Business-employers groups and labor organizations proposed four courses of action that the Philippines should undertake to improve the country’s compliance to the International Labor Organization’s recommendations on the exercise of freedom of association and workers’ rights.
In a statement released yesterday, the Leaders Forum (LF) said the following should be considered: the regular convening of the Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) for the Protection of the Freedom of Association and Right to Organize of Workers; a national policy aligned with that of ILO on freedom of association; higher budget for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and; review of the functions of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
LF is composed of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. , representing employers, and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines , Federation of Free Workers and Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa.
The group reiterates its respect of freedom of association as guaranteed by the Philippine Constitution and articulated in ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize.
The LF also said it recognizes the positive steps being taken by the government, including a clear policy statement against any form of violence and harassment in the workplace and a commitment to protect workers’ right to freedom of association and resolve all labor-related cases filed.
But it said meaningful progress can be attained once those courses of action are considered when the government makes a tripartite implementation report to the ILO by September 1.
That report contains the progress of the implementation of the Philippines in implementing the recommendations of the ILO’s High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) in January 2023.
The HLTM noted “very little was done by the government to implement the ILO Committee on the Application of Standards/Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations in relation to extra judicial killings while monitoring bodies like the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council — Monitoring Body are weak and underfunded.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has since issued Executive Order No. 23 , establishing the IAC following the recommendations of the ILO HLTM .
But LF proposes the IAC convenes a regular quarterly interface, such as but not limited to consultations, updates, briefing sessions, or other similar mechanisms, with employers’ and workers’ representatives in the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC) and the LF, in the spirit of transparency, social dialogue, and sincere and genuine tripartism as state policy.
“ Such regular interface may also serve as a means to be updated and apprised on the progress made by the IAC in the discharge of its functions,” LF said.
For her part, PCCI president Enunina Mangio said employers and workers would like the IAC to have regular interface with employers and workers through the NTIPC as well as the LF “so that we may be apprised of all developments, especially with labor-related cases filed.”
The group also proposes to increase the budget of the CHR to ensure it has adequate resources to monitor labor-related human rights violations; provide witness protection until the case is resolved; and increase reparations and expedite their release to the families of victims of human rights violation.
“We reiterate our earlier call for government to continue the investigation, prosecution and disposition of all labor-related cases affecting freedom of association and collective bargaining, without delay and in the interest of justice,” LF said.
The LF said there is a need to review the continued operation of the NNTF-ELCAC on the basis of possible redundancy or overlapping functions with other agencies.
“We want to revisit their functions because there are already government agencies doing the supposed functions of the NTF-ELCAC,” Mangio said.
