ECOP seeks Labor Code revision

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) is pushing for a revision of the Labor Code to ensure a more flexible labor market conducive to enterprise development and employment generation.

In a press conference, ECOP president Rene Y. Soriano particularly cited the need to do away with the annual review of the minimum wage law.

According to Soriano, a review of the minimum wage should be done only as needed or every two years.

He pointed out that allowing Congress and the President to legislate the minimum wage is actually "anti-union" and "anti-collective bargaining agreement."

In fact, Soriano said, most employers no longer depend on CBA negotiations because they normally wait for the May 1 announcement of the government on the minimum wage.

Soriano reiterated that the country’s minimum wage is already one of the highest, making Philippine labor uncompetitive compared to China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

He stressed that higher minimum wage tends to favor the skilled workers and provides less jobs for unskilled workers.

A lower minimum wage, Soriano said, would provide more jobs.

Soriano noted that most of the country’s labor laws have become irrelevant in the light of a rapidly changing global environment.

According to Soriano, the Labor Code is currently biased in favor of the formal sector.

Workers in the informal sector, Soriano said, such as those working in unregistered economic units, the self-employed, homeworkers, domestic and unpaid family helpers, remain insecure in their employment, vulnerable to exploitation, and often trapped in poverty because they lack protection and representation.

The labor law, Soriano said, is supposed to promote equity, not by continuously increasing protection and benefits to employed labor in the formal sector but by providing the rest of the labor force access to formal employment.