Yearender: 2010 a year of reforms, satisfactory services for DOLE

MANILA, Philippines - For the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), 2010 was a year of reforms and satisfactory services that benefited both workers and employers nationwide.In the past six months, DOLE has focused its efforts on implementing various reforms with the end goal of providing better services and working conditions for Filipino workers.Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz expressed confidence that the inital implementation of the new programs had been successful with the workers airing their satisfaction for the department’s performance.          

“We can fairly say that year 2010 has been a good year for the DOLE as we have received satisfactory ratings by our clients and very low disappointment rate in our performance,” she said. 

In an effort to resolve the long-time skills and jobs mismatch, Baldoz ordered the establishment of national manpower registry and brought the government’s job facilitation programs to the community level.          

While DOLE has existing job facilitation programs, Baldoz said, most of these programs are being implemented in the national level and unable to reach far-flung areas.          

Baldoz also started enhancing bipartisan and social dialogue and pursued programs to improve compliance with labor standards and sustain peaceful labor condition in the country and dispose long pending labor cases.          

She instituted the 30-day mandatory conciliation and mediation of labor cases to provide speedy, inexpensive and accessible settlement of pending labor disputes.         

The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), a DOLE attached agency also operated so-called grievance machineries (GM) that resulted to 36 percent decline in voluntary arbitration cases.         

DOLE also launched project Speedy and Efficent Disposition (SpeED) of labor justice in the hope of disposing 98 percent of all labor cases by April next year.         

To eliminate wasteful spending, DOLE strictly enforced this year immediate liquidation of cash advances and set up an internal control system in the implementation of livelihood projects.         

This year, another DOLE attached agency, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) stopped the street selling of review materials and launched online verification of eligibility system (OVES) to protect business groups from fake professionals.

Wage system under review

As of Dec. 20, 13 of the 17 Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) granted a salary increase to minimum wage earners in their respective regions.

At this time, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) is also undertaking a thorough study for the possible implementation of two-tiered wage system early next year.

The proposed system, Baldoz said, would hopefully provide a more acceptable floor wage and provide additional incentive for more productive workers.    

PAL labor row

But year 2010 could not pass without any hitches as ground crew and flight attendants of Philippine Airlines threatened to go on strike that could paralyze the operations of the country’s flag carrier.

The labor dispute between PAL management and the members of the PAL Employees Association (PALEA) further worsened after DOLE allowed the mass retrenchment of 2,600 airline employees.

DOLE supported PAL’s claim that the planned restructuring was necessary to help the airline cope with losses, but PALEA protested the ruling and sought Malacanang’s intervention.

President Aquino assumed jurisdiction over the labor dispute and restrained PAL from implementing the planned mass layoff while stopping PALEA members from staging a strike.

Two days before Christmas, DOLE also ruled to raise to 60 years the mandatory retirement age of PAL’s flight attendants to finally settle the labor dispute in the airline company.

Overseas and local placement

With the new programs implemented this year, DOLE managed to provide quality employment and control a projected rise in the number of jobless people.

From July to November, Baldoz reported that DOLE placed for local employment a total of 803,953 jobseekers through the regular job placement services of the department.              

She added that 79,062 poor but deserving students were given the opportunity to earn under the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) while over 21,000 new entrants to the labor force underwent skills training.

Since January this year, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) repatriated close to 2,000 distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), mostly women previously employed in various Middle East countries.

OWWA also extended livelihood assistance to more than 60,000 OFWs and their beneficiaries in the form of skills training, loans and job facilitation.

With the global economy still reeling from the lingering effects of economic crunch, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) reported a total of 1,070,588 Filipino workers hired in various countries abroad.

Amended Migrant Workers Act

Aside from global economic crisis, POEA officials admitted that implementation of the newly amended Migrant Workers Act also resulted to slight decline in hiring of Filipino workers.

A number of local recruiters declared a deployment holiday and ceased from processing overseas employment contracts to protest the mandatory insurance scheme provided under the new law.

Employers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and countries in the Middle East also opposed the mandatory insurance coverage claiming they are already providing one for their employees.

Local recruiters also warned of further decline in the hiring of Filipino workers in the coming year with the provision of the new law prohibiting deployment to countries without certification from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Under the law, the country can only deploy workers to countries with DFA certification as safe and eligible to provide protection for Filipino workers. Until this time, about 100 countries employing Filipinos are yet to secure certification from DFA.

However, DOLE remained optimistic that 2011 would be brighter once workers as well as employers feel the full impact of the reform programs the government initiated in 2010.