SC halts fixed pay scheme

conductors and drivers using the previous commission scheme.

The bus companies argued that the new system violated the terms of their existing collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with their employees, which were “products of intense and lengthy negotiations.”

“Most of such arrangements had been in place since time immemorial and had, in many instances, proven to be better” and resulted in “higher pay to more drivers and conductors, more than what the minimum wage levels offer,” they said.

“(The DOLE order also) violates the equal protection clause in the Constitution as (it was) aimed to cover only Metro Manila buses and not the entire transport sector throughout the country, even though they are similarly situated,” the bus firms said in a 24-page petition.

Reached for comment, DOLE National Capital Region Director Alan Macaraya said: “We will have to respect the order of the court and stop our inspection.”

He said DOLE-NCR had started inspecting 158 bus companies in Metro Manila over the past two weeks and was actually scheduled to award compliance certificates to two more bus companies yesterday afternoon.

“We now have five companies with (compliance certificates) and are expecting four more companies to get theirs later this week,” he noted.