43 Calabarzon firms to give non-wage benefits

Amid increasing prices of essential commodities, close to 39,000 workers in the Calabarzon region are getting rice subsidy and other non-wage benefits, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the DOLE forged with 43 private companies in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) an agreement providing for non-wage benefits for minimum wage earners in the region.

“The agreement ensures the 43 companies’ participation in the government’s non-wage benefit program geared at helping workers cope with the rising prices of fuel and other essential commodities,” he said.

Roque expressed confidence that the grant of non-wage benefits would not only relieve workers from economic difficulties, but also promote productivity and thus benefit the employers as well.

“Workers have less to worry about and could concentrate better on their work,” Roque said, urging employers in other regions to join the government program.

“It also gives the workers a sense of security and heightened awareness on the company’s caring attitude toward them and thus certainly boost their efforts to be efficient and productive in the midst of economic vulnerabilities,” he added. 

Last May, DOLE formed an inter-agency committee tasked to encourage employers to provide their workers with rice subsidy, cheaper medicine and other non-wage benefits.

Roque said the 43 Calabarzon firms promptly responded to the DOLE’s call for such non-wage benefits.

Among the participating firms are H.S. Craft Manufacturing Corp., Hamlin Industrial Corp., Bridgestone Precision Molding Phils., Inc., MNTEC Corp., Yazaki-Torres Manufacturing, Ionics EMS Inc., Ho Woong Co. Inc., Walter Garments Corp., Canlubang Pulp Manufacturing Inc., Kaylee Fashion, PKI Pilipinas Kyoritsu Inc., NY San Felix Ltd. Co., and University of Batangas.