Tulfo, ininspeksyon ang kumpanyang ilegal umanong nagpapatupad ng pakyawan

Isa ang W.L. Foods Corporation sa Valenzuela City sa inireklamo ng mga manggagawa nila sa Raffy Tulfo in Action (RTIA) dahil sa umanoy's unfair labor practice.

Nang dahil dito ay ipinarating ng RTIA sa Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) ang sumbong at agad din namang nagkasa ang DOLE ng inspeksyon kasama ang Senate team ni Sen. Idol Raffy Tulfo na Vice Chairman ng Senate Committee on Labor and Employment.

Sa nasabing inspeksyon, nakumpirma ng DOLE at Senate team ni Sen. Idol ang mga sumbong pagdating nila sa W.L. Foods. Isa sa mga empleyado roon na nakausap ng DOLE ang nagsabi na mahigit isang taon na siya sa kumpanya pero casual pa rin siya at ₱400 lamang ang kanyang sweldo kada araw.

Ilan naman sa mga manggagawa roon na pakyawan at kumikita ng ₱700 kada araw ang nagsabing kinailangan daw nilang magtrabaho ng hanggang dose oras para sa halagang ito.

Pero ayon sa National Wages Productivity Commission (NWPC), wala sa listahan ang W.L. Foods sa nabigyan ng permiso ng NWPC para magpatupad ng piece rate o pakyawan sa kanilang kumpanya.

Ibig sabihin, sa matagal nang panahon ay nalulugi sa overtime pay ang mga manggagawang pakyawan sa W.L. Foods sa halagang ₱348 kada araw. Dahil sa ginawang computation ng DOLE base sa minimum wage, kapag dose oras nagtrabaho ang isang empleyado sa isang araw, kailangan ang maging kapalit nito ay ₱1,048.

Agad na hiniling ni Sen. Raffy sa DOLE na laliman pa ang kanilang imbestigasyon sa W.L. Foods para sa iba pang posibleng labor violations nito at inobliga niya rin ang kumpanya na ibigay ang back wages ng kanilang mga manggagawa sa nalugi nila dahil sa pakyawan at mga casual workers na pinasasahuran ng below sa minimum wage.

Gayunpaman, agad na ipinatitigil ng DOLE sa W.L. Foods ang pagpapatupad nito ng pakyawan system sa kanilang kumpanya hanggat hindi sila nakakakuha ng permit mula sa NWPC.

Sa Senate consultative meeting na pinangunahan ni Sen. Raffy kahapon, sinabihan niya naman ang legal counsel ng W.L. Foods na paalalahahan ang kliyente niya na bayaran ang mga obligasyon nito sa kanyang empleyado, na sinangayunan naman nito.

Tulfo Inspects Company for allegedly Implementing Piece-Rate System illegally

W.L. Foods Corporation in Valenzuela City is one of the companies reported by its workers to Raffy Tulfo in Action (RTIA) for alleged unfair labor practices.

As a result, RTIA relayed the complaint to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), which immediately conducted an inspection together with the Senate team of Senator Idol Raffy Tulfo, Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment, on May 26.

During the inspection, DOLE and Senator Tulfo's Senate team confirmed the complaints upon arriving at W.L. Foods. One employee interviewed by DOLE said she has been with the company for over a year but were still classified as a casual worker and received only ₱400 per day in wages.

Some of the workers on a piece-rate (pakyawan) basis, earning ₱700 a day, stated that they had to work up to 12 hours to earn that amount. However, according to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), W.L. Foods is not on the list of companies authorized by the NWPC to implement a piece-rate system.

This means that for a long time, piece-rate workers at W.L. Foods were effectively being underpaid for overtime -- losing around ₱348 per day. Based on DOLE's computation using the minimum wage, an employee working 12 hours a day should be earning ₱1,048.

Tulfo immediately requested that DOLE deepen its investigation into W.L. Foods for other possible labor violations. He also mandated the company to provide back wages to its workers who were underpaid due to the unauthorized piece-rate system and those classified as casual workers receiving below minimum wage despite being in the company for a year or more.

In the meantime, DOLE ordered W.L. Foods to immediately stop implementing the piece-rate system until it secures proper authorization from the NWPC.

Meanwhile, during the Senate consultative meeting led by Sen. Raffy yesterday, he told the legal counsel of W.L. Foods to remind their client to settle its obligations to its employees, which the counsel agreed to do.