Philippines President signs bill to end struggle of hospitality workers

The President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has signed a bill on Monday that will put an end to the 40 years old struggle of hospitality workers, according to media organization Inquirer. The President has signed the service charge bill that would reportedly allow workers of hotels, restaurants and related establishments to receive 100 percent of the service charge collected from customers.

BREAKING: President Duterte has signed a bill that would allow workers of hotels, restaurants and related establishments to receive 100 percent of the service charge collected from customers, Senator Joel Villanueva said. | @NAMercadoINQhttps://t.co/bxgejhCidJ

— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) August 13, 2019

Senator Joel Villanueva, who chairs the Senate committee on labor, has been reported to have said that this law would allow the frontline workers to enjoy the fruits of their hard work and the reward of their good quality service. He said the bill proposes that restaurant and hotel workers, whether regular, contractual, or agency-hired, would be entitled to a 100-percent service charge as long as they would directly deliver the service to their customers.

The congressional bicameral conference committee approved the measure on May 28 this year.

Joel Villanueva said that at present, management gets 15 percent of the service charge proceeds to answer for losses or breakages. However, he said, if there were no losses or breakages the 15 percent is the management's prerogative for disposition or distribution among managerial employees.

He further noted that service charge is just a small portion of the total income of an establishment and it deserves to be given to the employees who are the ones actually providing service to customers.