Only 70% of establishments pay minium wages
SOME 25 to 30 percent of business establishments in Dagupan and central Pangasinan are violating the minimum wage law, according to the district office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Dagupan City.
Statistics released by Engracio Bailon, DOLE district officer in Dagupan during the KBP Forum show only 70 to 75 percent of employers in the area are compliant with the minimum wage law.
He urged the establishments that are not complying to begin paying their workers the wages that are due them by law.
He said his office receives at least seven complaints a day about violation of labor laws, from non-payment of minimum wage law by their employers, non-remittance of SSS and PhilHealth contributions to illegal dismissal.
He also noted that the enrollment in PAG-IBIG membership also remains low.
Curiously, there are employers that require security guards to post cash bonds and when the employees leave their employment, the security agencies refuse to return their cash bonds. In some cases, the cash bonds are usually in the form of money deducted from the monthly wages of security guards.
He clarified that the security agencies of the two big malls in Dagupan are not involved in cases involving cash bonds.
In Region 1, the computation of minimum wage remains asset-based, which means that the bigger the asset of the establishment, the higher the minimum wage level.
Under this formula, the medium and large industries with assets of P100 million and above, the minimum wage is P253 per day; small industries with assets of P3 million to P15 million, P233 per day, while the micro industries with assets of less than P3 million, the minimum wage is P213 per day.
Meanwhile, in line with the coming Labor Day on May 1, Bailon rated the current industrial situation in Pangasinan on a scale of from one to ten, is at a high 8.7 to 8.8.
No labor unrest has so far been noted in the province during the current decade and even in the past, he added.
In terms of employment generation, the highest was recorded in the agricultural sector, followed by tourism, construction and the government still remains the number one employer in Pangasinan and the entire country. (Leonardo Micua/ Hilda Austria)
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