Trade unions, business groups seek deferment of SSS rate hike

Trade unions and business groups have appealed to President Duterte to set aside the “untimely” scheduled increase in the contribution of private sector workers to the Social Security System (SSS) pension fund.

The appeal was made by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. on behalf of employers, and the Federation of Free Workers, Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines on behalf of employees.

The groups, however, welcomed the President’s suspension of the planned increase in members’ contributions to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) fund.

“Workers and employers, both contributors to the funds, are still suffering from the debilitating effects and threats of the COVID-19 pandemic. A suspension of the increase is one of the immediate interventions that [the] government can provide to the economy and its stakeholders as we all try to recover from this crisis,” they said in a joint statement on Sunday.

The six groups called the increase in contributions to PhilHealth and SSS “untimely since millions of workers have lost their jobs or have been asked to report for work sparingly with many companies either on skeleton working arrangements or have temporarily or permanently shut down.”

They added that the PhilHealth management has “no moral ground” to increase contributions when it has yet to account for the multimillion-peso funds allegedly lost through corruption.

The employers and workers’ groups, meanwhile, thanked Pag-Ibig Fund for postponing the scheduled increase in contributions to the housing fund, which would have been effective on Jan. 1. INQ