Wednesday, April 23, 2008 W. Visayas 'lying' on wage compliance: exec By Karl G. Ombion
NATIONAL Federation of Sugar Workers-Food and General Trades (NFSW-FGT) slammed Tuesday Western Visayas Labor Regional Director Aida Estabello for allegedly lying on the rate of wage compliance in the region.
Sid Castillo, the group's spokesperson, told Sun.Star Bacolod that they're doubtful of Estabillo's claim that 72 percent of business firms in the region the department has visited are complying with the wage order.
"We are convinced that the bloated data presented by Estabello was meant to hide the actual situation of the workers in order for the Dole (Department of Labor and Employment) to provide justification to support the stand of the business sector in not giving wage increase to the workers," Castillo said.
"She did not give details on her claims and did not even bother to explain whether she was presenting a regional or provincial data."
He stressed that as per his own study, it showed the sad condition of agricultural and commercial workers in the province.
He said for years, seven out of 10 sugar and agricultural farms in Negros alone only paid their workers P60 to P120 per day, adding that "in most sugar farms, the contractual and pakyao work system is quite rampant, rendering the workers at the mercy of the sugarlords."
In Bacolod City and other urban centers, Castillo stressed that owners of commercial establishments, mostly retailers, usually pay their workers P110 to P120 per day without benefits.
Earlier, labor representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) Winnie Sancho said most workers in commercial stores and big malls in the city have been complaining of below minimum wage without benefits, as well as the rampant practice of employment through private agencies.
He lamented, however, "that most workers under these miserable conditions do not complain because jobs are scarce. Most often, they bear it out just to make a living for them to survive."
He added that in as far as independent studies on wage compliance are concerned, Western Visayas, particularly Negros Occidental, has a very low rate of compliance.
"This can be explained by the absence of a Dole monitoring body which should track down employers and establishments who do not comply with wage orders and other labor standards. This alone is enough to say that Dole does not know the real conditions of the workers," Sancho said.
Wage Order 15 dated October 5, 2007 set the salary rate for non-plantation agriculture workers at P193 per day and P195 for plantation agriculture employees.
Castillo also said that no businessman in the region was ever imprisoned for his/her violation of the minimum wage law.
