THE Nagkaisa Labor Coalition (Nagkaisa) yesterday pressed Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma to set a long-sought dialogue between President Marcos and the workers’ sector to discuss pending labor issues.
In a statement, Nagkaisa said they are once again asking Laguesma to work on setting up a dialogue even though the Labor Day celebration is over.
“We are calling on the Marcos administration to take concrete actions to address the issues and concerns of workers,” said Nagkaisa.
“We are urging Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma to schedule a meeting with President Marcos Jr.,” it added.
Last month, the labor sector slammed Marcos for opting to meet United States President Joe Biden during the celebration of Labor Day on May 1.
In defense of Marcos, Laguesma assured the workers that they are not being ignored, and that a dialogue remains possible “at the right time.”
Nagkaisa said the dialogue is imperative as there is a need for Marcos to know which steps are necessary to address the recommendations of the International Labor Organization (ILO) – High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM).
It stressed that this is because the issuance of Executive Order 23 (EO 23) does not adhere to the recommendations of the ILO – HLTM.
“The current EO23 fails to address the significant problems that workers face in exercising their freedom to form unions or associations,” said the group.
“Trade union leaders can present personally the proposed amendments to the EO and other suggestions in order to improve the situation of workers,” added Nagkaisa.
According to Laguesma, Marcos is aware of the pressing labor concerns, resulting into the issuance of EO 23 creating an inter-agency body to look into labor issues.
But according to the labor sector, the lack of representation from workers and employers in the inter-agency committee means that EO 23 has skewed from the ILO-HLTM’s recommendations.
