NTUC Blog

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.

A friend was visiting from Washington. He’d first been here in 2001 scouting around for where to put a call center. It was to be India or the Philippines. “Americans just wouldn’t fit in in India; here they’d be right at home”. So the Philippines was it. He established a call center here with 150…

MANILA, Philippines—The widening gap between the rich and poor calls for an equal, if not greater, response from local businesses to help raise the living standards of families at the “bottom of the pyramid.”

The Unbound Economy DAVOS – As the dramatic events in North Africa continue to unfold,many observers outside the Arab world smugly tell themselves that it is all about corruption and political repression. But high unemployment, glaring inequality, and soaring prices for basic commodities are also a huge factor. So observers should not just be asking…

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) sees average inflation rising to as high as 4.2 percent this year if the upside risks to consumer prices materialize.

MANILA, Philippines – The year of the Metal Rabbit, which begins on February 3, will be a better year for Philippine business and the economy in general.

Here we go again. Some people want to dance the Cha cha again. Cha cha is of course the adopted moniker for Charter change, a revision of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

Many worry that should wage be deregulated, the income of our workers will drastically dip. That is half the truth because the other half and the real truth is it will create more employment. Our failure to realize this can be traced to the fact that we do not know that economics is all about…

A major labor confederation said Thursday it will file a petition next week calling for an increase in Metro Manila workers’ wages, amid recent and impending hikes in prices of basic goods and services.

MANILA, Philippines–Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz has rejected proposals that would exempt large-scale investors from complying with labor laws and standards, including minimum wages for workers.

Uncertainty of economic survival after losing one’s job is the underlying reason why the government opted to adopt stringent laws on job security, or “security of tenure” as we know it here. The Constitution clearly guarantees that, and so does the Labor Code.

THE electronics industry performed better than expected in 2010, with the full-year exports believed to have exceeded $30 billion from only $22.2 billion in 2009, or a 35.1-percent growth that exceeded forecasts.

Nearly one-fourth of the nation’s labor force of 58.8 million workers (the estimate of the National Statistics Office, 2008) suffers the fate of the unemployed and underemployed. Those who are caught in this condition are found in the urban slums and in the poor provinces. These people live in uncertainty about what to feed the…

MANILA, Philippines – The Christmas holiday is almost over, but a lot of workers nationwide have yet to receive their mandated 13th month pay and Christmas bonuses, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

More on raising the employment of the poor in industrial zones The quickest way to get the poor out of their condition is to give them more sustained employment. The special employment zones as discussed earlier present a big solution. These zones will be in industry and agriculture that bring in large scale labor using…

Unemployment and poverty are related problems that must be addressed by any government. In the unique situation of the Philippine economy, these are major problems that the sitting president must give high attention to.

After the enumeration we had on The Eight Habits of Investment Literate People, I feel obliged to elaborate more on some of the said habits or at least, discuss something closely related. For this post, I would dwell on something related to the 3rd habit: the issue of credit card charges and why we should…

“Or why some UP people continue to bedevil this country, its economy, and people” CROSS ROADS (Toward Philippine Economic and Social Progress) In the previous weekly (Wednesday) articles, I established the main problems of the Philippine economy. Over time, and because of the country’s sustained high rate of population growth, these problems have led to…

Philippine Airlines (PAL) has announced its plan to lay off 2,600 ground employees as part of its cost-cutting program. PAL president, Jaime Bautista, has argued for the necessity of this step to ensure the survival of the company.

Are you cursed to be poor for the rest of your life? I was. Did you put a curse of poverty on yourself? Believe it or not, almost all of us did. Can you recognize the not so obvious signs of poverty and the curse in your life and others?

SOMETIMES it takes an outsider to appreciate the positive aspects of the country we call home. US President Bill Clinton, who was in Manila briefly to deliver a speech,“Embracing Our Common Humanity,” certainly had some good things to say about the Philippines.

The Aquino administration has put job creation—to get Filipinos out of poverty—as a, if not “the” main goal over the next six years. Well I agree, but it ain’t going to happen unless some major changes occur. An area we have focused on is attracting foreign investment. Filipino investors know their own country, know where…

Will students now plagiarize big-time given Vinuya? But, they do not work in an-SC-pressure-cooker-type environment and should be taught charity, compassion, balance and fairness, in an uncertain, imperfect world—of fallible beings, where malice and intent should not be dismissed as irrelevant. We await UP’s explanation as to how it could make ex-Justice Vic Mendoza appear…

The labor code provides that regular employees cannot be dismissed without cause and due process. The stability of tenure of personnel is one of the 14 principles of management contributed by Henri Fayol. According to Fayol, employees work better when they are assured of job security and career progress. All their efforts and energies are…

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees on Monday started a series of protest actions against the recent decision of Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to allow the mass layoff of some 2,600 workers.

– “More unequal countries have worse social indicators, a poorer human development record, and higher degrees of economic insecurity and anxiety. In too many countries, inequality increased and real wages stagnated—failing to keep up with productivity—over the past few decades. Ominously, inequality in the United States was back at its pre-Great Depression levels on the…

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has allowed Philippine Airlines’ planned mass layoff of some 3,000 employees when she affirmed the previous order of then acting labor secretary Romeo Lagman denying the motion for reconsideration of the ground crew union at the national flag carrier.

The next few days, analysts say, will make or break French President Nicolas Sarkozy. I hasten to add that the next few days will make or break the French economy.

Prices of commodities including petroleum are beginning to spike upward again, which could derail global economic recovery and affect growth in the Philippines, according to economists.

The combined net income of listed firms grew a fifth in the first six months because of the strong performance of the economy, according to the local bourse. In a statement, the Philippine Stock Exchange(PSE) said the combined earnings of listed companies jumped 20.1 percent to P232.2 billion from P193.36 billion during the same six-month…