Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III urged bus companies to adopt the two-tiered wage system, a compensation scheme imposing the mandatory minimum wage setting complemented by a voluntary productivity-based pay.
This, after the Supreme Court affirmed DOLE Department Order 118-12 which mandates a fixed salary for public utility bus drivers and conductors not lower than the applicable minimum wage in the region they are in.
Bello directed the National Wages and Productivity Commission to step up its information drive and provide technical assistance to bus companies in formulating the part-fixed, part-performance compensation scheme.
In a report to Bello, the NWPC said 261 bus companies had been assisted by the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards in formulating the compensation scheme from 2012-2018.
The NWPC Operational Guidelines on DO 118-12 states that in adopting the wage scheme, the fixed component shall not be lower than the applicable minimum wage and shall be paid in legal tender.
Drivers and conductors shall also be entitled to all mandatory wage-related benefits, such as overtime pay, nightshift differential, service incentive leave, 13th month pay, holiday pay, and premium pay.
Meanwhile, the performance pay component shall take into consideration revenue, ridership, safety, specific conditions of routes, and other relevant parameters.
Bus owners and/or operators are required to submit their compensation scheme to the RTWPBs having jurisdiction over the principal place of business of the PUB owner.
The Labor department is also set to meet with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to discuss coordination arrangements between the two agencies in the implementation of LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2012-01, which aims to ensure road transport safety by linking labor standards compliance with franchise regulation.
The memorandum circular requires, among others, the submission by PUBs of a DOLE issued Labor Standards Compliance Certificate as requirement for the grant or renewal of a Certificate of Public Convenience.
It further provides that failure to do so shall be ground for cancellation or revocation of existing CPC.
Meanwhile, Bello ordered the Bureau of Working Conditions to monitor and enforce compliance with all labor laws and standards as provided under DO 118-12.