NTUC Blog

(Reader Luis Olitoquit asked me on Twitter yesterday about a Postscript written some 10 years ago. Digging up my ManilaMail.com archive, I found the piece — “The Religion of Blame” which analyzes our penchant for blaming others for our own failures. I’m rerunning it below for its relevance to our present state. This item appeared…

THE Social Security System plans to raise membership dues in the next two years in a bid to lengthen the pension fund’s actuarial life and provide better returns to beneficiaries. Emilio de Quiros Jr., SSS president and chief executive officer, said membership dues will be increased by a percentage point in 2013 and every two…

A BOOMING stock market has expanded the Philippines’ billionaires list to a record 11, with the combined wealth of the 40 richest also hitting an all-time high, Forbes.com said on Thursday. Shopping mall king Henry Sy, 86, saw his assets surge 44 percent to $7.2 billion over the past year and remains the Philippines’ richest…

LAST May 24, the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) launched the 2nd MAP CSR Leadership Challenge. MAP began the Challenge in 2009 to encourage its members to embrace CSR and go beyond the customary corporate philanthropy that we see. MAP President Felino “Jun” Palafox has explained that the Challenge “aims to promote CSR as…

MARIVELES, Bataan: Six Chinese workers sustained head and body injuries after they allegedly figured in a brawl with other Chinese inside a power plant undergoing construction in Barangay Alas-Asin here.

Minimum wage adjustment determined by the government after public hearings is a major part of Philippine labor welfare policy. The giant leaps in raising the welfare of labor in other countries should be studied to enable us to see the role of wage policy more clearly.

YEARLY in the run-up to Labor Day, various groups representing workers clamor for higher minimum wages. As we saw, the same thing happened recently, and the calls seem to resonate more with the government given the concerns about the President’s falling survey ratings and skyrocketing fuel costs. The pressure to raise wages is a perennial…

At least P500-million in state subsidy for political parties or a total of P3 billion for the six major groups is high on the agenda of a House panel hearing on a bill that seeks to demolish political patronage, influence peddling and turncoatism.

Security guard si Manuel Abasola. Minimum wage earner siya at nagtitiyaga siyang mangupahan dito sa isang napakaliit na kuwarto. Sa P10,000 buwanang sahod, P5,000 lang ang naiuuwi niya dahil sa mga kaltas at utang.

MANILA, Philippines –  Workers in Metro Manila are unlikely to get additional pay. Ciriaco Lagunzad III, National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) executive director, yesterday said they usually dismiss a petition to reverse a wage board’s ruling.

SO many of those who write about the labor movement have such a limited understanding of what it is. Marlen Ronquillo is not one of them. His column which appeared in this section yesterday was an excellent piece on the decline of unionism in the country.

THIS question is by now ancient but it is not for one with 5th grade smarts. You need context to get this one right. Whose phone call did the late strongman Marcos always return even if this particular caller was far, far detached from the political, military and business circles of Marcos? And was neither…

For many of our countrymen, a job that will feed them and their families and provide for a decent roof above their heads is the first step to fighting poverty. And for those who already have jobs, seeking higher wages is the next step to improving their standard of living.

When workers’ income can’t make both ends meet, or when their take home pay can no longer take them home, something’s got to give. Often, the common view takeb by sectors is to increase the wages. This is often a myopic view and usually results in unintended adverse consequences to the intended beneficiaries.

THE Department of Labor and Employment really needs to reinforce the protection of workers against rampant labor-only subcontracting.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s business process outsourcing industry (BPO) generated revenues of $8.9 billion in 2010, a year-on-year growth of 26%, the industry association reported Wednesday.

‘Victory for TUCP’ MANILA, Philippines—Pension fund Government Service Insurance System is bringing back to the Philippines its entire $670-million offshore investment, taking the view that local assets could be more lucrative given the country’s favorable economic momentum.

TRADE Secretary Gregory L. Domingo was quoted as expressing a willingness to persuade employers to agree to a “reasonable” wage increase following the petition of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) for 75 pesos across-the-board wage increase with the National Wage and Productivity Commission (NWPC). Speaking for the Employers Confederation of the Philippines…

I also don’t approve of Pinoy bashing particularly when it’s done for no other reason except to make fun of ourselves and our (many) weaknesses and peculiarities.

IN WAKE OF MIDDLE EAST, JAPAN CRISES THE Philippine central bank revised downwards its economic growth forecast for the country, as the Aquino administration’s economic managers braced for a slowdown amid the political tensions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as well as the disaster in Japan.

Following is a primer on the health consequences of exposure to radiation: RADIATION RISK Three things, say experts, determine whether a blast of radiation will be harmless, debilitating or lethal: the intensity of exposure, its duration and access to treatment.

Many of us watched anxiously as Fukushima Daiichi facility’s nuclear emergency unraveled over the weekend. The situation has added to the intense stress and heartbreak Japan has been experiencing since Friday’s 8.9-magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami.

I attended the first Senate committee hearing on Charter change a couple of weeks ago. It was interesting in that each of the speakers, who were experts on the Constitution, focused on a change in the political system—with a strong bias to going parliamentary. The economic sections were dismissed out of hand; changes there are…

MANILA, Philippines –  Several lawmakers urged the government yesterday to again control increases in the prices of gasoline, diesel and other oil products.

Everybody’s talking once again about high gas prices. So far, service stations’ pump signboards have shown as much as P5 per liter increase since the start of the year, and Filipino consumers are animatedly talking about how this is hurting their spending.

NEW DELHI—India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani said Tuesday the country needed equitable growth at all levels to include millions of Indians residing in slums and villages in the mainstream of progress.

THE government should help the 3,000 workers coming home from Libya find employment and other sources of income. There are concerns that the political fallout from the Taiwanese deportation row would also result in more jobless OFW returnees as Taiwan threatened to become more stringent with their hiring policies of Filipinos. But I am less…

MANILA, Philippines – Businessmen expect a more buoyant economy this year as business optimism hit a new all-time high for the next quarter after a slight dip in the current quarter due to the usual slowdown in business activity after the Christmas and harvest seasons, results of a survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng…

Today a privileged few will be celebrating and commemorating their revolution and their recurring victory. Once again “they” are the “bidas” and heroes of a struggle that millions of Filipinos mounted, but benefitted only the rich and now the powerful.

HEALTH Secretary Enrique Ona on Monday recommended increasing the employees’ contribution to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. to 3.5 percent of their salaries from 2.5 percent now to expand the company’s insurance coverage.