Workers to get extra pay today

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday reminded employers that workers are entitled to receive extra pay for the services they will render during Andres Bonifacio Day today.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Nov. 30 is a regular holiday so employees who would report for work must receive double pay, while those who would choose not to work would still get their daily pay.

For overtime work rendered during a regular holiday, Baldoz said employees shall be entitled to an additional 30 percent pay or a total of 230 percent pay for that day.

If the holiday falls on the employee’s rest day but was required to work, the worker shall be entitled to 260 percent pay.

DOLE already issued an advisory to guide employers on the payment of rightful wages to their employees.

Meanwhile, labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) is set to stage a protest action to commemorate Bonifacio Day.

KMU said it would mount a mass action to express their strong opposition to the pork barrel fund and to push for the junking of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

KMU secretary general Roger Soluta said KMU would also push for the implementation of a national minimum wage of P16,000 monthly, for genuine land reform and for the accountability of all government officials involved in the pork barrel fund scam.

“This year’s Bonifacio Day protest will also showcase the people of Mindanao’s resistance to a government that violates their rights in order to uphold the interests of big foreign mining and logging companies. President Aquino is as brutal as Spanish conquistadores of Bonifacio’s time toward the people of Mindanao,” Soluta added.