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| 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
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