Marcos signs law on national employment masterplan

Name: Marcos signs law on national employment masterplan
Uploaded: 2023-09-27T23:00:00+00:00
Duration: 11 min 58 s
Channel: The Manila Times

The Manila Times

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Marcos signs law on national employment masterplan

Labor group Federation of Free Works (FFW) President Sonny Matula lauds the government's new masterplan for national employment after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signs into law the 'Trabaho Para Sa Bayan Act' on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The law aims to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), provide worker upskilling, employer incentives, youth employment, as well as the reintegration of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) into Philippine society.

Video and Interview by Ezrah Raya

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Transcript

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00:00 I'm Esra Raya and this is the Manila Times. President Bom Bom Marcos has signed into law

00:06 the Trabajo para sa Bayan Act or Senate Bill 2035. Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva

00:13 said that the bill aims to stimulate national and local economic growth, industry collaboration,

00:19 and provide support to workers and businesses. Under the measure, a Trabajo para sa Bayan

00:25 Interagency Council shall be created to make action plans for supporting micro,

00:31 small, and medium enterprises, worker upskilling, employer incentives, youth employment, as well as

00:38 the reintegration of overseas Filipino workers or OFWs, among others. The employment master plan

00:46 shall include a three-year, six-year, and 10-year development timeline. One of the prominent labor

00:52 groups in the country welcomed President Marcos' signing of the Trabajo para sa Bayan Act,

00:57 which is a significant step toward addressing unemployment and underemployment in the country.

01:02 Here with us is Federation of Free Workers President Atorni Sunny Matula. Welcome to the

01:09 Manila Times, sir. Sir, you firmly voiced your federation support for Senate Bill No. 2035.

01:16 So, sir, in your opinion, what are the ways can the government help address employment and

01:21 underemployment in the country? The first thing, of course, is to have a plan how to address this

01:28 problem of job mismatch, this low quality of jobs, unemployment, and underemployment. So,

01:38 we have to do some planning. And it's good that the Trabajo para sa Bayan Act has a council,

01:49 which includes the workers and the employers group in the process of planning.

01:56 For us, the government's plan is good if the sector involved or the sector concerned

02:05 is not participating, they cannot understand, they don't have ownership. So this council, this

02:18 Trabajo para sa Bayan Interagency Council, which includes not only cabinet secretaries,

02:24 but also workers and employers representative, for us, is a good start for a good plan.

02:34 Sir, do you think the bill is enough to address pressing concerns in the labor or workforce,

02:41 especially that the fight for the minimum wage increase is still ongoing? Because the recent

02:45 minimum wage increase is quite short of what the workforce has been expecting.

02:50 Yes, of course. This new council, if it's just a council, it cannot address the many problems of

03:02 the workers. We think this is just the beginning to understand the whole problem and of course,

03:11 to find a solution for the government's action. The talk on the salary, of course, in the current

03:23 budget of the Pondo ng Bayan, I think it's a big part that needs to be discussed.

03:34 So for us, in this plan, if we are going to plan, we want to focus on the living wage,

03:46 what we call family living wage. A worker's salary is equivalent to the living of his family.

03:56 We at the Federation of Free Workers believe in what the social encyclical of the Holy Fathers says,

04:03 that workers should have a living salary. It means that the salary is equal to and equal to life.

04:15 So the person should have a life of prosperity and equal to life. It means that he's not just a worker,

04:27 he has money for his vacation, for his education and if he's unemployed, he can still support his family because he has savings.

04:42 What are the reasons or the biggest reasons behind the unemployment in the Philippines?

04:49 We think, in the opinion of the Federation of Free Workers, one of the reasons is the lack of plan and prioritizing our industries.

05:08 For example, when globalization came, many workers lost their jobs because our manufacturing moved to other countries.

05:20 For example, in FFW, Colgate-Palmolive, a big company in the Philippines, has manufacturing. Johnson & Johnson moved.

05:30 We don't have a plan on how to solve the phenomenon of globalization. That's why many people lost their jobs.

05:41 This is a big challenge for us, the fourth industrial revolution, where digital jobs are used by artificial intelligence.

05:56 This is happening in our factories, especially in semiconductor.

06:02 We have a union in Taguig called GOBOT, collaboration with the robots.

06:12 Maybe we should include this in our plan on how we can solve this artificial intelligence that replaces human labor

06:23 and collaborate with humans and reduce our labor force.

06:29 Although in our unions, there are solutions because some are studying to upgrade those who didn't graduate in engineering and now became engineers.

06:46 Others lost their jobs because we talked to the management that in their other factory in Europe, they can bring workers and they can work there

07:00 because they need to teach other workers, especially in Eastern Europe.

07:06 We have many workers in the Philippines who are from Europe and they didn't lose their jobs because the management is talking to them.

07:15 That's what we will do as a union and a company that is talking about this new law.

07:25 The employer, the workers and the government are talking to the councilor on how to address the lack of jobs in the Philippines

07:33 and how to increase the number of jobs in the Philippines.

07:37 Sir since we are already in the protection from artificial intelligence or AI, there are people who are saying that most labor force should be transferred to the agricultural sector.

07:49 Do you agree with that?

07:51 That's very important because it is needed for our food security and agriculture.

07:58 For FFW, we have been calling for a long time and we are talking to DTI, not only FFW, but also the Labor Coalition on how to plan industries in the Philippines.

08:10 One of our goals in talking about modernization in our agriculture, modernization in agriculture should be dovetailed with manufacturing and industries.

08:24 Thailand has done a good job in integrating agriculture with manufacturing.

08:31 Many agricultural products are not spoiled because they have been processed.

08:41 If you go to Geneva, there are many products that are canned and not spoiled.

08:52 They are doing it for export.

08:55 Maybe in the Philippines, we can process our agricultural products instead of raw and we can sell it abroad.

09:06 Let's include that in the plan, modernization in agriculture and its integration with manufacturing.

09:15 Sir in your opinion, should the protection of contractual workers be included in the Labor Act?

09:23 I saw that there are provisions that protect and uphold the rights of workers, including the security of work, the conditions of work, and occupational safety.

09:40 Aside from that, there are provisions on the recognition of the rights of workers who organize unions, associations, or any other society for workers.

09:53 This right to self-organization is very important for us because it balances the power of the capital and our workers should not be exploited.

10:06 We should return the 6.1 billion pesos budget for the capital outlay of our state universities and colleges.

10:18 We know that the capital outlay is for new buildings, new laboratories, apparatus and equipment that our students use.

10:29 Of course, our students are increasing because they need classrooms, laboratories, and equipment for their studies.

10:40 In our opinion, it can be included in the confidential and intelligence fund of offices that have no direct relation to the peace and order,

10:53 like the police or our national security, like our armed forces and intelligence service.

11:00 So let's include it. Let's not give them the confidential and intelligence fund.

11:07 For those expenses, travel abroad, let's reduce it so that it can be given to higher education so that our human resources are prepared for our youth.

11:25 So that when they face the future, they are ready and not without skills or without jobs, but they are ready to face the challenges of the new job in the future.

11:41 Thank you very much Atty. Sonny Mantula.

11:45 [ Silence ]

11:51 [ Music ]

Marcos signs law on national employment masterplan

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