THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has underscored the need for a “balanced solution” on the proposed P150-across-the-board minimum wage hike for private sector workers.
Meanwhile, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte appealed to the Senate to prioritize the passage of a measure that provides protection and relief to over 1.5 million Filipino freelance workers.
In an interview with ANC Friday, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma gave assurance that the DOLE was not sitting on the wage hike petitions which were being reviewed by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards.
“I would not want to preempt also what the Senate committee would be coming up… The important thing is that they recognized the need for a serious consideration. The fact that they created [and] approved a technical working group is an indication that they also recognized that there is a need for them to look at a balanced solution,” Laguesma said.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has filed a bill seeking to increase the daily wage rate of private employees by P150, or an adjustment of about P3,000 a month.
Micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs account for 99 percent of Philippine businesses, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines maintained that industries could not afford the proposed wage hike.
ECOP president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said many businesses have yet to recover from losses inflicted by the pandemic.
“I don’t think they can. Even their weekly or monthly salary, they have a problem meeting it,” Luis said.
Metro Manila has the highest daily nominal wage rate at P570 for the non-agriculture sector, while the lowest is at P316 also non-agriculture in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Villafuerte made the appeal in light of the rapid growth of the global freelance economy, and consequent bigger demand for freelancers
in the country Philippines and the rest of the world.
“With the rapid growth of the global freelance economy and the resultant surge in demand for so-called gig workers not only in the
Philippines but elsewhere in the world as well, it behooves (upon) our Congress to accord full job protection to our Filipino freelancers who
are actually at risk of unfair labor practices in the absence of work contracts with their employers,” Villafuerte said.
He hoped that senators could tackle this measure for the benefit of Filipino freelancers during the remaining four session weeks of the
First Regular Session of the 19th Congress, which will adjourn sine die on June 2.
Villafuerte was one of the authors of House Bill (HB) 6718 or “The Freelance Workers’ Protection Act,” which requires hiring parties or
employers to first enter into written contracts with their freelance employees before the latter can start working for them.
Villafuerte said these contracts shall itemize the following: the scope of work to be provided by the freelance employees, actual
compensation and other financial benefits plus method and schedules of payment for such services delivered, grounds for breach of contract by
other the employees or their workers, and other labor-related conditions set by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
He said the House-passed HB 6718 further entitles hired freelancers to extra work benefits such as night shift differential pay and hazard
pay, whenever applicable, and a down payment, upon contract signing, equivalent to at least 30 percent of the contract amount.
“Given the increasing demand for Filipino workers in the global gig economy, it is our job as lawmakers to pass legislation that would
help the Marcos administration better protect our freelancers against unfair labor practices in this new business where job contracts are
not the norm,” Villafuerte said.
“This proposed law is meant to better protect our gig workers who number about 1.5 million at this point,” he said. “This number is
certainly growing bigger by the day amid the fast growth of the freelance economy and the ensuing bigger demand for Filipino
freelancers.”
These 1.5 million freelancers are engaged mainly in online-based jobs that are actually wide-ranging from content generation for various
corporations and medical transcription to financial analysis and virtual assistance in highly competitive fields, Villafuerte said.