A couple of senators are calling on the government to take major steps on the issues of mass regularization and vaccination of informal sector workers on Labor Day.
Senate Pro Tempore Senator Ralph Recto thinks this Labor Day is the perfect time for the mass regularization of those who have been toiling as casual workers for decades now.
“It can begin with contractual workers in government hospitals. Not only medical staff, but essential workers like attendants, cleaning and sanitation personnel, equipment technicians—without whom no hospital can exist,” Recto said.
He also called to mind “many civil servants who work on the basis of one short-term contract to another. Hindi na e-endo [end-of-contract], hindi rin naman nape-permanent. They languish in the bureaucracy’s version of purgatory.”
Recto insisted that eligible casual workers are entitled to regular employment in their workplace and have the right to security of tenure.
“To get the ball rolling, the President can issue a policy announcement on May 1. Siguro kahit promise lang mula sa Pangulo para masimulan ang proseso, malaking hakbang na,” he said.
He added that this could be done through a presidential directive for those working under job orders or contracts of service.
Recto said there are 600,000 contractual employees in government service as of August 2020, according to the Civil Service Commission in a Senate hearing.
Healthwise, Senate Labor Committee Chairman Senator Joel Villanueva called for the continuous vaccination of workers on Labor Day onwards.
“May paraan sana tayo para kilalanin ang mga manggagawa sa informal sector. Baka pwedeng gumawa ng app para magparehistro, at baka pwede ding magpahiram ng database ang DSWD [Department of Social Work and Development],” Villanueva said.
Sen. Villanueva suggested that the labor department could include all workers in the A4 Priority List to facilitate the vaccination without delay.
This should not only be limited to the formal sectors and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), but should also include the workforce in the informal sector whom he identified as, “tindera ng pagkain sa palengke, driver ng jeep, pahinante ng mga food trucks. Mga essential workers ang mga ‘yan na self-employed, na hindi kasama sa directory of workers ng isang kumpanya.”
Villanueva suggested turning factories, workplaces, and terminals and garages of public utility buses or jeepneys into vaccination sites, to ensure the inoculation of as many laborers as possible. -Report by Eunice Samonte/ JBB
Watch this report from Eunice Samonte:
