TUCP urges Duterte to provide P500 monthly subsidy, P157 wage hike for minimum earners

The Associated Labor Unions - Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) on Tuesday said it is urging President Rodrigo Duterte to provide minimum wage earners P500 in monthly subsidies and P157 in additional wages.

In a report on GMA News' "Balitanghali," the ALU-TUCP said it has already sent a letter to the Office of the President (OP) to look into the proposed Labor Empowerment and Assistance Program (LEAP).

In its proposals, the group wants the government to provide P500 in monthly subsidies to minimum wage earners, and an additional P157 in wages for minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.

The ALU-TUCP was reported to have said that the government may source the funds from the budget of the OP, or from the national budget or the general appropriations act (GAA).

While the President has not yet received such proposals, the labor union said it has already had back-channel talks with several government officials such as the undersecretaries of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The ALU-TUCP is also scheduled to meet with officials of the DOLE on Tuesday to discuss Department Order (D.O) 174 signed by Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III last month.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/companies/603469/dole-orders-endo-stopped/story

The group earlier said the department order will only "perpetuate" contractualization in the country. The group noted that it is not satisfied with the current version of the anti-endo (contratualization) DO.

"By issuing a DO that further perpetuates the abhorred contractualization in the country, Mr. Bello has violated the direct policy pronouncement of President Duterte who expressed time and again that all forms of contractualization including 'endo' and agency hiring must stop," ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ALG, GMA News