MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said it welcomes the proposal of a labor group to tap its members to augment the shortage in occupational health and safety standards inspectors. DoLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said she is considering the Partido ng Manggagawa’s (PM’s) recommendation to deputize its labor leaders to augment its limited number of inspectors.
“DoLE currently has a limited number of inspectors because of budget constraints. We welcome their suggestions and urge them to take the required training at DoLE so they can qualify for the position,” she said.
PM Secretary-General Judy Miranda said that PM made the proposal after the initial results of the investigation regarding the death of 10 workers in the constructions site of Eton Properties Philippines, Inc., building in Makati City last week revealed lack of compliance to safety standards.
She said PM and other labor groups could help augment DoLE’s force that inspects the thousands of establishments nationwide.
“From 240 labor inspectors, the DoLE now just has some 190 to cover around 800,000 establishments nationwide. This number can easily be increased several fold by deputizing union officers as labor inspectors. Even if just 10% of the 17,000 local union presidents are accredited, this is about 10 times the present number of inspectors,” she said.
According to its 2010 yearend report, DoLE has already evaluated 18,858 of its 30,000 establishment target during the first phase of its Labor Enforcement Action Program (LEAP). Its second phase will start this February.
Under LEAP, DoLE’s inspectors are tasked to assess the compliance of establishments to the provisions Labor Code, including minimum wage and the occupational health and safety standards of DoLE.
Meanwhile, PM also said the recent accident should also lead to structural reforms in the protection of labor welfare.
Among the amendment they are requesting from DoLE is the removal of the self-regulation provision of LEAP, which they claim allows some companies to circumvent giving workers their benefits.
“Aside from the responsibility of the principal employer Eton and its subcontractors to the laborers who were killed, the government must make policy changes regarding enforcement of labor standards and occupational health and safety so that the workers have not died in vain,” she said.
Samuel Medenilla, Manila Bulletin
