Labor group looks forward to passage of Sotto’s 14th month pay bill

A labor group on Monday said it was looking forward to the immediate passage of Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III’s bill seeking a 14th month pay for private sector workers now that he is Senate President.

Alan Tanjusay, spokesperson of the Associated Labor Unions – Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), said they were now hoping for the immediate passage of the bill.

Senate Bill No. 2, authored by Sotto, states that non-government rank and file employees should be entitled to a 14th month pay aside from the regular 13th month pay they receive every year.

The legislation was filed by Sotto in July 2016 when he was Senate Majority Leader.

READ: Sotto bill seeks 14th month pay for private sector workers

“Senator Sotto has a heart for Filipino rank and file workers and their families. He is concerned at inability of workers to cope with rising prices of basic commodities and soaring costs of services by advocating for this bill in several congresses,” Tanjusay said in a statement.

“Now that he is Senate President, we hope that his pet bill the 14th month pay bonus 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 TRAIN law,” he said.

Likewise, Tanjusay said they were also “optimistic” that Sotto would urge his colleagues to prioritize the passage of the Security of Tenure Bill which would end the “precarious short-term and abusive work arrangement contractualization and Endo (end of contractualization).”

READ: Hontiveros calls for immediate passage of security of tenure bill

“We are looking at Senator Tito to be one of the labor sector’s champions of anti-Endo bill that needed to be passed by the Senate,” Tanjusay said.

Meanwhile, the labor group also took the occasion to recognize the effort of outgoing Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel in supporting the pending Security of Tenure bill.

“We express our heartfelt thanks to Sen. Koko for enabling the Senate to deliberate and pass measures necessary for the welfare of the people,” Tanjusay said.

“The labor sector values his position for an immediate and priority passage of anti-contractualization bill and thanked him for taking the right position in favor of the abused workers,” he also said. /vvp