Senate seeks measures to help workers, employers

MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers are seeking measures to provide workers, employers and those retrenched ample benefits and other forms of assistance in the face of the worsening global economic crisis.

As the world celebrates Labor Day, senators said employees would have to deal with the concerns of their employers too because of the financial difficulties experienced by many companies worldwide.

Senators Manuel Villar, Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero and Ramon Revilla Jr. said it was important to find balance between the needs of the workers and employers and at the same time, help those who lost their jobs.

Legarda said that workers would find this day an opportune time to press for their rights, just wages and benefits, as well as for humane and fair treatment from employers.

“But as we face a severe global economic downswing, there is an urgent need to strike a balance between providing workers additional benefits and remunerations that would do justice to their contributions to enterprises, businesses or government operations, vis-à-vis profitability,” she stressed.

Legarda said the Labor Code protecting the rights of workers must be fully implemented while government regulatory agencies must be on their toes to move against excesses committed against workers.

She said the common complaint of workers is that some employers are using the present economic downswing as an excuse.

Escudero, on the other hand, urged the Senate to convene as a Committee of the Whole to discuss a package of measures, ranging from tax breaks and incentives for workers and employers to help them ride out the current economic crisis.

“We need all hands on deck to face the economic turbulence buffeting the ship of state. The Senate must do its part by initiating measures that will help the nation not only to ride out this crisis but to ensure a quick and steady recovery,” he said.

Escudero filed Resolution No. 1029 urging the Senate to look into the viability and effectiveness of adopting certain policy measures to “mitigate and address the various ill effects of the crisis on Philippine labor, particularly acute unemployment and poverty.”

Escudero cited figures released by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) showing that “already 40,000 Filipino workers have lost their jobs since October last year, while a total of 120,000 have been affected by layoffs, rotation, reduced working hours and pay cuts.”

Escudero proposed a tax refund for all wage and salaried earners, equivalent to two months of their salary; and the extension of PhilHealth Insurance coverage for displaced domestic and overseas workers.

He also proposed the condonation of penalties and interests for low-cost and socialized homeowners and tax deductions and other incentives for employers who increase salaries and benefits within a set period.

The plan also seeks the creation of programs to encourage entrepreneurship among workers and the grant of incentives aimed at strengthening local industries.

Escudero also filed Senate Bill 1437 which seeks to grant prosecutorial powers to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and establish its own witness protection program.

Escudero particularly wanted the CHR to protect labor groups and trade union activities.

“The sad fact is that in the Philippines, the rights of labor groups continue to be abused by the government. These abuses range from acts to undermine the right to strike to outright discouragement of trade union activities, especially in export processing zones,” Escudero said.

Revilla, for his part, filed Senate Bill 2869 seeking to oblige all employers to provide their employees and workers proper awareness on their benefits and rights.

He pointed out the government should pursue policies to provide benefits and uphold the rights of its workers and employees.

The country’s largest labor group, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the workers are demanding unemployment insurance; moratorium in paying loans from government agencies; lower interest rates for housing loans, among others.

Workers are also asking government to provide scholarships for the children or dependents of laid off workers; moratorium in tuition increases and house rent, more livelihood and skills training among others, the TUCP said.

Still losing jobs

The government said it will offer more overseas and local employment opportunities as part of the celebration of Labor Day.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said DOLE and the TUCP would be jointly staging the country’s biggest job fair, dubbed “Jobapalooza ‘09” that will offer 250,000 local and overseas jobs.

Roque said the job fair would be held at the SMX Convention Center at SM Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City coinciding with similar jobs fair in key cities nationwide.

At the same time, some 10,000 workers nationwide are expected to take part in the Labor Day celebrations, particularly expressing the government’s inability to help displaced workers nationwide.

Police meanwhile have been placed on alert to implement the “no permit, no rally” policy against wildcat protest actions.

“The PNP will respect the workers’ right to peacefully assemble and express their grievances. Maximum tolerance will be exercised during the Labor Day celebrations,” Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said.

Workers belonging to the Buklurang Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) said they would hold a protest action today at the Liwasang Bonifacio monument in Manila to signify their protest over the government’s failure to provide employment to thousands of jobseekers.

The BMP belied government claims that displacement of workers in the country has already tapered off.

The BMP said hundreds of workers still lose their jobs daily.

Striking a balance

The People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), on the other hand, said mass layoffs of employees are not a viable solution.

PMAP, an organization of human resource managers (HRM) and industrial relations practitioners, claimed the employment situation in the country is not uniformly dismal. While there were layoffs, these are confined only to a few industries, mainly on the electronics and export sector.

According to PMAP, out of the 177 companies, layoffs were limited only to 10 percent.

“We believe that laying off employees is not the solution. (We) should find the best practices, even non-traditional ones, in order to help companies cope with the crisis and become sustainable,” PMAP president Grace Abella-Zata said.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) also said companies and labor must learn to strike a balance for just wages and business interests.

“The celebration of Labor Day would be more meaningful if our labor force will feel more concretely and tangibly the care and concern of the business sector, the government and the civil society,” CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales also said the prevailing global economic crisis that led to mass layoffs should prompt big business to strike a balance between their interests and that of their workers.

“A healthy balance is constantly sought whereby the welfare of the worker and that of the community cannot compromise the survival of the company, but neither can the profit factor be allowed to threaten the welfare of the workers,” Rosales said. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Miriam Desacada