Employers vow to respect labor rights, promote workers’ welfare as they, together with government, strive to preserve and create a million jobs amid the pandemic.
But they also noted this goal could only be achieved if the economy is opened and restrictions are eased.
These highlighted the culmination yesterday of the 42nd National Conference of Employers (NCE) organized by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) which along with private and public sector signed a covenant titled “Reform. Rebound. Recover. One Million Jobs for 2021.”
Ferdinand Ferrer, ECOP trustee, sees this agreement as a great contribution to the nation’s recovery as it removes “major impediments in hiring workers for select groups…to produce hundreds and thousands of immediate jobs.”
Ferrer, however, noted achieving this goal has its challenges, “one of which is the prevailing community quarantines that provide limitations and restrictions on worker mobility and goods.”
“These challenges will require the support of the government in the form of health programs, logistics, and even incentives, amongst others. To generate a million jobs, you will also require the opening of the economy to create demand,” he added.
The project partnership aims to immediately source Filipino talent for deployment in the construction, manufacturing, particularly in semiconductor and electronics, tourism and hospitality and export service industry, under a policy environment that would help create jobs all over the country.
ECOP also adopted three resolutions where they committed to continue to respect workers’ rights and comply with existing labor policies and health standards and to regular social dialogues and constructive engagement with workers and government to push for reforms in the business environment, rebound from economic recession, and recover from the ill effects of the pandemic as one Filipino nation;
But the group also noted the need for government to take decisive action and formulate effective national policies that would strike a balance between prioritizing lives and promoting livelihood.
Foremost, ECOP sees the need to address vaccine hesitancy and to ramp up vaccination,
They also called on the need to focus on job creation instead of giving additional paid holidays or leaves as well as genuine representation of employers and workers in tripartite bodies. Irma Isip
