Aquino has not achieved anything to uplift the lives of the workers - TUCP

MALACAÑANG dismissed Monday the allegation of a labor group that the Aquino administration has not achieved anything to uplift the lives of the workers.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that the government has been trying to address the labor issues being raised by different groups, such as the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

He said some of them might not be fully satisfied with what the government has been doing, "but we have certainly addressed a number if not most of the issues that they have raised; and we will continue to do so.

"I will certainly disagree with them that we have not done anything to improve the plight of workers in this country," he added.

Lacierda said that the Department of Labor and Employment has beefed up the labor standards and has made sure that employers complied with the law.

He also cited that since 2010, the number of strikes per year has been limited to less than 10.

"In 2014, for example, out of 159 notices of strike and lockout, only two finally pushed through. This is a result of the agency’s efforts in implementing the Single Entry Approach or SEnA, through which filed labor cases go through a 30-day conciliation-mediation period," the Palace official added.

TUCP has said that they would stop holding dialogue with the government as what they used to do in time for Labor Day, May 1.

The group has said that there was "no substantial progress" on the issues that they have raised during the past five years of the Aquino government.

TUCP is one of the members of Nagkaisa, an organization of labor federations planning to mobilize some 25,000 people for a protest march on Labor Day.

Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said the march from España to Mendiola in Manila will start at 8 a.m.

Simultaneous protests will also be held in Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Cavite and parts of Southern Tagalog. - SunStar (SDR/FP/Sunnex)