To end road mishaps, fix the transport workers’ labor conditions

On top of changing the pay system of drivers and conductors, HB 3370 wants to fix the working hours of drivers and conductors to eight hours inclusive of a one-hour rest period and ensure a two-shift system so that workers do not compromise passenger safety by exceeding working hours.

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – In the immediate aftermath of another fatal accident along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, the Aquino government through MMDA chief Francis Tolentino assured the public that they have not been sleeping on the job of lessening if not totally reducing road accidents, especially in what is now being called as the “killer highway.” After the death of veteran journalist Chit Estella when a bus rammed into the taxi she was riding, Tolentino claimed their speed monitoring system is a “success” because they have reduced by nearly half the number of accidents in Commonwealth Avenue since 2010.

While defending their traffic efforts in a radio interview this week, Tolentino also said that no matter how careful you are or strict the government is in implementing road rules, you just cannot totally prevent accidents, unfortunately.

But in Congress, Bayan Muna Partylist Representative Teddy Casiño has long proposed a bill that he said could fundamentally address the continuing spate of bus-related accidents in the Metropolis.

Casiño urged the country’s lawmakers to immediately tackle House Bill 3370, as improving the plight of drivers and conductors “will go a long way in making the industry stable, safe and efficient.” He also appealed to bus owners’ “conscience” to put an end to conditions resulting in these road accidents that “endanger and claim lives in the name of profits.”

House Bill 3370 or the “Bus Drivers and Conductors Compensation Act” aims to abolish the quota or commission-based salary system that currently prevails among public utility buses. The bus drivers and conductors attribute to this compensation system the dangerous drive to compete with each other to get more passengers, at the expense of their own and their passengers’ safety. It also often compels them to work longer hours to meet the quota or increase their take-home, further increasing risks of committing errors that result in accidents.

Bringing transport workers under the coverage of Labor Code

Casiño said they would like to dialogue with the South Luzon Bus Operators Association of the Philippines (SOLUBOA), Provincial Bus Operators of the Philippines (PBOP), Integrated Metro Bus Operators Association (IMBOA) and other associations with regard to HB 3370 and other bus operators’ concerns and reforms. “We are also open to discussing possible reforms in the franchising and fare-rating systems that are among the concerns of bus owners,” Casiño said.

One of the big changes in bus workers’ and conductors’ job conditions that HB 3370 wants to bring is replacing the commission and quota/boundary based mode of determining their pay by a monthly minimum wage, to be paid direct in cash at least once every two weeks.

The bill also seeks to explicitly put the public utility bus drivers and conductors under the coverage of the Labor Code and related laws, and/or in collective bargaining agreements. It has been noted by Kabisig, an association of bus drivers and conductors, that while their working conditions are plainly outside of government regulations via the Labor Code, all other matters about the registration and running of the buses are strictly being regulated by the government. It leaves the transport workers at the mercy of their operators, the Kabisig said.

Owing to decades of complained low minimum wages in the Philippines, however, the proposed shift to wage system for bus drivers and conductors would also require an increase in minimum wages, for the shift to be acceptable to the bus drivers and conductors.

“The P404 minimum wage plus the P22 COLA are simply not enough to help the drivers cope with the high prices of oil and commodities. Our minimum wage right now is so low that bus drivers think they are better paid under the boundary system,” said Roger Soluta, secretary-general of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).

The KMU challenged the Aquino government that if they are “sincere in solving these road accidents, the first thing to do is to give our drivers assurance of proper payment.” In the long run, drivers, conductors and bus owners will gain in passing HB 3370 into law, assured Casiño. He explained that the difference it would bring mean that drivers and conductors will get enough rest while operators will spend almost the same amount for salaries, thereby improving conditions in the industry.

Casiño assured that “the operators will also gain as it will also redound to the reduction of fierce competition on the road and will lessen accidents since the drivers and conductors are better rested and have security of tenure, thus encouraging the ultimate beneficiaries of an improved transport industry – the riding public.”