TUCP brands as ‘stupid’ 4/10 work week proposal

Labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) rejected as “a stupid idea” the proposal to impose a four-day, 10-hour work week nationwide, both for government and the private sector.

“The proposal is both assailable and laughable,” former Sen. Ernesto Herrera, who is also TUCP secretary-general, said.

Contained in a bill filed by Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, the proposal would effectively declare every Friday a non-working national holiday, and ruin both economic and labor productivity, warned Herrera, former chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development.

“Considering the growing number of adult Filipinos who are out of jobs, we should be putting more people to productive work, not depriving them of potential gainful employment,” he said.

Herrera cited “the laudable case” of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which has engaged extra workers to process new passport applications even during Saturdays.

“In fact, all government offices that provide much-needed public services should follow the DFA, and enlist additional personnel in order to stay open on Saturdays,” he said.

Among the agencies “that ought to stay open on Saturdays” are the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System, according to Herrera.

“These offices have long lines of people waiting to be served every weekday. People lose a lot of productive time and money while idly queuing for hours, even days. If these agencies hire more staff to conduct business on Saturdays, those lines will be reduced by at least one-fifth,” he said.

“Our unusually high unemployment and underemployment rates should drive government and the private sector to constantly find ways to provide more people gainful work every day,” Herrera said.

Citing the results of the latest Labor Force Survey, he pointed out that the country now has a population of 61.778 million who are “15 years old and over” and potentially productive.

However, only 64 percent of them, or 39.691 million, are “officially” considered by government as part of the labor force, Herrera said.

Of the 39.691 million, he said some 25 percent, or 10 million able-bodied Filipinos, are either totally without jobs (2.871 million), or desperately looking for more work (7.126 million). –Ayen Infante, Daily Tribune