Shorter working hours seen to boost Pinoys’ productivity

CNN Phil Photo

IN August the House of Representatives unanimously passed House Bill (HB) 6152. The measure intends to compress the workweek by allowing Filipino employees to work beyond eight hours a day to complete the required 48 working hours in just four to five days.

HB 6152 aims to give workers and employers the option to refer to an alternative arrangement of working hours other than the standard eight working hours a day schedule. Under the bill, the normal workweek is reduced to less than six days, but the total number of working hours will remain at 48 hours.

The arrangement is not mandatory, though it recommends employers to discuss with their workers the alternative schedule. The compressed workweek is currently being allowed by the Department of Labor and Employment in some companies, as the scheme apparently gives workers and employers greater freedom in fixing hours of work that are compatible with the needs of the business and the employees’ desire for a balanced work-life.

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) backed the measure. Militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) opposed it. On the other hand, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights branded HB 6152 as “retrogressive, pro-business and pro-capitalist, while silent about the detrimental effects that extended hours have on workers’ health and well-being.”

Normal

ACCORDING to Rene E. Ofreneo, labor and industrial relations professor at the University of
the Philippines, reducing working hours and compressing the workweek are not new policy reforms sought for by workers and employers. “Shortening the work hours or workweek is a proposal articulated by trade unions in a number of countries as a way of creating more jobs and easing workload,” Ofreneo told the BusinessMirror.

“Compressing the workweek from five to six days to four to five days by lengthening working hours per day is one solution for the horrendous traffic, and so is the old flexible work scheduling,” added Ofreneo, who also writes a column for the BusinessMirror. “Personally, I am not against both, so long as there is serious consultation with the workers and there is unanimous agreement among the parties.”

Ordeal

ON the other hand, ALU-TUCP Spokesman Alan A. Tanjusay said, although their group supports the passage of HB 6152, they are still open to discussing other options as to fixing the working hours, including reducing it.

“I am looking at the [proposal] as another option for workers to cope and become productive for themselves and for the company in a changing work environment and evolving business landscape imposed by the Internet age and climate-change phenomena,” Tanjusay told the BusinessMirror.

He said it is also good to look into trimming the total number of working hours, though he admitted it will not be easy to push for such a radical labor reform.

“Working eight hours in Philippines is entrenched in the psyche of Filipinos,” he said. “Eight hours [of] work in previous decades seemed a normal way of life for Filipinos.”

However, Tanjusay explained, with the rising cost of living, lowering value of wages and worsening traffic congestion into the equation and other factors, “eight hours work become too long of an ordeal.”

Study

IN spite of all these, Tanjusay said Filipino workers continue to strive good for the economy, and this should be rewarded by giving to them what is due to them—a balanced work-life schedule.

“It’s a wonder to think though, that despite these burdens of the Filipino workforce, we were able to produce a very productive and very regionally competitive 6.9-percent average GDP in previous years, and we seem to be capable to do and produce more,” the labor leader said.

He added that, as much as the ALU-TUCP wants to push for reducing working hours, not much study has been produced about the policy reform. Tanjusay said it is important to conduct further assessment on the benefits and disadvantages of shortened working hours for it to gain ground and support in the circles of trade unions.

“This is where lies the main challenge [that] the proposed lesser working time poses,” Tanjusay said. “There has to be a thorough time and motion study to convince [the] government and employers to embrace lesser working hours.”

So far, the ALU-TUCP has not received any complaints on working hours, according to Tanjusay. But the group vowed it will look into such cases should a member-trade union raise the issue.

“It is high time to do a time-and-motion study on the current eight-hour work period given the new conditions not present when the [International Labor Organization] stipulated it to be decades ago,” Tanjusay said. “By then, we can make a convincing assumption that would pave the way to maintaining or changing the current eight working hours [a day requirement].” - By Elijah Felice Rosales

Metro Manila housemaids to get P1,000 wage hike this December

Domestic workers in Metro Manila would receive an additional P1,000 in their salary this December as the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) approved wage increase last November 30.

GMA 7 news program "24 Oras Weekend" reported on Saturday that the order was confirmed by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

With the increase, employers will be required to pay domestic workers a wage of P3,500, instead of P2,500.

The adjustment covers "general househelp; yaya; cook; gardener; laundry person or any person who regularly perform domestic work in one household on an occupational basis."

The wage board clarified that "service providers; family drivers; children under foster family arrangement and any other person who performs work occasionally or sporadically and not on occupational basis," are not covered by the order.

The board added that any violation of the order shall be punishable with a fine of not less than P10,000 but not more than P40,000 "without prejudice to the filing of the appropriate civil and/or criminal action by the aggrieved party."

The increase will take effect 15 days after the order is published in a newspaper of general circulation.

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) called the increase an "early Christmas gift for our kasambahays."

"We are happy that the wage board has granted the increase. With the falling value of wages , household helpers also needed the raise to cope with rising cost of living," ALU-TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said.

A domestic helper, a mother who also wanted to finish her own schooling, was brought to tears when she learned of the wage increase.

"Parang naiiyak ako. Hindi, natutuwa lang po kung sakaling matuloy po 'yan," said Marissa Merino.

"So siyempre, sila, yung sacrifice na mag-travel ka pa to manila just to earn a living for your family, they deserve talaga an increase." Marissa's employer chimed. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News

Land review alarms 5M workers

BWorldOnline.com file photo

ORGANIZED labor has urged Congress to be judicious in its investigation and review of Agribusiness Venture Arrangements (AVAs), including Joint Venture Agreements (JVAs), to protect the livelihood of almost 5 million plantation workers.

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) made the appeal over the filing of House Bill (HB) 5085 and House Resolution (HR) 919, which both intend to investigate AVAs and JVAs in response to concerns of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

According to the group, the entire 4.8 million workers in banana, pineapple, cacao and palm oil, including those jobs in the agribusiness value chain in Mindanao, are jittery over their fate in the light of ongoing congressional investigation of the AVAs and JVAs.

“We respect the congressional inquiry into the AVAs but we cannot prevent Mindanaoan [the people of Mindanao in southern Philippines]workers and their families whose lives have been anchored on and around the agribusiness in Mindanao for decades to feel anxious and uncertain over the fate of their livelihood in view of the investigation,” ALU-TUCP president Michael Mendoza said.

“We urge our lawmakers to assure Mindanaoans and guarantee that the outcome of the query into the arrangements shall not alter the existing playing field. It should not result in job losses and displacements. The investigation should not result in uncertainty among stakeholders. It should rather send a message that the government is a reliable social and economic partner,” he added.

Mendoza said the ALU-TUCP supports measures that will strengthen generation of quality jobs for all workers in the agri-food value chain and enhance agri-entrepreneurship development and support mechanism for ARBs.

“It is our view that any proposed laws on the matter should focus on developing a genuine partnership between farmer beneficiaries and the agribusiness so as to enhance the dignity of the farmers and farm workers, and promote their agricultural security of tenure. It must retain existing investors and attract new investors as well to broaden the development in Mindanao,” he added.

The banana industry, the ALU-TUCP pointed out, is a good example in looking at the issue of the AVAs, saying the industry–with little or no government assistance–has created 503,000 direct and indirect jobs.

In 2014, according to the group, the industry contributed P6.5 billion to the national, municipal, city and barangay (village) coffers in the form of business, real property, income, withholding and miscellaneous taxes and many other fees collected for the operation of the business.

It urged Congress to be cautious in addressing the current issue and perform its role as a regulator to protect the most vulnerable sectors of society.

The government, the ALU-TUCP said, must also be equally effective in performing its function as provider of stable business and investment environment and as enabler for social and economic development that will benefit Filipinos, most especially those in rural areas.

The AVAs, based on Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) data as of March 2014, reached a total of 161 nationwide.

The DAR said the most common AVA was contract growing/growership, which accounted for 72 or 45 percent of the total AVAs. - BY WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT

Return workers’ P5-B tax refund, BIR urged

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is yet to refund an estimated P5 billion that it unlawfully deducted from minimum-wage earners despite a ruling issued by the Supreme Court (SC) almost a year ago.

Organized labor on Friday took the cudgels for the more than 30 million ordinary workers nationwide, insisting that a cash refund is long overdue, including the legal interest the collected money earned from 2008 to the present.

“We cannot understand why the BIR and the DoF [Department of Finance] are quick to squeeze money from the workers but it takes forever for them to return those. Mahiya naman kayo [Have shame]! Those are workers’ blood money. Pinaghirapan yan ng mga manggagawa, ibalik na ninyo [They worked hard for it, give it back to them]!” Alan Tanjusay, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) spokesman, said.

In its 56-page decision issued on January 24, 2017, the High Court nullified several provisions of BIR Internal Revenue Regulation 10-2008 that disqualify minimum-wage earners (MWEs) from tax exemptions on their wage, bonus and other compensation benefits such as overtime pay, hazard pay, holiday pay and night-shift differential pay, including fringe benefits in excess of P30,000, including those who received their 13th month pay bonus.

But despite the ruling, the BIR continued to collect taxes on the basic wage, bonuses and other benefits from millions of minimum-wage workers nationwide from June to December 2008 even as the law exempted them from such taxes starting July 6, 2008.

The SC also directed the BIR to grant a refund or allow a refund through withheld tax adjustments or a claim for tax credits by those subjected by IRR 10-2008.

“Some minimum-wage workers who were subjected to tax may have remained a minimum-wage earner up to this day but they cannot claim tax credit because they are exempted from income tax. Some may have been promoted and some may have been unemployed. Some have become OFWs [overseas Filipino workers]. Some are already deceased,” Tanjusay said, adding, “In fairness to the workers subjected by the regulation, the best option here is a cash refund.”

The Supreme Court ruling stemmed from petitions filed by lawmakers, individuals and labor groups. - BY WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT