DOLE to stamp out child labor

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will work to eliminate child labor practices in at least 80 barangays (villages) this year.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that the government, with DOLE as the lead agency in the campaign against child labor, is continuing last year’s campaign initiatives by “sustaining our presence in the countryside in an effort to stamp out child labor in barangays with high incidences of child labor.”

“For 2012, we target 80 barangays to become child-labor free,” Baldoz said.

Personnel of the DOLE’s 16 regional offices have been tasked by Baldoz to set the target to transform pre-identified barangays in their regions with high incidence of child labor into child labor-free barangays.

“In this program, we emphasize the important role of community leaders, notably the barangay captains, in identifying, eliminating, and preventing the incidence of child labor and the illegal recruitment of minors in their own communities,” said Baldoz.

The labor chief also disclosed that DOLE would establish a recognition program which will cite child labor-free establishments under the DOLE Incentivizing Compliance Program.

“The child-labor free citation is one of the five awards which the DOLE will hand out to establishments to recognize best practices in complying with labor standards. The other four awards are the National Productivity Awards of the National Wages and Productivity Commission; Gawad Kaligtasan at Kalusugan of the Occupational Safety and Heath Center; Tripartite Certificate of Labor Compliance of the Bureau of Working Conditions; and Outstanding LMC for Industrial Peace of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board,” said Baldoz.

The labor and employment chief added that the DOLE will also formulate an executive order to institutionalize the program management structure of the National Child Labor Committee. –Rommel C. Lontayao, Manila Times