President Rodrigo Duterte left Francisco Bangoy International Airport here Monday afternoon to meet his counterparts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the State of Qatar up to April 16.
Workers of Korean-owned Shin Sun Tropical Fruit Co. in Compostela town, Compostela Valley stopped work to condemn the illegal dismissal of 53 workers and the non-remittance of basic worker’s benefits.
“The DO 174 does not end, but further legitimizes contractualization. By signing this DO, the DOLE has deliberately rejected Filipino workers’ demands to end all forms of contractualization,” Jerome Adonis, KMU secretary general, said in a statement.
Militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno said its dialogue with President Duterte on Monday failed to break the “deadlock” between the workers and the Department of Labor and Employment on the issue of contractualization.
Members of the public transport group Transport of Southern Mindanao for Solidarity, Independence and Nationalism expressed fears of losing their means of livelihood when the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board implements its Jeepney Modernization Plan.
The Department of Labor and Employment in the region is targeting unemployed workers aged 18 to 24 years old as beneficiaries for its Jobstart program in a bid to address job mismatch and unemployment.
The militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno urged Congress to drop two provisions in the Labor Code of the Philippines which they said promote contractualization of labor.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Labor Ministers’ Retreat and the 10th Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Migrant Workers will review a Declaration signed ten years ago which provided for the rights of migrant workers.
The government will be issuing a new labor policy aimed at modifying, not ending, the present labor contractualization laws.
Calling it as “immediate relief” for low wage earners, Jerome Adonis, secretary-general of KMU and convener of the All Workers Unity, said it is high time that a national minimum wage of P750 for workers in the private sector and P16,000 for government workers should be implemented.
