MANILA, Philippines—The government will begin implementing on Sunday a “two-tiered” wage system for bus drivers and conductors in Metro Manila while it also tries to improve their working conditions, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Saturday.
Baldoz said she had no intention of deferring the implementation of Department Order 118-12, or the “Rules and Regulations Governing the Employment and Working Conditions of Drivers and Conductors in the Public Utility Bus Transport Industry,” which is expected to benefit more than 20,000 bus drivers and conductors.
“We have the political will and the support of our tripartite partners, as well as of the bus transport sector, to fully and effectively implement D.O.118-12 starting 1 July because this is for the health and welfare of bus drivers and conductors and for the comfort and safety of bus passengers,” Baldoz said in a statement.
“This is for the public good and interest. We have already moved past the discussion stage about this new system for the last six months. We are now in the implementation mode,” she added.
D.O. 118-12 ensures the development and adoption of a “ part-fixed, part-performance based compensation scheme” for bus drivers and conductors, where the fixed part is the minimum wage and the performance-based part is to be mutually agreed upon by bus owners and operators and their drivers and conductors.
The order contains provisions requiring bus companies to have safety and health policies and programs, as well as anti-smoking, anti-sexual harassment, and disaster and climate risk-reduction programs.
The order also reiterates compliance with labor rules on the prevention and control of drugs, Hepatitis-B, and HIV and AIDS in the workplace.
It covers all public utility bus owners and operators employing drivers and conductors and was formulated through meticulous research and extensive consultations with bus drivers and operators, the statement said.
“We firmly agreed that the Metro Manila implementation of the order shall be what D.O. 118-12 prescribes,” Baldoz said.
“In fact, on the first week of July, the composite team headed by the DOLE-National Capital Region… will already begin the inspection of the workplaces of the 158 bus companies to determine their level of compliance with the order,” said Baldoz.
She said the 158 bus companies have a combined total of 5,238 buses and 10,476 drivers and a similar number of conductors.
She added that these bus companies were earlier assessed and audited and offered technical assistance to enable them to comply with the provisions of the order.
“We have even provided them templates of employment agreements and taught them the modes and methods of computing the fixed-part and the performance-based part compensation of their drivers and conductors who, under the new wage system, should not earn lower than what they presently receive under the straight commission-basis. This is following the non-diminution principle,” Baldoz explained.
Baldoz said that this coming week, the labor department’s Occupational Safety and Health Center will conduct a five-day Basic Occupational Safety and Health (BOSH) seminar for the designated safety officers of 87 bus companies plying the Metro Manila routes with principal offices or terminals located in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, or Calabarzon.
“The BOSH, which is a mandatory safety and health standard, should have been conducted for the bus firms earlier, but we had to iron out some kinks and overcome the resistance of some bus operators,” Baldoz said.
“I have instructed Director Teresita Cocueco of the OSHC to give the training free of charge to the bus companies and their safety officers and therefore, I see no reason for their non-compliance. Now, they know this training is for their own good,” she added.
Baldoz commended eight bus operators—Shem Transport; Original Transport Service and Multi-Purpose Cooperative; Safeway Bus Lines, Inc.; Franvill Transit, Inc.; Nicholas Albert Transport Inc.; Nafti Multi-Purpose Cooperative; Alro Transport Cooperative; and PBT Pitbull Bus Transport Corporation—for complying early with the order.
Baldoz said that bus companies found to be not compliant when the DOLE inspects them will be given five days to voluntarily comply, otherwise, a compliance order will issued against them.
“That is why we have been urging those firms who find it difficult to comply to request and avail of our technical assistance which we provide for free,” she said.
If, after five days, they still don’t comply, the labor department will prepare a report of its findings and issue an order of compliance to the bus companies and provide the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board with copies of these orders which will form as basis “for the non-renewal or cancellation of the bus franchise following due process.”