Kababaihang manggagawa ikinatuwa ang pagkakasabatas ng Expanded Maternity Leave

Ikinatuwa ng mga manggagawa ang pagiging batas ng Expanded Maternity Leave na nagtatakda ng 105 araw ng paid maternity leave benefits mula sa dating 60 o katumbas ng karagdagang 45 na araw. 

“Pinaghirapan itong itulak ng kababaihan, lalo ng kababaihang manggagawa kaya’t nararapat lamang angkinin ng kababaihan, kasama ang mga champions nito sa Kongreso at Senado, ang tagumpay ng labang ito,” pahayag ni Judy Ann Miranda ng Partido Manggagawa partylist (PM) na kasapi ng koalisyong Workers4EML. 

She added that "The lapse into law of the Expanded Maternity Leave is a hard-won victory for women workers. President Duterte could not muster the courage to sign it into law and it took fast and furious action from women workers and their champions in Congress to thwart the determined lobby of ECOP and the SSS for a veto. Now that the 105-day maternity leave benefit is a law, opportunists may want to claim it for themselves but it was the years-long advocacy and campaign of organized women and labor groups that gave birth to EML."  

Naging batas ang nasabing panukala matapos hindi i-veto ng Pangulo at mag-lapse into law kagabi sa kabila ng malakas na lobby laban dito ng mga employer at mismong ng SSS. 

“Kung hindi sa walang tigil na pagkilos, presyur at paglalamay ng kababaihang manggagawa at maralita sa pagtutulak ng batas na ito ay malamang nag-dalawang isip ang Palasyo na hayaang ito ay maging batas,” paliwanag pa ni Miranda. 

Bagamat naging batas na ay sinabi pa rin ng PM na maari pa itong paunlarin ng husto sa mga susunod na yugto ng laban at nang makahabol pa sa mas mataas na standard ng maternity benefits na umiiral na sa maraming bansa. ###

Photos of vigil last night at https://www.facebook.com/judy.chanmiranda/posts/10219174819950136?__xts__[0]=68.ARBtPdHXRsBRlsLcpzDGU_MBrLZ8wt3_vheskV62BelCFXWafpvAD81OpSs9Crc08nUC8qG99Gr6Ji7nssj-6qXhTqkfxijSFfRQFiJc2eziNe3F6js0PhY9kOVpcqoBIjHEwcdPgsNoXDCpjdgCjWDzSl0gHBo_iDK9ABCRqeZbJ5vhkCcK54tJoOz4WjAQemscKyC4mqLxEpSBxUSM21yoi9QNoeXAY_lfdTabYWnmyxBFgZLN9iFolaopL5grQ6O6BZmW45oYJ2K31614eK9qO-PGKDj0iWcaWAHfaaP_YGoJ5YoJFQRLFsftaK1FLmXiot7WcIxA6puHTyWD&__tn__=C-R

and 

Photos of Workers4EML action the other day at https://www.facebook.com/judy.chanmiranda/posts/10219162472841466?__xts__[0]=68.ARBXOd_Ezg_YUpZYLu7tWgpeRU2fuhPNAU8-OBAVI8iEEm8tY86kz4iyUJYj0WRi9v_mL0u_wBk6zf7cLuuXD_U33DLlDhd5pW8_MVLoz9EWIE5RBDjIDmRKHRnXGOfgva1FbWP1TpLt6M2vvobtbg5Bym0j6RCeUsF1ygtEqDK0utlqUDWEdP-GumAC_HfgVBYhat7a560zsbPU7SeoqqwEz7g9uh88pt2Ee3-SVoQQ7T8nRxMlrX8AseUtaeDbk9wzr_4wfBmgG3qivouPZkDp1Wep7ktfbwU-jZLKkdFE3M9M3fDhAchei3oti5x1dlZ2nDlyrUEradmUvXZl&__tn__=C-R

21 February 2019
Partido Manggagawa partylist

Women labor leaders urge Congress to pass the 100-Day Expanded Maternity Leave bill

Women labor leaders are urging the leadership and members of House of Representatives to pass the Expanded Maternity Leave (EML) bill before the Women’s Month ends and Congress goes on recess on March 22.

"It's about time that women workers enjoy this rightful benefit,” declared Judy Ann Miranda, Nagkaisa-Women spokesperson. 

Miranda, who is also the Secretary-General of Partido Manggagawa (PM), explained that the Philippines lags behind its ASEAN neighbors when it comes to protecting its mothers and their children. 

Vietnam provides 120-180 days of maternity leave depending on the working conditions and nature of work. Singapore provides 112 days while Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand surpassed ours with 84 days of paid maternity leave.   Likewise, a minimum of 98 days is prescribed under Convention 183 of the International Labor Organization (ILO). 

“Our current maternity leave law provides only for a 60-day leave which is inadequate and not even at par with international and regional standards,” said Miranda. 

The last time the number of paid maternity leave days was adjusted was in 1992. “The 100-day EML is therefore an improvement to say the least but women workers will never forget the fact that for over a quarter of a century, they were denied this necessary adjustment,” added Miranda. 

For Jessica de Ocampo of Workers4EML and Secretary-General of the Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. Labor Union (PMFTCLU), working mothers need to spend more TIME with their children to ensure that they receive optimum care. 

“Infants during the first six months of their lives should be fed with breast milk exclusively but the present law provides only for 60 days of maternity leave for normal delivery and 78 days for those who have undergone Caesarian operations. As it is, women workers are being asked to report back to work between two months or two and a half months from delivery,” said Ocampo. 

Reporting back to work that early, according to Ocampo, puts the health of mothers at risk and lessens the chances of working mothers to exclusively feed their children with breast milk. 

The proposed legislation also provides women with more relief in taking care of their babies in their first few months since even without an additional paternity leave, women can apportion some of their 100 days EML to their husband, partners or any other kin who would help them take care of their child. 

"Over the past decades, more and more women have entered the labor force. Yet as they take on more paid work, their reproductive and domestic role as primary care providers for their children and the rest of the family has not changed. This proposal is progressive as women will be able to share the responsibility of infant care with their significant other or relative,” said Ocampo.

Furthermore, according to Annie Geron, President of the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLink), more than half of public sector employees are women and they are predominant in essential care and social services like health and education. 

“Amid the rising expectations and mounting needs of the public for women workforce in frontline services, the EML will now ensure the health and well being of our women workers to enable them to deliver quality public services. EML is long over due and it is a just social investment not only for women but also for the present and future generation,” said Geron. 

Finally, the Nagkaisa! Labor coalition expressed appreciation on the efforts of Congresswoman Bernadette Herrera Dy, chairperson of the Committee on Women and Gender Equality and for the authors of the said bill for their commitment to have the bill passed. 

The group now urges the House leadership to ensure its passage before they go into a Lenten break week.

PRESS RELEASE

Nagkaisa! and Workers4EML

March 12, 2018

BPO’s asked to provide work-life balance for women workers

Press Release

March 23, 2015

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW)

With women’s month about to end, the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) called on the BPO industry to provide “women-friendly benefits in furtherance of work-life balance.” Rhejay Eusebio, ICCAW-NCR spokesperson, asserted that “BPO jobs are characterized by monotonous tasks, intense work and strict metrics. The competitive culture promoted in the BPO industry has led to work-life imbalance. This imbalance disproportionately impacts women employees who are breadwinners and with children.”

Specifically the group is asking BPO companies to provide child care facilities where employees can leave their children while at work. Also ICCAW is demanding that the industry take the lead in providing 120 days of pregnancy leave for women workers.

“My personal experience as a BPO worker for several years shows how family life is frequently sacrificed at the altar of work productivity,” Eusebio elaborated. She has a pending case at the National Labor Relations Commission for illegal dismissal. Eusebio is alleging she was fired without valid cause and due process after taking an emergency leave to take care of her sick daughter.

She insisted that “For sure, BPO companies will argue that these are costly benefits to provide. Yet BPO’s can very well afford these measures since it is a dollar-earning industry. BPO’s do not deserve to be called a sunshine industry if it cannot provide for above-average working conditions and labor standards.”

The BPO industry earns around USD 20 billion or almost PhP 1 trillion in revenues. Also it is estimated that there are more than a million BPO workers in the country. A survey in 2010 by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics found that some 54% of BPO workers are women. “I believe that many of these women BPO workers are either breadwinners for their families or with children to take care of. Thus women-friendly benefits are an imperative for the BPO industry,” Eusebio emphasized.

ICCAW was founded in Cebu in late 2012 as a result of the fight of workers of Direct Access, a call center that unceremoniously shutdown leaving its 600 employees without jobs and with unpaid wages and benefits. It has since then expanded its membership nationwide even as it sits as the labor representative in the Cebu City tripartite body on the ICT industry.

ICCAW seeks to be an industry-wide organization for employees in the call center and business process outsourcing sector (BPO), and be a voice for industry workers’ concerns, grievances, demands and interests. Among ICCAW’s platform is the call for industry-wide standards for wages, benefits and entitlements that must be well above the minimum mandated by law and commensurate to the profitable dollar-earning nature of the call center industry.