Trillanes wants night shift differential pay for all gov't employees

Senator Antonio "Sonny" Trillanes IV on Sunday said he is pushing for the granting of night shift differential pay to all government employees, including those of government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCS).

"This bill seeks to recognize the sacrifices of government employees who work late at night until the wee hours of the morning, when they are supposed to be asleep, by providing them premium pay for hours work during the night," Trillanes said in an emailed statement.

According to Trillanes, the bill will benefit government employees under the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and uniformed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

"The case of our BI employees is more lamentable because of their lack of compensation or monetary allowances considering the nature of their work,” Trillanes said.

This comes after several BI officers have left their jobs, following the issue of unpaid overtime pay since January, when President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the halt of the BI decades-old practice of directly spending its income on overtime pay and allowances of personnel.

Under Senate Bill 642, Trillanes proposes that government workers who render work between 10:00 p.m and 6:00 a.m. be given a night shift differential pay not exceeding 10 percent of the hourly rate of the employee.

"This Labor day, it must be highlighted that government employees should be given the same benefits as those given to employees of the private sector. Our government workers have long suffered neglect and poor working conditions. This is just a simple effort to repay them of their service and to recognize their role as the backbone of our government," he said. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ALG, GMA News