Extended or modified ECQ? #BalikTrabahongLigtas, an equitable new normal is what we want – labor group

Today, the president is expected to announce his decision on what to do with the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

For the Nagkaisa! labor coalition, to extend or to modify the ECQ are false choices for the working class. Sadly government is unable to display ability to provide the requirements for either of these two options.

Should the lockdown be extended due to the fact that the virus has yet to be contained, workers have to face the reality that the government has been consistently failing to provide its promised aid to the poor and the near poor, many of whom they mistakenly categorize as the “middle class.”

After 5 weeks of lockdown, the president himself, in his latest report to Congress, admitted that only 49% of the target beneficiaries were actually provided with its minimal aid. Majority of the people in need, in other words, are getting more frustrated of the slow, intricate and short-circuited administration of the promised aid.

Should the lockdown be modified to allow some workers back to work, workers also face the grim reality that both the government and many employers have yet to prove that they can actually provide a safe working environment for everyone as the level of protection, even for our frontliners and those who were allowed to remain working in essential establishments, are sorely lacking.

Asking workers to return to work without the most effective mass testing method may end up wasting whatever gains we had during the quarantine.

In effect, government and employers are irresponsibly gambling with the lives of the working class to save the inequitable economy that we have.

This is why, before we even talk of what to do with ECQ, Nagkaisa is pressing for the following demands:

1. Show the public a clear action battle plan not only for defeating the virus but also in protecting the people from the impacts of economic recession

2. Provide universal support like an income guarantee equivalent to the prevailing minimum wage or P10k whichever is higher to avoid the bureaucratic bottlenecks created by targeted support.

3. Improve protection to all our health workers who are disproportionately victimized by the virus and start building up the public health care delivery by hiring full time healthcare workers and regularizing all HCWs under contract of service arrangements.

4. Release a DOLE Department Order that would mandate the employers to negotiate with unions or workers’ representatives practical and realistic Covid-19 protocols, most importantly a PCR-based massive testing as against the rapid antibody test being promoted by the business sector; provision of PPEs, regular workplace disinfection, and providing paid quarantine leaves when needed.

5. Ensure free medical services should workers be infected.

The administration should address these challenges in the soonest possible time. Nangkaisa! also calls on government to consult with trade unions and other people’s organizations — listen to their calls and work with them in addressing the challenges of this pandemic.

Clearly, we can no longer go back to normal. Returning back to depressed working conditions without labor rights protection is not what we envision.

If we are to restart the economy, we might as well build a better one, an economy that is equitable enough to ensure that everyone shares the fruits of economic developments, and sustainable enough to mitigate even the impacts of climate change and future pandemics.

Nagkaisa! is set to unveil is comprehensive proposals before May 1.

#BalikTrabahongLigtas

PRESS STATEMENT
NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition
April 23, 2020

Labor group seeks bigger fund for CAMP

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to pump in additional funds to the Covid-19 Adjustment Measure Program (CAMP) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) that provides a one-time P5,000 cash assistance to private sector workers displaced by the coronavirus pandemic.

“If it is true that the funds for CAMP have been depleted, topping that off with additional funds would be simpler and more logical for after all, MSMEs’ employees are the priority under CAMP,” TUCP said, referring to micro, small and medium enterprises.

It pointed out that hundreds of thousands of CAMP applications have been processed.

“The Department of Finance’s (DoF) wage subsidy which involves too many agencies — the DoF, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Social Security System (SSS) — and makes it complicated for small businesses and workers to qualify, will not address the urgency of the need to provide subsidy to the workers,” the group warned.

On April 16, the Labor department announced it would no longer accept applications for CAMP because the funds allotted for the program have been depleted.
It said that 264,154 workers benefited under CAMP.

As of April 12, 2020, the number of displaced formal sector workers nationwide had reached more than a million while affected workers in the informal sector needing assistance numbered close to quarter of a million.

The TUCP said that continuing with the CAMP program was more practical because of its simplified process.

“In fact the reason the CAMP application requirements were simplified was in recognition of the prevailing informality of work arrangement in MSMEs including the absence or non-updating of Social Security System records or remittances,” it said.

TUCP Vice President Luis Corral warned that SSS funds were considered private, held in trust by the government.

The use of SSS funds, which comes from the contributions of employees and employers, is set by law and its use is further subject to Board approval,” he said. - By William Depasupil, TMT

Govt urged to shell out more funds for workers than big biz after ECQ

Philstar file photo

Labor groups on Sunday said the government will have to shell out more funds to support workers, rather than big businesses, if it intends to allow limited resumption of the latter’s operations after the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

This as the government is already struggling to get more funding for its existing aid for workers, who were affected by the lockdown that halted activities mainly in the service sector.

A statement by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), however, made it clear the government-backed labor organization is behind the labor department’s proposal to allow some businesses to resume operations.

But according to TUCP Spokesman Alan Tanjusay, employees who will still be barred going to work should receive government aid.

During the weekend, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it recommends 30 percent of the work force of a company be allowed to return to work once the ECQ is lifted May 1. The DOLE proposes an additional 20 percent of the total work force return to work by June and, by July, total employees that have returned to work should be 75 percent.

“With the regards to the remaining 70 percent who may be unable to work [in May], government will have to provide them another round of subsidy for the duration,” Tanjusay said.

Nearly spent
Last week, the labor department stopped accepting applications for its Covid-19 adjustment measures program, which is a one-time P5,000 cash aid program the government gives to workers during the lockdown. The DOLE said only 20 percent of the P1.6-billion budget for the program it calls “Camp” remains.

The labor department said prior to stopping the acceptance of application, 80 percent of the money, or about P1,320,770,000, has been given to an estimated 264,154 individuals. The DOLE said it is still awaiting approval of an additional P2.5 billion it requested from the Department of Budget and Management.

The labor department, however, said even with the additional funds, it couldn’t provide the cash-subsidy to more than a million workers who applied for Camp.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said they already endorsed the applications they could no longer accommodate to the Department of Finance (DOF) to be covered by its planned wage subsidy program for an estimated 3 million workers.

Bello said they will be pushing for a post-recovery plan that aims to stop the mass displacement of workers from establishments affected by the 45-day lockdown expected to be lifted before midnight of April 30.

Worker protection
Tanjusay said government must ensure the necessary occupational safety and health standards should be in place to ensure workers will be protected from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). He said workers should be given personal protective equipment (PPE) for free.

He added that Filipinos who will be required to go to work after the lockdown but placed under quarantine, get infected by the virus or die should get compensation from the government and their company.

Partido Manggagawa (PM) Chairman Renato Magtubo said this and other policies for ensuring worker protection should be contained in a new order from the labor department.

Without such stipulated safeguards, Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) Secretary General Joshua Mata said workers will be putting their lives at risk when they go to work after the ECQ.

“Before DOLE talks about lifting the lockdown, they should first clarify how would workers be protected when they go back to work,” Mata said.

He added they intend to raise these issues during the meeting of labor groups with labor officials this week.

Business focused

RFM Corp. President and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria A. Concepcion III has been pushing for a selective quarantine in in Luzon to allow some businesses in Luzon to resume after the expected lifting of the ECQ next month.

However, members of the labor coalition Nagkaisa, which includes TUCP, PM, and Sentro, criticized the pronouncement saying the government still lacks the capacity to conduct Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the hundreds of citizens who are expected to return to work.

Nagkaisa members said workers should be made to undergo the lab-based test rather than the rapid-test kits, which they deemed a less reliable way of testing if a person is infected by Covid-19.

“Without this method of mass testing, the ‘Concepcion proposal’ can only be considered as safe for business but not for the workers,” Nagkaisa said.

It also slammed Albay Representative Jose Sarte Salceda’s proposal to allocate P350 billion to serve as “bailout package for big corporations.”

“Why bail out big business when they forever have access to local and international capital markets?” Nagkaisa said.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is expected to finalize this week the policies on the “new normal” in the aftermath of the ECQ. This may include which businesses will be allowed to resume after the lifting of lockdown measures. By Samuel P. Medenilla

Workers displaced by COVID may be 4 million

Alan Tanjusay, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines spokesman, said the Department of Labor and Employment could be under-reporting the number of COVID-affected workers. Michael Varcas

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s largest labor group yesterday expressed belief that the actual number of displaced workers nationwide could be as high as four million.

Alan Tanjusay, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) spokesman, said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) could be under-reporting the number of COVID-affected workers.

“While the DOLE reported about 1.2 million, in our estimates, the affected workers in Luzon are around 2.5 million to four million,” Tanjusay said.

He added that TUCP and other labor groups are already conducting surveys to determine the actual number of displaced workers and whether they were provided financial assistance by DOLE or the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Tanjusay pointed out that the high number of displaced workers is expected because the lockdown affected almost all job generating sectors in the country.


“What we are surprised at is the apparent attempt by DOLE and other government agencies to make the number of displaced workers appear at a minimum despite a Luzon-wide lockdown,” he said.

He also said DOLE lacks the rigor and urgency to provide safety nets for affected workers. Aside from this, DOLE is not given much latitude in the inter-agency task force, he added.

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) claimed that DOLE is downplaying the number of affected workers to justify the big gap in the distribution of cash aid.

It doubted the agency’s report that indicated only 3.57 percent of 28 million workers employed in the formal sector were affected by the lockdown.

“The number merely represents a small fraction of the wage and salaried workers in the country and therefore can be interpreted as ‘insignificant’ as far as the lockdown impact is concerned,” PM said.

“Obviously that is not what we’re seeing at ground level as most of our workers, except state employees and those in few large corporations who are still under payroll, are employed in less protected and monitored micro enterprises,” the group said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said 12,970 distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were repatriated amid the COVID-19 pandemic as 822 seafarers arrived from the US and Barbados yesterday.

The Filipino crew of MS Norwegian Epic, MS Marina and MS Norwegian Spirit arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on two separate chartered flights and went through the mandatory quarantine inspection and briefing conducted by the Department of Health-Bureau of Quarantine (DOH-BOQ).

Those of Norwegian Epic and Marina will undergo a 14-day facility-based quarantine while those of Norwegian Spirit will undergo home quarantine, the DFA said.

Since April 1, the Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) for Norwegian Epic and Spirit and Oceania Cruises for Marina spent for the repatriation of over 3,670 of its Filipino seafarers all over the world while Oceania Cruises took care of repatriating 189 Filipino seafarers, with assistance from DFA. – Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star ) With Pia Lee-Brago