Seats for sales ladies eyed

CEBU, Philippines - Councilor Edgardo Labella wants sales ladies in commercial establishments in the city to be provided with seats where they could rest when not attending to customers.

The north district councilor said a random survey showed that sales ladies perform their tasks and duties while standing all day long, as their employers allegedly would not allow them to sit.

Management of some business establishments even allegedly reprimand sales ladies when they are caught sitting while at work, even if they are not assisting customers.

“The mass of sales ladies in malls and other similar commercial establishments in this city undeniably need some attention, considering that the said work set-up is not only gender-insensitive but above all risky to the health of the same,” Labella said.

He said it would do well for employers to provide seats for sales ladies, since modern day businesses demand not only for an employee-friendly image, but a gender-sensitive and humane outlook.

“Malipay gyud mi kaayo kun matuman na ang sugyot ni Konsehal Labella kay pwerte gyud tinuod nga kapoya nga magsigi lang og tindog,” said an 18-year-old sales lady of a shoe store along Colon Street.

A sales lady of a cellphone shop also said, “puli-pulihon lang nako ang akong tiil pagbarug kun kapoy na. Sa bag-o pa gyud ko nga tindera, kaundangon ko uy.”

Labella explained that as the trade center in this part of the country, the city must be sensitive to the welfare of the employees of business establishments here.

Almost all of the commercial establishments in the city are now employing women, particularly the department stores.

“Even with the given break for personal necessity, the aforementioned work set-up is physically exhausting and detrimental to their health,” Labella added.

In a resolution, which will be discussed by the City Council on Wednesday, Labella has asked the Department of Labor and Employment to remind the employers of sales ladies in Cebu City that adopting modern techniques in the shopping mall-based selling business also call for the introduction of gender-sensitive measures, including providing seats for sales ladies, for a more humane working condition of female workers. — Rene U. Borromeo/JMO   (THE FREEMAN)