TUCP to Noy: Raise minimium salary of workers

A labor group once again calls on the Aquino administration to raise the minimum wage of workers in the country.

MANILA, Philippines - Labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) said President Benigno Aquino III has a little to help an estimated P24.4 million poor workers whose income still cannot cope with the cost of basic goods and services.

TUCP Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said he is baffled why the government remains reluctant to raise the wages of poor working people amid results of government’s Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) survey, showing big disparity between family income and barest expenditures.

The poverty threshold set by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for 2014 was at P8,778 a month for a family of five to survive. However, in the first semester of 2014, average incomes of poor families were short by 27 percent of the poverty threshold.

NEDA said that poverty threshold is the minimum income set by government as required to meet basic food and non-food needs for a family of five to ensure that one remains economically and socially productive.

It showed poor workers in the informal economy, estimated to be at P21 million, who received less than the mandated minimum wage, were found to earn average monthly income of measly P6,408. This means they needed P2,370 more per month to move out of poverty in that year.

"It's very alarming that a huge problem confronting workers who fell through the cracks has not been acted upon ever since. Right now, they are coping on their own, coping by the means available to them and we feel they are totally excluded from the agenda sharing the profits," TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

Workers in the informal economy include construction workers, farmers, vendors, jeepney, bus, tricycle, pedicab drivers, conductors, salesladies, barbers, street-sweepers and garbage collectors.

For minimum wage earners in Metro Manila, a disparity of P1,082.31 a month from the prescribed P8,778 poverty threshold amount last year.

PSA figures show the real value of P466 minimum wage for the National Capital Region (NCR) last year was P356.64 a day or P7,695.69 a month.

This year, the current value of the current highest minimum wage of P481 is only P371.64 a day or P8,176.08 a month— still a P601.92 short compared with the 2014 P8,778 threshold.

Today, TUCP-Nagkaisa estimated the mid-year poverty threshold at P9,177 a month.

Meanwhile, Gerard Seno, executive vice president of the Associated Labor Unions, said the latest ideal minimum wage should be at P1,068 a day to cover the rising costs of prices of basic food and non-food needs.

Seno said that this can be achieved through a priority legislated wage hike measure or through a uniform decision of regional wage boards.

"That is why with less than a year in office, we are still hoping President Aquino to make tough policy decisions in raising Filipino family income both at the formal and informal sector workers," Seno said. - By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)

Sona not a venue for fashion show — TUCP

A labor group has urged senators and congressmen, including guests not to make the State of the Nation Address (SONA) occasion a fashion show venue; it suggested a simple, formal and acceptable wear.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) observed that SONA for many years, has become a fashion event for legislators, their spouses and families.

President Benigno Aquino III will deliver his last SONA on Monday, July 27, at the Batasan complex in Quezon city.

“First of all, the SONA is not a fashion show. Second, working people feel it is illogical and unethical for our lawmakers to parade in the halls of congress wearing costly, extravagant clothes during the SONA when millions of their constituent Filipinos are languishing in hunger and poverty,” Gerard Seno, executive vice president of the Associated Labor Unions said.

He said senators and members of the House of the Representatives should lead lives of simplicity and modesty as representatives of the people’s plight and aspiration.

For his part, TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said there should be a committee at both Houses that sets an internal rules teaching our lawmakers the simple way to dress and putting a cap on the cost of clothes they wear during SONA and during sessions.

“The focus of the SONA is the state of well-being of tax-paying Filipino people not the expensive clothes our solons are wearing. The essence of the gathering is not to showcase their brand new and top of the line SUVs. The center of the SONA is the people, the ordinary working people who will listen to the report of the president and validate his direction for the incoming year,” Tanjusay said.

He said the budget of P700 per head for snacks and dinner for the day is too expensive. Rather, the budget should not exceed P481 pesos the highest current amount of daily minimum wage in Metro Manila. - By Vito Barcelo / Manila Standard Today

Labor group pushes for P92 wage increase in Central Visayas

The proposed wage hike is 'too high,' says the head of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 'Let us not kill each other. Let us survive together.'

Rappler file photo by Roy Lagarde

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Associated Labor Union (ALU) is pushing for a P92 across-the-board wage increase for workers in Central Visayas, but the business sector thinks the amount is too much.

In its proposal submitted to the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board in Central Visayas (RTWPB-VII) onTuesday, July 21, the labor group said the increase is needed even though the prices of petroleum has significantly dropped.

The commodities and the cost of living, however, did not drop like the petroleum prices, according to Art Barrit of the ALU.

Other labor groups have asked for a higher across-the-board wage increase. On July 13, the Cebu Labor Coalition and the Alliance of Progressive Labor sought a P140 across-the-board wage increase for the region.

All labor groups agree that the Central Visayas' minimum wage – P340 – is lower compared to that of the National Capital Region.

The regional wage board will hold a meeting on July 31 to discuss the proposals.

In an interview with dyLA-AM, a radio station operated by the ALU-TUCP, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Maria Teresa Chan said both proposals are too high.

Based on an inflation rate of 3-4%, the increase should only be between P13.6 and P15, she said.

An amount higher than that would hurt the industry, she added. “Let us not kill each other. Let us survive together.”

She explained that 60% of Cebu businesses are anchored on the services sector, and will be significantly affected if wages are increased.

In a services business, majority of the cost is manpower, Chan said.

Chan also said that the BPO companies, which are multinational, may be able to afford the P15 increase, but other “indpenedent BPOs” will have a difficult time coping with such cost, much more with the proposed P92 and P140 across-the-board wage increase. – Rappler.com / Dale G. Israel

DOLE warns against hiring foreign workers

MANILA - Amid reports of rising number of illegal foreign workers in the country, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday warned local commercial establishments against hiring of foreign nationals without securing necessary employment permits.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said local employers hiring foreign workers without the necessary permit from DOLE face imprisonment and other penalties.

“DOLE is strictly enforcing the revised rules for the issuance of alien employment permits (AEPs), for which our regional offices have direct responsibility,” Baldoz noted.

Baldoz has already directed all DOLE regional offices to strictly enforce the rules on the issuance of alien employment permit.

Under the Labor Code, Baldoz said, any foreign national seeking admission to the Philippines for employment purposes, and any domestic or foreign employer who desires to engage a foreign national for employment in the Philippines, are requested to obtain an Alien Employment Permit from DOLE.

“The AEP is a permit issued to a non-resident alien or foreign national seeking admission to the Philippines for work after it has been determined a competent and able Filipino citizen is unavailable or unwilling at the time of application to perform the services for which the alien is desired,” Baldoz explained.

She said an AEP is also required for foreign nationals who assume a new job position within their current organizations or those who transferred to a new position within related companies.

Based on DOLE guidelines, DOLE regional directors are authorized to conduct ocular inspection to verify legitimacy of employment of foreign national and a verification inspection of the establishment employing foreign nationals within 30 days after issuance of the AEP.

Baldoz said foreign nationals found to be working in the Philippines without a valid AEP would be fined P10,000 for every year of illegal work or fraction, while companies that illegally employed them would also be subject to a fine of P10,000 for every year of illegal employment or a fraction thereof.

DOLE will publish an AEP application to allow the general public to object to the new employment or job change of the foreign national within 30 days from the time of publication.

Baldoz said DOLE regional directors could deny an application for an AEP if the applicant has been convicted of a criminal offense or is a fugitive from justice. DOLE may also may also motu proprio, or upon petition, cancel or revoke an AEP after due process based on meritorious objection or information against the employment of the foreign nationals.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) earlier reported a continuing growth in the number of illegal foreign workers in the country for the past years.

The greater bulk of the undocumented foreign workers here, TUCP claimed are Chinese nationals while others are Koreans, Japanese, Indonesians, Malaysians and Vietnamese.

Undocumented foreign workers are employed commonly in the construction, manufacturing, electronics, and services industries located in Metro Manila, Central Visayas, Davao Region, Zamboanga Peninsula, Bataan and Batangas. -By Mayen Jaymalin, The Philippine Star