MANILA, Philippines - Labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) urged the government to revive the tripartite safety patrol and conduct surprise inspections in all construction work sites particularly government-funded projects nationwide.
During the Construction Industry Tripartite Council (CITC) meeting on Tuesday, TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said it is alarming that all of the 112 workplaces inspected by the safety patrol in 2012 in Metro Manila, Regions, 3, 4-A, 7 and 11 have no trained safety officers.
He said that all sites inspected also have no functioning health and safety committees, no records of accidents and illnesses, no health personnel as well as health services, and no provision for sufficient and appropriate personal protective equipment.
The CITC is composed of labor groups, workers’ association, contractors and steered by the government. It tackles issues and concerns involving construction industry and recommends industry policies to the government and to the legislature.
Composed of employers’ group, labor unions and government’s occupational safety and health officers, the safety patrol was created by the department order of the Department of Labor and Employment in 2012, invoking the visitorial and enforcement prerogatives of the Secretary of Labor as mandated by the Labor Code of the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Gerard Seno, executive vice president of the Associated Labor Unions, said the revival of safety patrol will minimize workplace accidents.
"It is because whenever there are mishaps in the workplace, it’s the construction workers who are the ultimate loser--- they end up dead or disabled physically. But accidents can be minimized if government enforce the law and employers comply with the standards on a regular basis," Seno said.
He said the breakdown of labor standards at the construction workplace was highlighted by a blatant violation by the project owners and the project contractors over the collapse of wall of a warehouse building in Barangay Ilang-ilang in Guiguinto, Bulacan on January 19.
The accident left 12 construction workers dead, including a wife and a child, and injured three others.
Two weeks later the Bulacan building mishap, two workers were killed and eleven others were injured when the installed formworks above them collapsed while a ramp is being built in a building at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City. - By Denis Carcamo (philstar.com)
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Labor group also hits Abaya for ‘arrogance’
THE country’s largest labor organization tore into Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya Wednesday for being arrogant and insensitive to the plight of commuters after he remarked Monday that heavy traffic brought about by the extension of the city train system would not prove fatal.
“It is very unfortunate for the Filipino people to have Secretary Abaya as a public servant,” said a spokesman for the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa, Allan Tanjusay. “Not only has he been insensitive to the plight of the commuter, he has been inefficient and arrogant.”
Last year, the TUCP also criticized Abaya for remarking that riding the MRT was “a personal decision,” after his department came under fire over safety concerns when a commuter train shot off its tracks and landed on a major thoroughfare, injuring 40 people.
“Riding MRT is a personal decision. I won’t go out of my way to convince the people to ride. We all make our own decisions. It’s a free country,” Abaya said at the time.
On Tuesday, the leftist Bagong Alyasang Makabayan said Abaya follows the footsteps of President Benigno Aquino III when it comes to being insensitive to the plight of the people.
“For Abaya, the traffic situation is not fatal. Neither are the long lines and decrepit trains of the MRT and LRT. Everything is well as far as they’re concerned,” said Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr.
Hundreds of Facebook and Twitter users expressed their disgust at Abaya, saying it would be better for him to resign.
Abaya’s latest statement came days after the Metro Manila Development Authority warned that the traffic buildup would worsen when the expansion of the LRT starts next month. - By Joel E. Zurbano / Manila Standard Today
“It is very unfortunate for the Filipino people to have Secretary Abaya as a public servant,” said a spokesman for the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa, Allan Tanjusay. “Not only has he been insensitive to the plight of the commuter, he has been inefficient and arrogant.”
Last year, the TUCP also criticized Abaya for remarking that riding the MRT was “a personal decision,” after his department came under fire over safety concerns when a commuter train shot off its tracks and landed on a major thoroughfare, injuring 40 people.
“Riding MRT is a personal decision. I won’t go out of my way to convince the people to ride. We all make our own decisions. It’s a free country,” Abaya said at the time.
On Tuesday, the leftist Bagong Alyasang Makabayan said Abaya follows the footsteps of President Benigno Aquino III when it comes to being insensitive to the plight of the people.
“For Abaya, the traffic situation is not fatal. Neither are the long lines and decrepit trains of the MRT and LRT. Everything is well as far as they’re concerned,” said Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr.
Hundreds of Facebook and Twitter users expressed their disgust at Abaya, saying it would be better for him to resign.
Abaya’s latest statement came days after the Metro Manila Development Authority warned that the traffic buildup would worsen when the expansion of the LRT starts next month. - By Joel E. Zurbano / Manila Standard Today
Monday, August 17, 2015
Groups back QC councilor move to ‘avert’ Canadian waste dumping at Payatas
Environmental groups on Monday said it supports the call of a member of the Quezon City Council to disallow the use of the Payatas Sanitary Landfill for wastes coming from other countries.
Councilor Dorothy Delarmente of First District of Quezon City recently filed a resolution which expressed strong disapproval against any plan to dispose of or dump foreign wastes at the Quezon City Landfill.
At least 24 environmental groups and several labor groups said the proposed resolution will serve as a deterrent against any move to dump Canadian wastes at the city’s controlled landfill.
The Payatas Sanitary Landfill used to be an open dumpsite before the Quezon City government started rehabilitation in 2001 following the death of 218 people, mostly residents who live at shanties around the foot of the mountain of garbage that collapsed only July 1, 2000 after days of unusually excessive rainfall.
Backing the City Council’s approval of the resolution were Quezon City-based groups, such as Ang NARS; Arugaan; Associated Labor Unions-TUCP; Bangon Kalikasan Movement; Ban Toxics; Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-NCR; Citizens’ Organizations Concerned with Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability; EcoWaste Coalition; Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives; Green Convergence; Greenpeace; Health Care Without Harm; Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment; Mother Earth Foundation; Oceana Philippines; Piglas Kababaihan; Public Services Labor Independent Confederation; Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa; WomanHealth Philippines; and Zero Waste Philippines. - by Jonathan L. Mayuga / Business Mirror
Councilor Dorothy Delarmente of First District of Quezon City recently filed a resolution which expressed strong disapproval against any plan to dispose of or dump foreign wastes at the Quezon City Landfill.
At least 24 environmental groups and several labor groups said the proposed resolution will serve as a deterrent against any move to dump Canadian wastes at the city’s controlled landfill.
The Payatas Sanitary Landfill used to be an open dumpsite before the Quezon City government started rehabilitation in 2001 following the death of 218 people, mostly residents who live at shanties around the foot of the mountain of garbage that collapsed only July 1, 2000 after days of unusually excessive rainfall.
Backing the City Council’s approval of the resolution were Quezon City-based groups, such as Ang NARS; Arugaan; Associated Labor Unions-TUCP; Bangon Kalikasan Movement; Ban Toxics; Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-NCR; Citizens’ Organizations Concerned with Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability; EcoWaste Coalition; Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives; Green Convergence; Greenpeace; Health Care Without Harm; Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment; Mother Earth Foundation; Oceana Philippines; Piglas Kababaihan; Public Services Labor Independent Confederation; Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa; WomanHealth Philippines; and Zero Waste Philippines. - by Jonathan L. Mayuga / Business Mirror
Groups back QC councilor move to ‘avert’ Canadian waste dumping at Payatas
Environmental groups on Monday said it supports the call of a member of the Quezon City Council to disallow the use of the Payatas Sanitary Landfill for wastes coming from other countries.
Councilor Dorothy Delarmente of First District of Quezon City recently filed a resolution which expressed strong disapproval against any plan to dispose of or dump foreign wastes at the Quezon City Landfill.
At least 24 environmental groups and several labor groups said the proposed resolution will serve as a deterrent against any move to dump Canadian wastes at the city’s controlled landfill.
The Payatas Sanitary Landfill used to be an open dumpsite before the Quezon City government started rehabilitation in 2001 following the death of 218 people, mostly residents who live at shanties around the foot of the mountain of garbage that collapsed only July 1, 2000 after days of unusually excessive rainfall.
Backing the City Council’s approval of the resolution were Quezon City-based groups, such as Ang NARS; Arugaan; Associated Labor Unions-TUCP; Bangon Kalikasan Movement; Ban Toxics; Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-NCR; Citizens’ Organizations Concerned with Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability; EcoWaste Coalition; Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives; Green Convergence; Greenpeace; Health Care Without Harm; Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment; Mother Earth Foundation; Oceana Philippines; Piglas Kababaihan; Public Services Labor Independent Confederation; Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa; WomanHealth Philippines; and Zero Waste Philippines. - by Jonathan L. Mayuga / Business Mirror
Councilor Dorothy Delarmente of First District of Quezon City recently filed a resolution which expressed strong disapproval against any plan to dispose of or dump foreign wastes at the Quezon City Landfill.
At least 24 environmental groups and several labor groups said the proposed resolution will serve as a deterrent against any move to dump Canadian wastes at the city’s controlled landfill.
The Payatas Sanitary Landfill used to be an open dumpsite before the Quezon City government started rehabilitation in 2001 following the death of 218 people, mostly residents who live at shanties around the foot of the mountain of garbage that collapsed only July 1, 2000 after days of unusually excessive rainfall.
Backing the City Council’s approval of the resolution were Quezon City-based groups, such as Ang NARS; Arugaan; Associated Labor Unions-TUCP; Bangon Kalikasan Movement; Ban Toxics; Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-NCR; Citizens’ Organizations Concerned with Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability; EcoWaste Coalition; Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives; Green Convergence; Greenpeace; Health Care Without Harm; Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment; Mother Earth Foundation; Oceana Philippines; Piglas Kababaihan; Public Services Labor Independent Confederation; Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa; WomanHealth Philippines; and Zero Waste Philippines. - by Jonathan L. Mayuga / Business Mirror
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)