How about Employers' Day?

MANILA, Philippines - How about the employers?

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said yesterday that they too, as employers, deserved their own day even as they assured the labor sector that they are “allies.”

To avoid expense in celebrating “Employers’ Day,” why not make it a working holiday, ECOP president Edgardo Lacson said during the tripartite dialogue and Labor Day breakfast at Malacañang with President Aquino and labor groups.

Reading a short message, Lacson said employers

promised not to engage the workers in a debate to celebrate their day. He said the time and occasion were not proper to tackle divisive issues needed to be addressed.

Despite disagreements, Lacson said employer-labor relations in the Philippines had more agreement on various concerns and that they wanted the employees to have “continued enjoyment of luxury of freedom of association.”

He said the employers were wishing for continued mutual friendship and successful celebration of Labor Day yesterday.

Lacson reaffirmed the employers’ commitment to be the employees’ partners in their quest for a better life to the best of their abilities.

He said ECOP wanted continued industrial peace to address the unemployment and underemployment problems in the country.

In earlier reports, Lacson expressed concern over proposed measures in Congress that, he said, were harmful to employers, such as mandatory profit sharing, security of tenure and P125 daily across-the-board increase in salary rates of employees and workers in the private sector.