PHL one of the worst places to work in – ITUC labor rights index

The Philippines is among the worst countries in the world for employees to work in, the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) said in a report.

On this matter, ITUC has lumped the Philippines with most Southeast Asian countries that failed the assessment on workers' rights.

But the Employers' Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) noted such label unjustly generalized the Philippines, saying such evaluations must be based on "empirical data."

ITUC's Global Rights Index assessed 139 countries on compliance with collective labor rights, as defined by International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions.

Countries were ranked from 1 (best) to 5 (worst) based on 97 indicators related to workers' rights. The evaluation was done from April 2013 to March 2014.

According to the Global Rights Index, the Philippines garnered a rating of 5, along with Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia.

Countries with the rating of 5 have laws that cover rights workers but are not effectively accessible, which expose laborers to autocratic regimes and unfair labor practices.

Unfair

The ITUC assessment is unfair, ECOP president Edgardo Lacson told GMA News Online in a phone interview, saying it "should be based on empirical data."

"[The country is] definitely not [the worst place to work in]. If that is true, then all Filipinos should be overseas Filipino workers," he said.

"The methodology is grounded in standards of fundamental rights at work, in particular the right to freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike," Sharan Burrow, ITUC general Secretary, said in the report.

Lacson said the condition of labor in the country is relative to the area covered. "As employers, we have the most rigid labor laws to protect workers," he claimed.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), which affirmed the assessment of the international trade organization, said Filipino workers face problems of tenure and security.

Health unemployment insurance?

"73 to 75 percent of the 39 million labor force is not regularized... who work as contractual... with 85 percent... not receiving lawful minimum wage," spokesperson Alan Tanjusay told GMA News Online in a text message.

"Without security of tenure, Filipino workers are also suffering from lack of social protection services provided by government," Tanjusay said.

Health and unemployment insurance are also not readily available to workers, he said.

The latest labor force survey, released by the National Statistics Office in January, showed the jobless rate in the Philippines went up to 7.5 percent – or 2.969 million jobless Filipinos – from 7.1 percent or 2.776 million a year earlier.

TUCP's Tanjusay said there is no assurance the unemployment rate will go down by the end of President Benigno Aquino III's term in 2016 and is expected to even rise.

"We anticipate unemployment will rise to 5 million due to the fact there are no new infrastructure to attract large investments that create jobs," he said, citing the high cost of power in the country.

Power rates in the Philippines remain one of the most expensive in Asia as government does not subsidize electricity, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said in September 2013.

A 2012 study by the International Energy Consultants (IEC) noted average electric rates in the Philippines, particularly the Manila Electric Company franchise, was the ninth highest among 44 selected distributors across the globe, and three times higher than Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia – which allocate subsidies to the power sector. – VS, GMA News

Solons want labor subjects be included in college curriculum

Lawmakers are pushing for the inclusion of labor subjects into the college social science curriculum.

"College students should equip themselves with knowledge about labor rights, works welfare and benefits, core labor standards, labor laws and regulations," Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza (Party-list, TUCP) said.

"These students will eventually be a part of the labor force and therefore should be coached the most important principles pertaining to the role of labor in the self-realization of a human being," Mendoza said.

House Bill 3205, authored principally by Mendoza, vice chairman of the House Committee on Labor and Employment, mandates the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to integrate labor subjects into the social science curriculum in the tertiary.

Mendoza said CHED should develop a course on labor education to be integrated in the tertiary education curriculum to inculcate among college students a sense of awareness on the rights, privileges as well as the responsibilities to society of workers.

Mendoza, who also chairs the House Committee on Poverty Alleviation, said there are about 2.6 million college students in the country.

The number of students enrolled in private universities and colleges are more than 1.6 million, while more than 820,000 are from state universities and colleges, he said.

He said local universities and colleges have 96,000 while the rest come from other higher education institutions of government.

Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara (Lone District, Aurora), another author of the bill, said labor issues would give students knowledge of the labor situation in the country and the current employment problem.

"The labor education should also include topics on national and global labor situation, labor market concerns, labor issues, overseas work and related problems," said Angara, chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education. - Jazmin S. Camero, Media Relations Service-PRIB