Baldoz tells workers, employers to use DoLE’s Web site

No worker or company need ever be uninformed about core labor standards, workplace conditions, and holiday pay rules again. All they need to do is to turn on a computer, launch the Internet browser, and type and click: http://www.bwc.dole.gov.ph.

This was the message of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz yesterday as she welcomed the opening of the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC) Internet Web site focused on the information needs of workers and employers toward the promotion of better working conditions and labor standards compliance.

The new BWC Web site is accessible through the URL www.bwc.dole.gov.ph.

The Labor and Employment chief hailed the successful launch of the new BWC Web site in a simple ceremony at the Ople Hall of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) in Intramuros, Manila last Nov. 17.

Baldoz said that the Web site will complement the national aim to promote a workplace culture in the country founded on labor standards, best practices, and voluntary compliance, “in pursuance of the goal of President Aquino, in his 22-point labor and employment agenda, to strengthen the welfare and protection of the country’s workers.”

“The overall thrust of the DoLE is to promote, through partnership and collaboration, labor standards compliance through well-guided employers and workers committed to a safe, healthful and productive work environment,” she said.

Baldoz encouraged workers and companies, the social partners, the media, and the public, to visit and use the Web site as an information source and as a guide on core labor standards and better workplace conditions.

The labor chief expressed the hope that both workers and employers will find the new Web site informative and useful due to its user-friendly and easily-downloadable contents.

The website provides the list of compliant establishments; monitoring and disposition of labor standards cases; profile of DoLE labor inspectors; frequently asked questions (FAQs); pertinent statistics; and other useful information.

It also contains the list of regular holidays and special non-working holidays in the country together with the corresponding holiday pay rules; accredited Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) organizations; and so on.

Its downloadable contents include the Statutory Handbook on Monetary Benefits; Manual of Occupational Safety and Health Standards; and Labor Standards.

Browsers will also find DoLE news, announcements, issuances and program information on Project LEAP (Labor Enforcement and Action Program); Update on Labor Standards Enforcement; Work Accident and Labor Related Exigencies Response Team (Work-ALERT); Work Improvement in Small Enterprises (WISE); Workplace Initiative on Safety and Health.

BWC director Brenda Villafuerte and director Dominique Tutay of the DoLE’s Planning Service have collaborated on the Web site following about a month of web development work conducted with the assistance of Mandaluyong City-based Admired Technologies Inc.

Villafuerte emphasized that with the launching of the Web site, the BWC will be able to broaden the sharing of essential labor standards information to its stakeholders, particularly the workers and the employers.

Tutay said that with the launch of the Web site, the DoLE’s service-oriented thrust utilizing information technology toward interconnected efficiency and coordination among DoLE agencies will get another boost.

Tutay said that after the BWC Web site, the Planning Service will proceed to the Web sites of other service-oriented DoLE bureaus and offices, including the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices. PNA