MANILA -- The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) expressed optimism that with the inevitable ascension to the Senate presidency of Sen. Vicente "Tito" Sotto, III, his "pet bill" seeking to make mandatory the 14th month pay bonus for rank-and-file workers in the private sector, will be passed into law.
ALU-TUCP, touted as the country's largest labor organization, was referring to Senate Bill No. 2, otherwise known as "An Act Requiring Employers in the Private Sector to Pay 14th Month Pay", which was filed July 2016 with Sotto as its principal author.
"Now that he is Senate president, we hope that his pet bill, the 14th month pay bill, will be approved without delay. Rank-and-file employees nowadays are in desperate need of additional money at their disposal to survive the inflation caused by the enforcement of the TRAIN law," ALU-TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said in a statement Monday.
Tanjusay said Sotto has "a heart for Filipino rank-and-file workers" because aside from his bill seeking to make the 14th month pay compulsory, he also authored the Senate bill seeking to put a stop to the ENDO (end of contract) short-term employment system, which has been widely condemned by the labor sector. (PR)
