17 May 2022 – EDITORIAL – Workers and micro enterprises

Published by rudy Date posted on May 17, 2022
EDITORIAL - Workers and micro enterprises

Happy employees are generally more productive. Keeping employees happy through proper compensation, however, depends on the capacity of the employer to pay and the viability of the business.

After two years of pandemic lockdowns, most businesses are still struggling to get back on their feet, and are operating on what is tantamount to a hand-to-mouth existence. Their problems have been compounded by higher input costs and surging prices of fuel and other basic commodities amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion has proposed that micro enterprises be exempted from the wage hike approved last week by the regional wage boards for Metro Manila and Western Visayas. Concepcion noted that the little that micro enterprises earn daily are immediately reinvested to keep the business going, and many are in debt amid the continuing pandemic. A similar suggestion was made by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, but
it was rejected by the wage boards.

Such exemption was approved by the wage board in the Bicol region in 2004, covering workers registered in barangay micro business enterprises. Exemptions are also allowed for retail or service establishments with no more than 10 regular workers, new or distressed enterprises, and businesses hit by calamities. The pandemic, Concepcion stressed, is akin to a calamity that has devastated businesses.

Labor groups, on the other hand, lament that the P33 daily increase approved for workers in Metro Manila is not enough to match the reduction in purchasing power in the past three years when wages remained unchanged. In Western Visayas, the increase is from P55 to 110 daily for workers in non-agriculture, industrial and commercial establishments, and P95 in the agriculture sector. Labor groups also argue that higher wages would boost purchasing power and stimulate the consumer-driven economy.

The balancing act is never easy. An estimated one million workers are expected to benefit from the wage hike. About 6,000 businesses registered as barangay micro enterprises, as certified by the Department of Trade and Industry, are automatically exempted. Distressed enterprises may be exempted, but they will have to apply for it. There are micro enterprises, however, that might find this to be too much trouble. They will have three options: defy the wage order at the risk of penalties, lay off workers, or close the business.

March 2025

It’s women’s month!

“Support women every day of the year!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.

Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors.
Time to spark a global conversation.
Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month

Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and Made-in-the-Philippines
Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
of the Girl Child Week

Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
Mar 4— Employee Appreciation Day
Mar 15 — World Consumer Rights Day
Mar 18 — Global Recycling Day
Mar 21 — International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Mar 23 — International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims
Mar 25 — International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Mar 27 — Earth Hour

Trade Union Solidarity Campaigns
Get Email from NTUC
Article Categories