Shortage of construction workers traced to low pay, poor access to certification

TUCP President Raymond Mendoza
(TUCP Party-List / MANILA BULLETIN)

Low pay, meager benefits, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, and poor access to certification are some of the causes of shortage of construction workers in the country, a labor group said.

“It’s true that we have shortage of construction workers. Though we have plenty of certified, skilled and world class construction workers but due to meager salary, poor benefits, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, and lowly regarded workers they prefer to work abroad,” said Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) President Raymond Mendoza in a statement.

“After a few months of training and actual field experience here because they are dignified there, they are given higher salary and benefits there, and are given free decent housing and paid vacation,” he added.
The TUCP estimates that there are three million construction workers nationwide. However, only about one million of them are certified.

“We are currently experiencing “skill and brain drain” phenomenon because of this bad treatment of our construction workers. The nation is losing fast its vast and excellent reserves of construction manpower to higher pay and attractive benefits offered by companies abroad,” said Mendoza.

“We have a vast pool of highly, multi-skilled and fine craftsmen but also because of lack of training facilities and poor access to certification programs we do not tap them to become potentials for the country’s build, build, build programs. Many of them even have to pay, fall in long line and travel far just to access national certification,” he added.

The labor group proposed to raise the minimum wage of construction workers from the current P500 to P800 per day and improve their benefits.

“Construction workers even purchase their own personal protective equipment, buy their own drinking water, pay for their food, and given a dirty and bad sleeping quarters during the whole duration of the construction project,” said Mendoza.

Mendoza said that the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program can help raise the “dignity” of the construction workers.

“There seems to be no pride and no dignity being a construction worker nowadays. But President Duterte’s Build, Build, Build program is an opportunity to address that and raise the dignity of our construction working people through a functioning and sustained government policy,” said Mendoza. - By Analou De Vera

TUCP: Wage hike will help solve shortage of construction workers

In Photo: Workers out on a break at a construction site in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. 

The country’s largest labor group on Friday said a P300-wage hike will help solve the shortage of construction workers.

In a statement, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) President Raymond Mendoza attributed the lack of new workers in the construction industry to low pay.

“The TUCP is also proposing to raise the minimum wage for construction workers from the current minimum of P500 a day to a minimum P800 a day,” Mendoza said.

The labor leader said this should be coupled with better working and living standards of construction workers.

Due to their law pay in the country, TUCP said Filipino construction workers tend to look for employment opportunities abroad.

“We are currently experiencing ‘skill and brain drain’ phenomenon because of this bad treatment of our construction workers,” Mendoza said.

Also contributing to the scarcity of construction workers, TUCP said, is the lack accessibility of training facilities and access to certification programs for construction jobs.

“Based on different government statistics, the TUCP estimates there are 3 million construction workers nationwide and only around 1 million of them are certified,” Mendoza said.

TUCP issued the statement after President Rodrigo R. Duterte said in a speech last Thursday blamed labor shortage as one of the reason for the delays in the government’s numerous infrastructure projects under its Build, Build, Build program. - By Samuel P. Medenilla 

Hanjin ‘nationalization’ draws support from TUCP

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines on Saturday expressed support for the proposed partial nationalization of the Hanjin NJIN shipyards at Subic by the Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.

In a statement, the TUCP said there is a need to emphasize a Philippines-first strategy to ensure that Hanjin is rehabilitated under Philippine management, perhaps through a management contract with the Philippine Navy.

“TUCP reminds the five creditor banks of Hanjin that national security interests and saving the jobs of Filipino workers makes economic sense. We urge the creditor banks to be prudent and cautious in their rush to look for a “white knight” investor lest they unwittingly actually compromise our national security and open us up to a “hostile dragon,” TUCP president Rep. Raymond Mendoza said.

The big labor group said that there are natural ups-and-downs in the shipbuilding industry, saying that when demand for ships once more increases, the Philippines will have world-class workers and a world-class shipyard ready and perfectly positioned to take advantage of the renewed demand.

“Only recently, the Philippine Coast Guard acquired three modern fast patrol craft from a French firm. This is proof that there is an existing market as under the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program, our naval fleet and coast guard fleet have to be modernized to fight smuggling and the threat of terrorism,” Mendoza said.

He said that instead of buying ships from the French or the Israelis, the Philippines can produce ships in Subic, and improve the internal capacity to equip the country.

“In the process we also save the jobs of Filipino workers in Hanjin,” Mendoza added.

“TUCP insists that if there are any existing corporate liabilities that is due to the workers earlier laid off, the creditor banks must proritize this. Again, we caution the creditors from following the path of least resistance and trying to cut off the assets of Hanjin into pieces and selling it at a firesale at discount rates. We fear the creditors may pick an investor to step up and come in who will begin by laying off the remaining workers, who will lower occupational safety and health standards to bring down operational costs, or who will re-classify existing regular workers as contractual labor. These are highly-skilled workers so let us make use of their strategic value as a specialized team. Let us put Filipino worker interests first also,” he said.

While the five creditor banks have pledged that they will “coordinate,” the TUCP proposes that an interagency team be established to firm up the rescue efforts to refloat the Hanjin operations.

“TUCP believes that the international goodwill of the Filipino seafarers should also be tapped to mobilize the international manning agencies and the shipping lines to market the services of Hanjin abroad,” Mendoza added.

Gov’t takeover of Hanjin backed

BEFORE DEFAULT Cranes operate at the Hanjin shipyard in Subic weeks before it was forced to retrench workers after defaulting on its debts. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) backed Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s proposal to take over the cash-strapped Hanjin shipyard, one of the biggest employers in the country.

TUCP president Raymond Mendoza, who is also the union’s party-list representative, said the move would not only save jobs, but also develop the country’s potential in the shipbuilding industry.

“These are highly skilled workers so let us make use of their strategic value as a specialized team. Let us put the Filipino workers’ interests first,” Mendoza said.
Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines employed around 19,000 Filipino workers in 2017, but declared bankruptcy on Jan. 8 after defaulting on $412 million in local loans.

Hanjin’s local creditors — Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Metrobank, Bank of the Philippine Islands and Banco de Oro — are now suing to recoup their exposures.


Local ships

But since the country is ordering ships from overseas to build up its naval and coast guard fleets, Lorenzana suggested on Wednesday that the government take over the troubled shipbuilder.

“This is really perfect for us,” he said. “We are actually ordering ships from abroad and if you can take this over then we can build our own ships here.”

“I said ‘why not take over Hanjin and give it to the Navy to manage?’ So I brought this idea to the President and he is very receptive to the idea,” Lorenzana said.

Mendoza supported Lorenzana’s proposal and said Hanjin’s financial woes has already caused it to cut its work force to only about 3,800 this month from a peak of 30,000 in 2016.

In December alone, more than 7,000 workers were laid off from the shipyard.

Mendoza said a government takeover would not only stop the layoffs, but would also position the country as a world-class shipbuilding nation.

Increasing demand

“When demand for ships increases once more, and it will, the Philippines will have world-class workers and a world-class shipyard ready and perfectly positioned,” Mendoza said.

But some of the country’s economic managers are not receptive to the idea.

“The role of government is to provide defense, national security, and peace and order. It’s not to do the direct production of whatever they use,” said Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. - By: Jovic Yee - Reporter / @jovicyeeINQ