Proposed labor agenda for the new DOLE Secretary - Part 2

Impetus to training and development.

The reason why our unskilled workers are vulnerable in the global markets is because many of them do not possess the competitive advantage of superior skills and marketable capability. Much of our problems in the overseas labor involve the unskilled sector. Knowing this, which is common knowledge from the very beginning, TESDA should start doing enough, and doing it properly and effectively.

If we need to get a portion of OWWA fund to finance this proactive intervention, let a legislative measure be filed in Congress to give impetus to OFW training and development.

All labor attaches should transform themselves into trainors, and those who don't have this competency must be recalled and be trained first before their next deployment. Labor attaches must undertake training and development on-site. They must work on Sundays and holidays and should be given qoutas in actual numbers of training hours and number of trainees. This is a top priority concern and all hands must be on deck for this.

Manage industrial relations well.

The investment climate in the country is largely determined by the industrial peace atmosphere. The radicals have succeeded in the 80s and 90s to drive away investors, killed industries, closed companies and destroyed job opportunities. In fairness to the outgoing administration, it might have gained some headway in managing industrial peace, but, some labor leaders claim, at the expense of the basic rights of workers and sacrificing, supposedly the fundamental need to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the working class.

We are therefore proposing a balanced approach to industrial and labor relations. Industrial peace should never be achieved at the expense of labor justice. The dispute-settlement mechanisms in the DOLE, NCMB, BLR and NLRC should be reviewed and restructured along the lines of fast, fair and focused labor justice. Conciliation and mediation should be preferred modes of dispute-settlement, and thus conciliators and mediators should be paid higher than arbiters and arbitrators.

Institutionalize integrated services.

The integration of services by SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-Ibig, OWWA, POEA and other service agencies should be mandated by law, not just a project of DOLE on an ad hoc basis. All these agencies should be placed under the control and supervision of the Labor Secretary who is accountable to the people and answerable to the President. There is an urgent need to put the house in order, to review and reshuffle assignments of regional and Bureau directors, Labor Attaches, welfare officers and staff. Too much politics and "palakasan'' should be looked into and remedied. senior officials deployed as Labor Attaches should not be unfairly marginalized. The career system should be upheld and merit should be the primordial consideration in deployment and promotion.

Foreign posts should be supported with adequate resources, and allocation of budget and personnel should be based on the actual needs of the clientele system and not the convenience of favored and favorite underlings, and those protected by traditional politicians and influence peddlers. How can our frontliners deliver excellent results when the head office gives them ''tootpicks'' to fight the battles, while bigwigs squander money in travels and junkets that do not add value to the workers plight. The new Secretary has a lot of things to put in order. His is a very very formidable challenge. That is why the President found it quite difficult to choose the one who has just been appointed and annointed. Let us all wish him well and pray for his success.