Manila, Washington ink labor deal

The Philippines on Monday signed a partnership with the United States to protect the rights and interest of Filipino workers overseas.

The partnership was signed between the US Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and the Philippine ambassador to Washington.

The agreement aimed at ensuring that migrant workers were aware of their right to safe workplaces and to receive full payment of the wages owed to them under the US laws.

“We are very pleased to sign these joint declarations and letters of arrangement with DOL,” Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said in a statement.

Under the agreement, regional enforcement offices of the US Labor Department Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and its Wage and Hour Division will cooperate with Philippine Consulates throughout the US.

Together, the Consulates and the Labor Department agencies will reach out to migrant workers and provide them with information about US health, safety and wage laws.

The partnerships will help the WHD and OSHA more effectively enforce US laws, especially in high-risk and low-wage industries.

This cooperation also will help both agencies identify problems faced by migrant workers and target labor law enforcement efforts.

The 2010 US Census showed that Filipinos working in the US increased by 44.5 percent to 3,416,840. –Zara de Leon, Manila Standard Today