without leading to job displacement and inflation.
Consultation

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Spokesman Alan Tanjusay said the NWPC already met with the TUCP last week to lay the groundwork for the study.

“They accepted our proposal and they said they asked a third party to study it. We already committed to join in its discussions,” Tanjusay said.

He said they will be submitting to NWPC their position paper on matter in the coming days.

To recall, TUCP together with other members of the labor coalition and Nagkaisa, as well as militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno have been pushing for the abolition of the regional-based minimum-wage setting scheme.

Leaders of the said labor groups said the system has been unfair especially for workers in the provinces since they get lower minimum wages than those in Metro Manila. - By
Samuel P. Medenilla

Big workers’ groups press for end to contractualization, wage increase

Updated photo Labor Day 2019 Manila

Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)--the largest labor groups in the country, convened on the eve of Labor Day to reiterate calls for an end to contractualization and push for the enactment of a Security of Tenure Law, while calling for increase in wages nationwide.

“We have long and consistently called for a just end to pervasive contractualization of labor, yet the practice of labor-only contracting, job-only contracting and other forms of flexible labor remain prevalent among the working people,” said Elmer Labog, chairperson of KMU.

Congress has nine more session days after the elections. Newly-elected legislators won’t begin their terms until after June 30. “The labor movement will defend workers' rights to the last. With enough political will, President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies in the Senate can still have a Security of Tenure Law enacted during this Congress,” said Atty. Sonny Matula, chairperson of Nagkaisa.

Nagkaisa and KMU were together at the Senate in early February during the last few session days prior to the recess of Congress as they mounted pressure on the Senate to pass the Security of Tenure Bill.

“This will definitely continue the pressure on the Senate, especially its reelectionist senators to openly declare either their support or opposition to the proposed End Endo Law,” Matula said.

Ending contractualization is one of the biggest promises of President Rodrigo Duterte. Many believe it was one of the issues that catapulted him to the presidency among the working people in the public and private sectors.

“Two issuances under President Duterte’s watch—DOLE Department Order 174 in 2017 and Executive Order 51 on Labor Day last year—failed to solve, and perhaps worsened contractualization,” Labog said. Duterte then certified as urgent the SOT Bill. The Senate has not passed a Security of Tenure Bill despite also getting the commitment of Senate President Tito Sotto.

The Filipino workers unity will thrive and translate into votes and campaigns against contractualization and opponents of workers' rights and benefits in the present and next Congress. “Filipino workers are proposing to clamp down on labor-only contractors by having a new law declaring labor-only contracting illegal, irrespective of a manpower agency’s capitalization or investment in equipment, and imposing heftier fines on erring employers and manpower agencies, way beyond the mere P1,000.00 that present laws provide,” Matula said.

“This is unacceptable. We cannot legitimize labor-only contractors, who do nothing but recruit and deploy workers, yet maintain supervision over contractual workers on paper. They connive with principal business owners to deprive workers of security of tenure and other basic labor rights, while avoiding legal and financial obligations,” Labog said.

House Bill 6908 on Security of Tenure was passed early this 17th Congress. Its counterpart measure, Senate Bill 1826 has yet to be passed on second reading. “The passage of the Bill is the necessary first step in changing the law towards prohibiting contractualization. While it may not result in the total ban on contractualization, we find it critical to put a stop to conditions that promote precarious work,” Matula said.

“Failure to enact a law that will end contractualization will be on the hands of the Senate. It will go down as ‘a legacy of failure’ and one of the greatest unfulfilled promises of President Rodrigo Duterte,” Labog said. The groups also said that government as an employer should walk the talk.

The nationwide unity of workers also calls for an increase in wages, especially the fulfillment of a national minimum wage, a stop to all attacks against workers and the full recognition of workers' rights, especially the right to organize.

“A significant wage hike is long overdue. The sharp increase in inflation and cost of living has already eroded the value of existing wages. We call for an immediate wage increase, and a national minimum wage for all workers in the country,” Labog said.

Labor groups Kilos na Manggagawa, Metal Workers Alliance of the Philippines (MWAP) and BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN) already filed wage hike petitions before the NCR Regional Wage Board last week. TUCP filed a wage hike petition yesterday.

A day before Labor Day, groups call for end to contractualization, wage increase

A day before the observance of Labor Day, groups Nagkaisa Labor Coalition and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) on Tuesday called for an end to contractualization among workers.

"We have long and consistently called for a just end to pervasive contractualization of labor, yet the practice of labor-only contracting, job-only contracting and other forms of flexible labor remain prevalent among the working people," KMU chairperson Elmer Labog said in a statement.

Attorney Sonny Matula, chairperson of Nagkaisa and a senatorial candidate, vowed that the labor movement would "defend workers' rights to the last."

"With enough political will, President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies in the Senate can still have a Security of Tenure Law enacted during this Congress," Matula said.

"This will definitely continue the pressure on the Senate, especially its reelectionist senators to openly declare either their support or opposition to the proposed End Endo law,” he added.

Duterte during the 2016 presidential campaign promised to abolish "endo" or the practice of contractualization.

In 2018, Duterte inked Executive Order 51 which prohibits the illegal contracting and sub-contracting of workers “by all parties including cooperatives.”

According to Labog, the said EO as well as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Order 174 in 2017 both failed to solve and instead worsened contractualization in the country.

"This is unacceptable. We cannot legitimize labor-only contractors, who do nothing but recruit and deploy workers, yet maintain supervision over contractual workers on paper," Labog said.

"They connive with principal business owners to deprive workers of security of tenure and other basic labor rights, while avoiding legal and financial obligations,” he added.

Wage increase

Meanwhile, the labor groups also called for an increase in wages, especially the fulfillment of a national minimum wage.

"A significant wage hike is long overdue. The sharp increase in inflation and cost of living has already eroded the value of existing wages. We call for an immediate wage increase and a national minimum wage for all workers in the country," Labog said.

In a separate Balitanghali report by GMA News' Mark Salazar, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is calling for an additional P710 on the minimum wage of workers in the National Capital Region.

"Tumaas 'yung labor productivity for the past 12 years ng 59 percent pero wala hong kapalit 'yun na real wage increase," Luis Manuel Corral, TUCP vice president, said.

If the Tripartite Wage Board will allow this increase, the minimum wage in Metro Manila will be P1,247, the report said.

For its part, the DOLE said the wage increase will be a long shot.

"Basically ang criteria ay 'yung needs ng workers, isang set 'yun tapos 'yung isa naman 'yung capacity of the employer to pay. Isang set 'yun and then the needs of the economy," Undersecretary Ana Dione said. — By ANNA FELICIA BAJO, RSJ, GMA News