WHAT IS THE JUST WAGE?

In the legal sense, the just wage is the minimum wage. It is the wage that will not only enable
the workers to meet the bare cost of living, but will also provide a means of desirable
improvements in his mode of living. For the wage to be just some allowances for contingencies
must be considered. Common sense, for instance, imposes that wage may increase accordingly
when prices of commodities increase.

The minimum wage is set by the government to protect the employees against all types of
exploitation by setting a floor in which there is remuneration cannot further fall, inspite of this,
more often than not, we still hear cases involving several workers who agreed to wage that is
way below the minimum wage simply because there is no other means of livelihood available
for them.

Business ethics insists that the labor contracts must always be determined by justice and by one
principle greater and more ancient than the free consent of contracting parties, namely, that
the wage shall not be less than enough to support a worker. This also includes the means of
livelihood for his wife and children.

Everyone has a basic right to just and proper wage, determine according to some criteria of
justice and of counsel in proportion to the available resources. A just wage is a means to
provide for the worker and his family a manner of living in keeping with the dignity of the
human person, anything less is morally unacceptable.

But social justice cannot be said to have been satisfied as long

as workingmen are denied of a salary that will enable to secure
proper sustenance for themselves and for their family; as long as
they are denied the opportunity of acquiring a modest fortune and
forestalling a plague of universal pauperism, as long as they cannot
make suitable provision through public or private insurance for old
age, for periods of illness and unemployment – From 1937
document of Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, para 52.

Why do workers have the fundamental right to a just wage?

In 1996, American teachers and students rallied and campaign doe a minimum wage for the
Yale University service employees. They voiced out their belief that the university has an
obligation to provide the minimum wage for all subcontracted workers, in principle, their mass
action made it clear that workers everywhere (not only university service employees), both
regulars and contractuals, are entitled to a wage adequate to support themselves and their
families in decent conditions. This means an income sufficient to afford wholesome food, to
rent or to buy good home, to provide for suitable education and adequate medical care.
Does the right to a family wage require that the workers receive a pay enough to support an
average family (sometimes called absolute family wage)? Or should the wage be adapted to the
different sizes of the families (relative family wage)? Additional support for large families may
rather be taken care of by the community or society, for instance, in the form of tax reduction or
family allowances. The following are several factors to consider when determining a fair and
just wage:

1. Going salary rate in the industry and the locality

2. The competitive position of the company and the capacity to pay; the higher the
profits, the more it should pay

3. The skillful contribution of the worker.

4. The nature of the job, premiums should be given to the jobs that require exposure to
health risks, security risks and physical and emotional burdens

5. The law of minimum wage

6. Fairness of wage negotiations

7. Relation to other salaries according to the needs of the worker.

Inasmuch as the just wage is the minimum wage in the legal sense, it is expected that when the
employer provides a minimum wage for his employees, he is following a mandate of the law.
But something more is expected from the employer in the ethical sense

WHAT THE LABOR CODE SAYS ABOUT HOLIDAY PAYS, OVERTIME AND 13TH MONTH PAYS

The employer should provide the following compensations:

A. Holiday Pay. One day pay for every regular holiday even if unworked subject to certain
conditions.

B. Premium Pay for Work within 8 Hours on a:

● Special or rest day plus 30% basic daily rate

● Rest day falling on a special day plus 50% of the basic daily rate

● Rest day falling on a holiday plus 30% of 200% of basic rate

C. Overtime Pay
● Ordinary days plus 25% of basic hourly rate
 ● Special days, rest days and holidays plus 30% or regular hourly rate

● Night Differential Pay plus 10% of basic hourly rate between 10PM and 6AM

D. Service Incentive Leave. 5 days with pay per year after one year of service

E. Separation Pay. Minimum of 12 month pay for every year of service for authorized
causes of separation

F. 13th Month Pay. 1/12 of total basic salary earned within the calendar year

G. Payment of Wages:

● In cash, legal tender at or near the place of work

● May be made through a bank upon written petition of the majority of workers in
establishing with a 25 or more employees and within one kilometer radius to a
bank

● Shall be made direct to the employees

● Shall be given not less than every two weeks or twice within a month at the
intervals exceeding 16 days. In case of bankruptcy or liquidation of the business,
workers money claims shall be preference over government and other creditors

Source:
Global Business Ethics for Filipinos in the New Millennium by Jose Mario B. Maximiano,
pp. 118-121