Labor groups calls for national action plan vs. COVID-19

PREVENTIVE MEASURES. Employees and visitors of the Manila City Hall wait for their temperature to be checked on March 9, 2020, as part of the city's precautionary measures against the novel coronavirus. Photo by Ben Nabong/Rappler

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has called for a national action plan in winning the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In a statement, TUCP vice president Luis Corral said the national action plan should involve a massive information drive and interventions in communities and workplaces to prevent community-to-community transmission.

TUCP also called on the labor department to immediately convene all national and regional industry tripartite councils (ITCs) to do rapid impact assessments, identify risks, design and implement industry specific COVID-19 mitigation and prevention measures to save lives and jobs.

The group said the ITC is composed of employers and the workers from the industry and they know what the actual situation on the ground is.

They added that COVID-19 should not be used as a convenient excuse to justify lay-offs or closures.

“At this time, social dialogue, social partnership, and cooperation between employers and workers is the key in saving jobs through various measures like telecommuting, working from home, flexible work arrangements, or job rotations if necessary,” Corral said.

“The industry should design self-quarantine for workers with symptoms without job displacement. Workers on self-quarantine should be covered by the Employee’s Compensation Commission (ECC) or SSS for wage protection. After all, the worker did not choose to be infected,” he added.

For workers-at-risk who are in the frontline like retail, such as fast-food chains workers who must deal with the public, TUCP said it is imperative that their employers provide them free-of-charge personal protective equipment, surgical masks, alcohol-based hand rubs, and access to washbasins and soap.

“This should be true for emergency responders, healthcare workers, tourism, travel and personal services workers, border security, airport and immigration services workers, teachers, prison guards and cleaners, and those declared as ‘essential personnel,’ by their respective offices,” Corral said.

TUCP said all employers should sanitize all surfaces in their company premises, provide facemasks and alcohol hand rubs as well as soap and hand washing facilities for their workers.

During this emergency, the group also appealed for urgent support from both the national and local governments, particularly for those who cannot go to work or are forced to stay at home.

“This is especially true for those in ‘no work, no pay’ arrangements. They are in real danger of losing their wages, thereby imperiling their lives and that of their families. Without money, they are at the mercy of COVID-19 and poverty,” Corral said.

“TUCP therefore calls for the realignment of the TUPAD (Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers) program of the DOLE to be allocated to address the needs of these workers,” he added. - By Leslie Ann Aquino

DOLE issues guidelines for employers amid coronavirus outbreak

The Department of Labor and Employment says employers can implement flexible working hours to avoid terminating employees or closing establishments

FLEXIBLE WORK. Metro Manila commuters wear face mask as protection from the coronavirus on February 3, 2020. Photo by Jire Carreon/Rappler 

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday, March 4, issued guidelines that employers should follow when implementing flexible working hours in response to the ongoing 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.

“The objective (of flexible working hours) is to help both employer and employees to get over the hump (caused by the coronavirus),” DOLE Undersecretary Ana Dione told reporters in a press conference on Wednesday.

DOLE said implementing flexible working hours was among the measures taken by the department to avoid “outright termination of employees” or “total closure” of establishments. (READ: A mess': Coronavirus economic impact on Philippines worse than projected)

According to Dione, implementing flexible working arrangements will not be mandatory for employers, who will have full say on whether or not to take such measures.

“The effectivity and implementation of any of the flexible work arrangements shall be temporary in nature, subject to the prevailing conditions of the company,” DOLE said.

Why this matters. Labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) earlier estimated some 7,000 layoffs and retrenchments could take place in the next 6 months amid the growing coronavirus outbreak crisis.

TUCP made the forecast after Philippine Airlines terminated 300 employees, citing losses incurred because of canceled flights due to coronavirus travel bans, which have severely impacted businesses. The group said other industries may follow suit and lay off non-essential workers.

Aside from flexible working arrangements, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said the department will also require regional and overseas labor offices to submit daily reports on workers displaced by the coronavirus outbreak. He likewise gave assurances affected workers will be provided livelihood and financial assistance.

LOOK: DOLE issues guidelines for employers implementing flexible working arrangements due to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak @rapplerdotcom pic.twitter.com/NGjKY9vHLA
— Sofia Tomacruz (@sofiatomacruz) March 4, 2020

What employers need to know. DOLE Department Advisory No. 1 series of 2020, issued on Wednesday, listed the following arrangements employers may consider:

Reduction of work hours and/or work days: Normal work hours or work days per week are reduced
Reduction of workers: Employees are rotated or alternately provided work within the week
Forced leave: Employees are required to go on leave for several days or weeks using leave credits

Meanwhile, DOLE urged employers and employees to discuss other possible alternative work arrangements to ease the effects of loss of income on employees.

Employers and employees will be responsible for administering and supervising flexible work arrangements should they opt to implement it, DOLE added.

If employers and employees disagree on the interpretation of the arrangements, DOLE said differences can be tackled under the company’s grievance system.

In cases where no system for dealing with grievances is in place, regional labor offices where workplaces are registered will have jurisdiction over conciliatory talks.

DOLE said employers who will implement flexible working arrangements must ensure documents are kept on record as proof the measure was adopted. Employers will also need to inform regional or provincial labor offices if flexible work arrangements are adopted. – Sofia Tomacruz Rappler.com

Workers’ groups urge gov’t, airlines to implement safety protocols for airport, seaport workers to curb coronavirus risk

As government authorities step up bio-security efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus, the Associated Labor Unions (ALU) has called on the government and airline industry players to ensure that safety and health protection protocols are working not just for passengers but also for cabin crew and airport employees.

The country’s biggest federation of unions said this is because these workers are the first line of defense against the spread of the transmittable coronavirus.

“One of the most difficult parts of the job for cabin crew in ensuring an orderly, safe, and healthy flight throughout the duration of the journey, for example, is to deal with difficult or unruly infected passengers,” ALU National Executive Vice President Gerard Seno said in a statement.

“To help workers perform under pressure, guarantees of enhanced protection from risk of exposure for these workers must be in place.”

Seno said there is also a need to make sure that workers have employment social protection insurance coverage and that emergency health facilities are provided considering the risks they face in performing their jobs.

The group also lauded the airlines for immediately issuing memoranda allowing cabin crew to wear company-provided protective face masks at the onset of the outbreak as primary protection against the risk of exposure to the virus, particularly on flights to and from at-risk destinations.

“We commend them for doing the right thing. These are measures that enhances the employees’ confidence and boosts their morale in doing their jobs under these unusual working days,” Seno said.

Meanwhile, Trade Union Congress of the Philipines (TUCP) President and TUCP party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza said government measures to minimize exposure to the virus should not only cover passengers but also airport and seaport personnel, including those manning immigration counters.

He proposed that passengers coming from cities that have been infected by the virus have a separate arrival passageway, and that arriving aircraft be directed to a separate landing area for possible fumigation. - By Leslie Ann Aquino

25% hazard pay for workers pushed in Taal Volcano danger zones

AMID the extraordinatrily dangerous situation caused by the Taal Volcano eruption, the labor sector has called for the payment of “hazard pay” corresponding to 25 percent of the basic pay of workers, including members of media, in the affected areas.

In this photo taken on January 17, 2020, workers sweep the ashfall from the pavement near the Binan City Materials and Recovery Facility (MRF) and load the carts of collected volcanic ash from the recent Taal volcano eruption to process them and turn them into cement bricks in Bian. Binan got coated with ash after nearby Taal Volcano erupted Sunday, but the local officials decided to put the dust to work rather than just cleaning it up. The fine grey powder is being mixed with locally collected plastic waste, as well as sand and cement, to form about 5,000 bricks per day. The blocks will be used for local building projects. / AFP / Maria TAN

The workers’ group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Saturday took the cudgels for the estimated 2,000 employees working in restaurants and hotels within Taal’s danger zone and about 1,000 journalists.

These workers, according to TUCP President Raymond Mendoza, are risking their lives in the performance of their duties and, as such, should be provided with added compensation in the form of hazard pay.

“Hazard is a dangerous phenomenon, substance, or human activity or condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of sources of livelihoods and services, social and economic,” he added.

Hazard pay is cash compensation to employees on top of their basic salary for rendering work under extraordinary conditions and circumstances that could result in death, serious injuries, sickness and disease, and handicap or debility.

“All employees, including rank-and-file, supervisors and managers working in all business establishments such as hotels, restaurants, casinos and spas, among others, which are located within the 14-kilometer danger zone, particularly Tagaytay City, have the right and are entitled to a minimum 25-percent hazard pay of their daily basic pay,” the group said.

It added that “reporters, cameramen, assistant cameramen, cab drivers and photographers who are covering the Taal volcano eruption and are working in the declared danger zone also have the same right and are similarly entitled to hazard pay whether they are under talent contract, or permanent, regular, contracual, seasonal, directly or agency-hired, freelance, or independently contracted.”

It stressed that working under extraordinary dangerous situations and the exposure to risk from the elements brought by the Taal Volcano explosion on January 12 were sufficient conditions for hazard pay.

TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay clarified that although there was no prevailing law, policy or department order in the country that regulated employers from giving their workers hazard pay, it was imperative upon business owners and employers’ management prerogative to give hazard pay to their employees considering the extraordinary circumstance in performing their duties and responsibilities.

“On other hand, employees can directly approach and request their employers to provide them with hazard pay,” said Tanjusay.

In the public sector, police, military, firemen and rescuers, including volcanologists and personnel from the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology, are automatically entitled to hazard pay based on the Civil Service Commission regulation and subsequent agency memorandum giving government personnel hazard pay ranging from 5 percent to 27 percent of their basic pay after rendering 50 percent of the total working hours of the month. - By William Depasupil, TMT