By: Fryan E. Abkilan
Surigao del Norte (28 May) – A national workshop for green jobs and decent work was successfully held in Bacolod City recently. Organized by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) with support from Japan International Labour Foundation (JILAF), the activity documented information on workplace and community-based green jobs and greening practices to contribute to national efforts in developing a green sustainable development strategy in the framework of creating green jobs and promoting decent work.
“TUCP is one with the government in search for practical ways to adapt to climate change,” said TUCP General Secretary Ernesto Herrera.
Also, the workshop sought to push the problem of climate change as a mainstream environmental issue in the workplace and the community.
As climate change being the greatest challenge facing the world today, Herrera urged everyone to act promptly. “If we don’t do anything, temperature will continue to rise,” he said.
Understanding Green Jobs and Decent Work
TUCP Deputy General Secretary Cedric Bagtas defined green jobs, “as jobs that sustains people and the environment.”
He maintained that green jobs can be found in the so called green sectors that include renewable energy (versus fossil fuel energy), public mass transportation (versus road transportation), recycling & pollution control, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management, among others. He, however, said that not all green jobs are necessarily decent jobs.
“Many green jobs are done in conditions that will be considered ‘indecent’ – low pay, no social protection, poor health and safety standards, exploitative employment relationships & gross violations of employment rights,” Bagtas added.
He stressed that greening should extend to existing jobs that are indecent by all definitions, and that greater efforts should be devoted toward green practices seeking to modify indecent work.
Meanwhile, Socio-Policy Division Director Bro. Toyoji Sugiyama of Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO) in his presentation stressed that green jobs lessen the environmental impact of enterprises and economic sectors, ultimately to levels that are sustainable.
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
