Four lawmakers want the 19th Congress to grant workers in the media industry job security, hazard and overtime pay, mandatory supplemental insurance coverage, and other job-related benefits including benefit regular employees in the public and private sectors.
In Internal Bill (HB) No. 304, Camarines Sur Rep. Lray Villafuerte, as well as CamSur Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata, and Bicol Saro Rep. Nicolas Enciso VIII proposed the “Media Workers’ Welfare Law”, which aims to guarantee the rights of media workers to self-organization and the additional economic benefits due to them in their profession; and to create “a safe and protected atmosphere conducive to their productive, free and fruitful work”.
“Media workers are risking their own lives by being exposed to outside perils and dangers just so that we can receive the information we need. It is unfortunate that the same people behind it all are usually those whose labor rights are ignored, such as those related to job security, hazard pay, night shift differential pay, and overtime pay, among others,” Villafuerte and co-authors say in HB 304.
“Therefore,” they added, HB 304 seeks to “ensure that media workers will enjoy a comprehensive benefits package on par with the current benefits enjoyed by members of the government and labor force. private sector It seeks to create a safe and protected atmosphere conducive to productive, free and fruitful media work, as well as to guarantee the right of workers to self-organization.
Villafuerte introduced a similar bill in the last Congress.
Under HB 304, media workers in entry-level positions will receive the minimum monthly pay determined by the National Wage and Productivity Commission (NWPC) or regional tripartite Wages and Productivity Commissions (RTWPB), as applicable in each case.
A tripartite news media council proposed in the bill could modify or increase the minimum risk premium.
