Lack of funds delays release of DOLE workers' incentives

While employees of offices under the Department of Labor and Employment have received their incentives made possible by the Collective Negotiation Agreement, workers of the DOLE itself, which number around 5,000, have yet to get theirs.

And to show their impatience, members of the DOLE Employees Association for Reform and Efficiency have started to wear armbands.

For now, the department doesn't have the money, or savings, for the incentives, Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board acting head officer Exequiel Sarcauga said.

Employees of RTWPB, Philippine Overseas Employment Authority, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, because they are fewer in number, have already been granted their incentives.

Sarcauga said the DOLE itself has the most number of employees making it a bit harder to find the source for the incentives.

The workers' association vice president, Yunoko Arellano, said the wearing of armbands would continue until the workers are told when the incentives would be given. - Ferliza C. Contratista