CLARK FREEPORT -- A group of Clark Development Corporation (CDC) employees has asked President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., to help the state-run firm' worker reclaim their work benefits.
Association of Concerned CDC Employees (ACCES) legal counsel Virgie Suarez made the appeal during the workers' lunch break general assembly on Tuesday, January 17.
ACCES members gathered on the same day to discuss the suspension by CDC of their benefits and incentives.
Among the allowances, benefits, and incentives to be discontinued are health coverage, retirement plan, cost-of-living allowance (Cola), housing, utilities and transportation allowances, the Meritorious Service Pay (MSP) based on length of service, and the retirement package or separation pay that is also based on the length of service, according to the workers' groups.
The Clark employees said these benefits were granted on the basis of Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) since the inception of the union in 1997.
CDC labor union members said the suspension of their benefits will greatly affect their families, given the inflation on basic commodities and oil price hike in the country.
The benefits of CDC workers were affected following the implementation of the Compensation and Position Classification System (CPCS) that reduces the allowances, benefits, and incentives (ABI) of most workers in the special economic hub .
The CPCS was issued by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation (GCG) on June 22, 2022 in compliance with the Executive Order No. 150 (“Approving the CPCS and index of occupational services, position titles, and job grades, for GOCCs framework, repealing EO No. 203 S. 2016 and for other purposes”).
Last year, CDC officials and union say the 'standardization scheme' gives top management salary hike of between 8% to 57%.
Rank and file employees however face income slash ranging from 21% to 30%.