Unions alarmed over Concepcion’s remark on 13th month pay of workers

FILE PHOTO: Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion. Image grabbed from PCOO video

BACOLOD CITY — The National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NASCUSIP) expressed alarm over the statement of Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion that employees may not get their 13th-month pay and may end up empty-handed if the government doesn’t ease restrictions on businesses.

“We, in the trade union movement are one with the business sector in calling for the government to ease health and safety restrictions provided that there are enough vaccines for the workers to avail in order to have a more secure working environment to protect not only the customers but the workers as well,” said NASCUSIP national president Roland de la Cruz on Wednesday.

“However, floating the idea of employers to deprive workers of their much-awaited 13th-month pay leaves a sour taste in our mouth,” De la Cruz added.

Last year, the same call was also floated, prompting Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to issue a statement that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) would study granting exemptions to distressed companies from paying 13th-month pay to their employees.

However, his statement was met with overwhelming objections from the trade union movement and the labor sector that prompted the DOLE to convene the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council to discuss the issue.

“As a labor representative to the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council, there was a unanimous objection to the proposal of deferring the payment of the 13th-month pay to the workers… The 13th-month pay is a statutory benefit that only Congress can provide exemptions or deferment through amending the law, we warn them, don’t you dare,” De la Cruz added.