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EVEN if the regional tripartite wage and productivity boards could
come up with new wage orders increasing the minimum wages of the
various regions across the country, the more difficult task is
ensuring compliance.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines
recently filed a petition for a wage increase of P80 daily in the
National Capital Region. And the President just last Labor Day
ordered the wage boards to work overtime studying the appropriate
wage increases to help workers cope with the rising prices of oil
and basic commodities. But there’s a lot more work to be done once
those wage orders for increases have been handed down.
Again there is the matter of ensuring
compliance, a protracted and tedious process of labor inspections
whose effectiveness in the end might be suspect. In 2005, for
instance, the Department of Labor and Employment inspected 19,539
firms and found that only 81 percent were complying with wage laws.
In similar surveys by the TUCP, we found that
labor violations largely go unchecked and unresolved in the NCR and
Southern Tagalog where millions of workers are employed. Other
regions also registered high rates of labor standard violations, the
highest of which is in the CARAGA region.
This is nothing new of course. Open defiance by
employers of the country’s labor regulations has been a
long-standing issue, one which goes back many administrations. DOLE
has to crack the whip on its regional directors to force them to go
after violators and file the necessary charges.
The labor secretary should order an evaluation
of the performance of regional directors and labor justice officials
to check whether they are performing their duties faithfully.
Ideally, DOLE should also deputize tripartite
inspection teams composed of its own officers, employer and labor
representatives to conduct inspections. These teams could help the
labor department enforce its rules. On its own, DOLE doesn’t have
enough manpower to conduct inspections and ensure compliance. The
help of deputized tripartite teams would be of immense help.
Labor inspections are very effective. Usually,
based on DOLE’s experience, two-thirds of companies found
violating labor regulations, would, after inspection, make the
appropriate remedies. They are forced to do so on-the-spot lest they
suffer more penalties.
Also, the President should call on employer
groups like the Employers Confederation of the Philippines to police
their own ranks and take up the issue of compliance with their
individual members. Those having a hard time complying with new wage
orders could legally seek exemptions, rather than do so illegally.
For instance, the Philippine Exporters
Confederation Inc or Philexport and ECOP have already said in the
news that they will ask that indigenous exporters be exempted from
another wage hike, because these exporters have already been heavily
suffering from the global economic slowdown and the appreciating
peso. It’s up to DOLE to grant exemptions.
The cooperation of employer groups is of
paramount importance to ensure compliance. The TUCP signs social
accords and agreements every year with employer groups like ECOP,
and yet labor violations go unabated. It is apparent that employer
groups have been remiss in their duties. The leaders of these groups
should be responsible enough to do something about their erring
members because they put at a disadvantage responsible employers who
are complying with the minimum wage and other labor regulations.
Sila sila ang naglalamangan.
Workers who toil at the very bottom rung of the
wage ladder are eagerly awaiting the promised wage increases by the
President. The expected pay hike would provide an important boost in
the earnings of those who need it most. The question ahead for
GMA’s economists is whether they will allow inflation to eat away
at the expected modest gain. The TUCP, for instance, while hopeful
that the P80 petition would be granted, is realistically expecting
less than what is asked for, based on past experience.
Hopefully, the pay increase that would be
granted by the wage boards would not be trivial, that it would be an
amount that would mean a real difference in the lives of ordinary
workers.
But after these pay increases are granted, would
employers comply with them, and can the government ensure
compliance? As I said, that is the tougher task ahead.
ernestboyherrera@yahoo.com
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