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The Department of Labor and Employment reported there are currently 5,150 registered contractors and subcontractors deploying more than 416,000 workers to not less than 26,000 principals. STAR/File photo MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has come up with a win-win solution for businesses and workers in line with President Duterte’s mandate to end labor contractualization and end-of-contract or “endo” schemes. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez presented the so-called “win-win structure” of labor relations Thursday during a consultation involving government officials on labor and trade, business leaders and selected legislators. The win-win structure involves workers, service providers and companies. “We have come up with an alternative structure, and the premise of this is that the workers’ benefits will be assured and will be protected. We also have to balance it with the need to have a business-friendly policy environment that will generate jobs and attract investments. In other words, the structure should be in favor for both business and labor,” Lopez said. “We basically have two set-ups, one is the company hires directly the workers, the labor. The other option is if it is not direct hire via the company, the principal or the company will outsource it to service providers. Service providers will then hire the workers and they will have the direct employer-employee relationship,” he added. Through this win-win set-up, Lopez said workers can be hired by service providers as regulars, receiving full benefits such as leave credits, 13th month pay, as well as retirement, social Read More …

The stock market plunged 154.66 points or 2.006 percent to finish at 7,553.76 yesterday following a technical rally on Thursday. AP file photo/Bullit Marquez MANILA, Philippines – The stock market plunged 154.66 points or 2.006 percent to finish at 7,553.76 yesterday following a technical rally on Thursday. Analysts said the drop was expected following Thursday’s unusual jump . “Well I think majority of the decline was caused by the unusual jump yesterday on close – maybe due to last second index buying prompted by an oversold market. But because prices normalized off that heavy up sway, the negatives began to pile in. We still see corrective bias but the oversold state will cause hiccup rallies on occasion,” said Juanis Barredo, vice president and chief technical analyst at COL Financial. Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital said the market simply resumed its downward trend. “The Philippine markets resumed their downward trend as it took yesterday’s run up as an anomaly. The 7,700 resistance proved rather firm as we slipped closer back to the 7,500 level. Markets became choppy once more as investors continue to speculate on the upcoming US Fed rate hike decision next week,” he said. During yesterday’s session, the broader All Shares index also plunged 55.83 points or 1.21 percent. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 All counters likewise retreated into negative territory following Thursday’s upward trend. Total value turnover closed at P13.80 billion as foreign selling continued. Decliners edged out advancing stocks, 102 to Read More …

The government’s economic team is unlikely to back the Department of Labor and Employment’s proposed P125 across-the-board wage hike for workers in the private sector as this would impede economic growth and bloat unemployment, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said. STAR/File photo MANILA, Philippines – The government’s economic team is unlikely to back the Department of Labor and Employment’s proposed P125 across-the-board wage hike for workers in the private sector as this would impede economic growth and bloat unemployment, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said. Citing data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Lopez said the planned P125 across-the-board wage hike could slow the pace of the country’s economic acceleration placed at 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent to somewhere between 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent. He said the proposal would also expand the country’s unemployment rate to about 7.3 percent from a baseline of 6.1 percent. “Definitely overall, what this shows is inflation will go up. That is also one percentage point down for our gross domestic product. And unemployment rate would increase one percentage point more or less because obviously once prices go up, (companies) would cut on their workforce,” Lopez said. “So in other words it does not look good, so even NEDA does not support it. We (in DTI) will not support it definitely,” he added. DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello has earlier ordered all the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards to conduct nationwide consultations on the legislative measures proposing for a P125 across-the-board general wage increase Read More …

What a tagline! Everywhere I go in the country, I open the line and say, “Change is….” and everyone in my audience will complete the line and say, “Change is coming.” It ranks as popular as the phrase, “It’s more fun in……the Philippines,” as my audience would declare and then smile and laugh about it. There are so many changes happening in the political scene and in the business scene, but what about changes that are not coming, at least in the immediate future? Well, let’s take a careful look into these things. Here are the things that will not change: 1. EDSA traffic will still be a problem and it would take time and immediate measures to improve the situation. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 2. Some politicians will still lie and steal, even though there is a higher sense of consciousness and apprehension these days. 3. Business will continue to be uncertain. 4. Business competitions will continue to rise. 5. Price competitions will always be there. 6. Technology will still churn out things that will change consumer behavior and will threaten many established industries. 7. You and I will grow old. 8. Life will still be laced with challenges and trials and the pace of it will add more stress to many of us. On the other hand, these are the good things that will not change: 1. Life is beautiful, especially if you wake up every morning and realize it is a gift Read More …