MANILA, Philippines - Labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Tuesday called on private and government agencies to adopt interim measures, such as implementing a flexi-time and flexi-work schemes, to maintain productivity of their workers.
TUCP also suggested that employers take the initiative to adjust their internal tardiness rules.
The group came up with the proposals as more workers' productivity has been affected by the daily traffic jams and deteriorating mass transport system in the metropolis.
TUCP also encouraged employers to employ a compressed four-day work week after consulting with their employees without cutting wages.
"Workers are making sacrificial adjustments already. They are waking up early and arriving home late. They are exposed to all kinds of pollution, stand in long queues, snugged in crowded MRT and LRT trains. And recently we are all victims of massive urban flooding. All these makes metro workers stressed upon arriving at their workplaces eventually affecting the quality output of workers in one way or the other. The need for flexible work arrangement acceptable to the workers and their employers,”TUCP-Nagkaisa Spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.
On the part of the government, Tanjusay said it must improve the environment by giving tax incentives to employers that would adopt the stress-minimizing and time-saving measures.
It can, in the meantime, also use its entire fleet of service vehicles including those in the government-owned and controlled corporations and government financial institutions in providing shuttle and carpooling for private and public sector workers.
He said it is also possible for companies in the export processing zones to construct mass housing for their workers within or near their plants and factories for employees to cut travel time. - By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)
