High court stops implementation of DoLE order fixing wages of bus drivers, conductors

The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday stopped the implementation of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE)order fixing wages of bus drivers and conductors.

At a press conference, acting SC Public Information Office chief and spokesman lawyer Maria Victoria Gleoresty Guerra said the high court has decided to issue a “status quo ante order” (SQA), meaning preserving the current situation where the bus drivers and conductors are receiving commissions.

“The SQA is issued to preserve the current situation. The status quo ante order functions like a TRO (temporary restraining order),” Guerra said.

She added that bus drivers and conductors who no longer receive their commissions beginning July 1, when the DoLE order took effect will be paid their commissions.

Guerra said the DoLE and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board are required to file their comments on the petition filed by bus operators within 10 days from notice.

In their petition, the bus operators asked the SC to declare as “unconstitutional” the DoLE order setting up of fixed wages for bus drivers and conductors, saying the order could lead to their “bankruptcy.”

The petitioners were the Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines, Southern Luzon Bus Operators Association Inc., Inter-City Bus Operators Association and the City of San Jose del Monte Bus Operators Association.

They said the implementation of Department Order 118-12 fixing of wages for bus drivers and conductors “could lead to their ultimate corporate demise.”

“The bus operators depend on their incomes solely on passenger fares that are not flexible enough to cope with changes in compensation schemes already in place,” the petition said.

The fixed payment scheme sets a minimum wage, while the performance-based payment will be on a rate mutually agreed upon by the operators and the workers.

Under the new wage system, the drivers and conductors “should not earn lower than what they presently receive under the straight commission-basis. This is following the non-diminution principle.”

The DoLE order also calls for company safety and health programs, including measures against smoking, drugs, and the spread of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), as well as anti-sexual harassment and disaster risk-reduction programs.

The DoLE came up with the scheme due to the prevalence of road accidents involving buses which resorted to several schemes to gather passengers because drivers and conductors are being paid on pure “commission basis.” PNA