OFW's, SEAFARER, LABOR ORGANIZATIONS AND EMPLOYMENT COLUMN...

Cong. Raymond Medoza, Jr. still positive for the approval of the Law to end contractualization. To lessen the impact of the Train Law and the high cost of living.

TUCP ASKS THE DoF TO PRODUCE CITIRA IMPACT ASSESSMENT STUDIES – FILIPINO WORKERS WANTS TO BE A PART OF THE NEGOTIATION

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) strongly urges the Government to bring the labor sector into the debate on the Corporate Income Tax and Incentive Rationalization Act or 
(CITIRA). Workers must have a place in the table to be consulted on CITIRA. To coldly dismiss job loss and capital flight as ordinary and temporary consequences of CITIRA and is the height of the insensitivity of the President’s economic managers. Creating more jobs and retaining the existing one, it should be the centerpiece of any economic reform. It should not just be about blind compliance and under the tutelage of World Bank as prescribed by the book.

Labor leader and AWATU- All Workers Alliance Trade Union National President and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Vice-Pres. Temistocles S. Dejon, Jr. at the podium.

“The hardships TRAIN 1 brought into the lives of minimum wage earners, who were sideswiped by the VAT and Excise taxes in the inflationary swell of unintended consequences brought about 
by its passage, and more recently in the cruel symmetry which cavalierly sacrificed 1.5 million Filipino rice farmers under a rice Tariffication Law intended to lower rice prices for the other 98
million of us have not even been looked into,” TUCP Vice-President Luis Corral said.

“The Filipino workers expected to change for the better from this Government. Not the veto on SOT bill, not the grueling traffic, not TRAIN 1 and definitely not jobs loss whether temporary or not. Job loss is job lost and a lost opportunity to earn with dignity. Workers deserve better. “To brush off job losses with a supposed provision of a PHP500 million safety net under CITIRA is like a bribe. 

Will it give jobs to those who will be displaced so their families can live decently? Definitely, NOT. Is there an assured job or replacement employment under CITIRA for those who would be displaced by it? Definitely, NO. The economic managers are so focused on the books, they do not know that workers are humans and not programmable robots in the assembly lines, workers age, workers need time to learn, workers live, workers breathe,” he added.

An interview with Cong. Raymond Mendoza, Jr. regarding the end of labor contracting (HB. 4444)

“Instead of rushing to pass CITIRA, the DOF, DTI, NEDA, and DOLE should tell us first what jobs will be lost? Or what jobs are at risk? What are you going to do with those who will be without jobs? And how many jobs will be lost? The Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce have warned that 120,000 direct hire jobs will be lost and that 580,000 indirect hire jobs will go down the drain.

TUCP Vice-President Luis Corral (Left) and AWATU- All Workers Alliance Trade Union National President and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Vice-Pres. Temistocles S. Dejon, Jr. (Right) stresses a point in the concluded labor meeting.

To compute that's probably 700,000 workers multiplied by 5 members of his or her family. That's 3.5 million Filipino lives who will not fall into the cracks but disappear into the black hole of the CITIRA. The DTI in their worst-case scenario has said that should affected locators transfer to Vietnam and Indonesia, there will be 900,000 jobs that will be lost. What about the 7 million workers who are indirectly hired because they are part of the supply chain of these locators?

Little wonder therefore that the DOF rechristened this measure as CITIRA from its previous name TRABAHO, because contrary to the pitch of the DOF rah-rah boys Karl and Tony, instead of creating jobs, CITIRA's more immediate effect will be to destroy jobs,” Vice President Corral explained.

The said workers with their children.

Instead of cynically steamrolling passage of the CITIRA or gagging critics, the DOF must take a second hard look on roll-out issues for the proposed reforms and generate simulations and employment impact studies as to what jobs may be lost. Sequencing is key to any workable policy reform. The DOF and DOLE must do the hard numbers and must do this with both the business and labor sectors on board.

“The DOF blithely dismisses our fears by saying 1.5 million new jobs will be created. The DOF is operating on wishful thinking. They promise as they promised before in TRAIN 1 and RICE TARIFFICATION, that there will be safety nets for those who will be affected. “But we raise the following concern: Will there be a seamless transition affected workers from becoming unemployed because of CITIRA to getting rehired immediately? Will there be a perfect skill match for the worker who will lose his job for the new job that the DOF believes will be created?

Members of TUCP having lunch with Congressman Raymond Mendoza, Jr. at their headquarters in Quezon City.

“We challenge the DOF to come out with any impact assessment study from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank resulting from the passage of the CITIRA. Is there indeed any DOF study as to what existing jobs may be lost? Also, DOF claims that 1.5 million new jobs will be created.

We hope they did not pick out that number out of thin air. Where is their study on jobs that will be lost and jobs that will be created because of CITRA?

“We gently ask the Department of Finance (DoF) these questions, because once the worker loses his job when CITIRA is passed, he will find there are no new jobs out there,” he said. (VerGarciaBlogs)