TUCP Party List leads march for workers’ health and safety

The Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP Party List # 178) the largest worker’s party in the country and its sister organization the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Labor Center led government, employer and union representatives and other sectors in calling for the ratification of ILO Convention No. 187 on Promotional Framework on Safety and Health today during the International Commemoration Day (ICD) and World Day for Safety and Health.

“With the changing world of work, a national Occupational Safety and Health policy, system and program needs a sharper focus to better protect workers in doing their jobs. ILO Convention No. 187 embodies internationally accepted OSH principles and its ratification by the Philippine government will put the country’s OSH policies, systems and programs into a single national framework for coherent actions at all levels,” said former Senator and TUCP General Secretary Ernesto Herrera.

“We call on the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) – the body tasked to formulate policies affecting workers – to endorse to the President of the Philippines the ratification of Convention No. 187. We want safer workplaces to protect workers in doing their jobs, which would translate to safer communities,” added TUCP Rep. Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza.

The TUCP affiliate Associated Labor Unions (ALU) and Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) have joined forces with TUCP in pushing for an asbestos ban in the Philippines, the ratification of ILO Convention 162 on Safety in the Use of Asbestos and the development of a National Program for the Elimination of Asbestos Related Diseases (NPEAD).

Some 500 union members, government employees, health and safety practitioners and other partners will march from the TUCP compound to the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) to express their support for safer work and communities. They will witness the hand-over of their statements pushing for the ratification of ILO Convention Nos. 187 and 162 to the Secretary of Labor and Employment as the TIPC Chair.

Since asbestos is an occupational health and safety issue and Canada exports asbestos to the Philippines, and Canada will host the HIV and AIDS Summits of both G8 and G20 countries on 25-27 June 2010, TUCP, ALU and BWI will organize a protest rally to deliver the trade union statement calling for Asbestos Ban and urging Canada to stop asbestos exports, and the TUCP letter on HIV and AIDS to the Canadian Embassy since the Canadian Ambassador will not be able to attend the hand-over ceremony with the Secretary of Labor and Employment.

“Asbestos kills workers and other people. Canada must stop mining and exporting asbestos to the Philippines,” Mendoza stressed. “Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as the Presidency of the G8 and co-host of the G20, must lead the G8 and G20 HIV and Aids Summits in producing a time and resource-bound plan to achieve Universal Access to HIV & AIDS by 2010 – a deadline that is now past but must be re-invigorated,” stressed Mendoza.

Union members will then participate in a forum to strategize for more effective ban asbestos campaign in the Philippines. Video showing and other visual materials on asbestos hazards, victim testimonies on the effects of asbestos related diseases to families, tarpaulin signing for asbestos ban, candle light procession along the busy Elliptical Road in Quezon City and lighting of a giant torch will highlight the end of 2010 ICD and World Day for Safety and Health in the Philippines.

TUCP, ALU and BWI launched the ICD and the World Day for Safety and Health on 23 April 2010. They started a signature campaign urging all sectors to work for:

· Canada to stop mining and exporting asbestos to the Philippines;
· The ratification of ILO Convention No 162 on Safety in the Use of Asbestos ;
· The National Program for the Elimination of Asbestos Related Diseases (NPEAD); and
· The passage of bills banning asbestos in the Philippines.

BUsinessweek, Mindanao