Office for Transportation Security hit over lack of employee benefits

Sen. Joel Villanueva on Thursday slammed the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) for not providing benefits to its employees, causing the workers to hold a protest.

The OTS is in charge of security checks at airports.

Villanueva said the protest of the OTS workers could affect the delivery of services to the traveling public.

In a statement, Villanueva said the wearing of armbands by OTS employees was intended to show their displeasure over not receiving their annual performance-based bonus, annual collective negotiation agreement, leave credit monetization and team building allowance.

Incompetence

“It is unfortunate to know that while we are striving to pass a law that will give security of tenure to our workers, another burden has come up and that is the incompetence of some government agencies to provide [their] employees the rightful benefits due to them,” said Villanueva, chair of the Senate labor committee.

“To neglect this would definitely paralyze the efficient delivery of basic services to our people,” he added.

The protest of the OTS workers, Villanueva said, “shows that more attention should be given to ensure that regular employees receive their legally mandated benefits and emoluments.”

He noted that from January to November 2018, the Manila International Airport Authority collected P451 million in terminal fees from international passengers and P131 million from domestic passengers. The OTS budget comes from this revenue.

Too many contractuals

Villanueva also said he was concerned by the large number of job orders and contractual workers in the government.

He said 2017 data from the Civil Service Commission showed that 660,000 employees of the government work force are contractual workers.