The labor group Partido
Manggagawa (PM) called on the Department and Labor and Employment (DOLE) and
the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to strictly enforce covid-19
health and safe protocols for workplaces as tens of thousands of workers are going
back to work with the reopening of industrial zones in the Calabarzon.
“We demand balik trabahong
ligtas. We know that ecozone workers are eager to go back to work since they
have suffered from the no work, no pay policies of employers and the
insufficient aid provided by the state. But workers should not be risking their
lives just to avert death from hunger,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national
chair.
He added that “In the new
normal, the ecozones are again acting like independent republics with their own
laws. The occupational risks for workers will be heightened by the silence of
the DOLE-DTI guidelines on enforcement and monitoring of the protocols that it
specified. The guidelines have no teeth!”
PM joined the labor coalition
Nagkaisa in expressing concern that a second wave of covid infection may occur without
mandating companies to institute robust health and safety measures for the
workers the moment they leave their homes to report for duty.
Echoing Nagkaisa’s position,
Magtubo said that “While the DOLE and the DTI issued joint guidelines on
preventing covid-19 infection among the workforce, the guidelines fall short of
ensuring a safe environment for workers. It doesn’t even prescribe penalties
for any violations.”
“Instead of guidelines, a Department
Order should have been issued to compel employers to negotiate with their
workers a comprehensive set of protocols to prevent covid and deal with it
effectively should it occur,” Magtubo explained.
Nagkaisa identified other major
lapses of the joint DTI and DOLE Guidelines as:
> Failure to identify
Sars-Cov-2 as an occupational hazard and Covid-19 as an occupational disease.
> No mandatory inspection
of companies to ensure their compliance, especially in terms of providing
physical distancing.
> No provision for paid
14-day quarantine leaves for workers who may end up being suspected of having
Covid-19.
“For the sake of the hundreds
of thousands of ecozone workers in the whole Calabarzon region, we ask that the
DOLE-DTI Guidelines be revised to make it more effective and with penalties for
violations,” Magtubo insisted.
May 16, 2020
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