Labor chief orders bus firms’ pay schemes assessed

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Monday ordered key regional offices to assess the pay schemes and working conditions in the bus transport industry to formulate a policy that will align salaries of bus drivers with existing labor standards. In an administrative order, she ordered the creation of the technical working group that will look into the number of working hours of bus drivers and conductors and their pay schemes. The clamor to check on the work conditions of bus drivers came following the death of veteran journalist Chit Estella when an over speeding bus hit the taxi cab she was riding along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. Baldoz said the technical working group will be chaired by executive director Ciriaco Lagunzad III of the National Wages and Productivity Commission, with executive director Cynthia Cruz of the Occupational Safety and Health Center, executive director Brenda Villafuerte, director Ma. Teresa Peralta of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, and director Raymundo Agravante of the DOLE-National Capital Region. “I have directed the technical working group… to submit reports on the findings to me relative to the matter," Baldoz said. The Labor Department earlier met with officials from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Land Transportation and Regulatory Board and representatives of bus operators and talked about road safety and occupational health and safety conditions in the industry. Baldoz said gave the technical working group a month to finish its work. — BC/VS, GMA News