Labor group hits quitclaims for 13th-month pay
MANILA, Philippines — The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition denounced employers who reportedly required contractual workers to submit documents such as NBI clearance or even quitclaims just to get their mandated 13th-month pay for this year.
In a statement on Thursday, Nagkaisa said that the legal center of Federation of Free Workers received complaints from agency workers in Laguna who were asked by employers to hand over their quitclaim, NBI clearance, or commissions from work in order to get their 13th month pay.
“This is unjust and is in violation of the workers’ rights and dignity,” the group said.
Meanwhile, the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) reiterated its demand for a living wage in celebration of Human Rights Day on Saturday.
The living wage, according to PM secretary general Judy Miranda, “is the only way to achieve a golden age as the current poverty wages consigned workers to poverty even if their productivity has increased many folds during the last three decades.”
