Wednesday, September 1, 2010

DOLE: 22-Point Labor and Employment Agenda

Sa lahat ng OFWs, pakibasa pong mabuti ang Labor and Employment agenda of DOLE.
At ayon nga sa CMA Director Ellene Sana, 12 of the 22 items are in direct reference to labor migration. Kung mayroon kayong puna o gustong sabihin tungkol sa agenda na ito, maaari po ninyong isulat ng diretso sa address na ito:
pusongpinoytayo.buhaypinoy@blogger.com

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Republic of the Philippines
Department of Labor and Employment
Intramuros, Manila

22-Point Labor and Employment Agenda
2010-08-02

PLATFORM AND POLICY PRONOUNCEMENTS ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
OVER-ARCHING GOAL: Invest in our country’s top resource, our human resource, to make us more competitive and employable while promoting industrial peace based on social justice.

1. Review existing plans and programs in accordance with the principles of a “zero-based”
budgeting system where budget allocations are shaped by their performance and their compliance with COA reports.

2. Address the labor-mismatch problem by promoting better coordination between employers,
academia and government through strengthening both public (e.g. Public Employment Service
Offices – PESO) and private sector labor market information and exchange institutions, especially at the local levels.

3. Promote not only the constitutionally protected rights of workers but also their right to participate in the policymaking process.

4. Review and evaluate the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) ruling allowing the
Philippine Airlines Management to outsource its critical operations, resulting in the possible mass layoff of some 3,000 employees.

5. Work with the private and labor sector to strengthen tripartite cooperation and promote industrial peace.

6. Reform labor arbitration and adjudication systems by streamlining procedures, removing red tape, and at the same time, restore integrity and fairness in the system. Ensure that 98% of all pending labor cases are disposed of with quality decisions by April of 2011.

7. Align our country’s labor policies with international treaties and ILO conventions in a sound and realistic manner.

8. Work with relevant government agencies in enhancing social protection programs such as social security, workmen’s compensation, health insurance and housing for laid off workers while strengthening the Emergency Community Employment Program (ECEP) to create jobs
immediately so people can still have income to spend for their basic needs.

9. Review the continued deployment of workers to countries, which are high-and medium-risk areas, as well the continued deployment of workers in high-risk occupations.

10. Create an efficient “one-stop shop” for processing applications for overseas work and seeking redress for grievances.

11. Audit the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to rationalize the management of its funds, in terms of the benefits provided as well as how the funds are invested.

12. Work with the DFA to transform Philippine embassies, consular offices and Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) into centers of care and service for overseas workers by assigning more foreign service officers to post where there are many OFWs and train them in the needs of the communities they serve.

13. Invest in the formal and regular skills training and upgrading of our services workers with TESDA and utilize returning OFWs to conduct training so that they may transfer skills learned abroad.

14. Fully implement the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. Pursue and prosecute those engaging in illegal and predatory activities, including fixers, scammers and especially traffickers that target women and children.

15. Assist OFWs in achieving financial stability through training, investment and savings programs.

16. Address the social costs of migration by working closely with communities and families of OFWs to provide effective social welfare services such as counseling and pre-departure orientation seminars. Support the creation or strengthening of community-based support groups for families of OFWs.

17. Improve the seafarer’s upgrading program, credit/loaning program, self-insurance coverage
program, which includes life insurance, burial, disability and dismemberment benefits, and
reintegration program.

18. Complete a global trading master plan than aims to establish worldwide trading posts that rely on the labor, knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

19. Facilitate the re-integration of returning OFWs by favorable terms of investment, tax incentives, access to government financial institutions and other benefits that are offered to foreign investors.

20. Regularly package and disseminate information on agency budgets, bidding and procurement documents and SALNs of senior government officials, to ensure transparency and accountability.

21. Ensure that the DOLE and its attached agencies are streamlined and rationalized to have clear-cut and distinct mandates and that qualification standards, especially on eligibility, will be strictly followed.

22. Work with the CSC to ensure that performances of government agencies and civil servants will be evaluated rationally and systematically through an effective and measurable performance management system to be approved by the CSC such as directly linking the CSC Performance Management System-Office Performance Evaluation System (PMS-OPES) with the DBM Organizational Performance Indicator Framework (OPIF) to ensure the accountability of government agencies and officials.