The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the government must support its own initiative to stop many local miners from using children as their employees in many parts of Bicol province.
TUCP national president Ernesto Herrera said it’s good to know that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has its own program in rescuing child workers used by exploitative employers in their mining operation.
It was TUCP who affirmed that the presence of child laborers is prevalent in many provinces of the country as government agencies like DoLE and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) seems toothless in the occurrence of child laborers.
“Many parents tolerate it because of poverty. But we do the best we can to help those children,” Labor Undersecretary Rebecca Chato told the Daily Tribune last week.
Herrera, on the other hand, said the problem persists because the workers are still too young to form a union to protect themselves.
TUCP said the waning influence of unionists to laborers is the strong campaign of many companies against joining unions.
He said the weakening of unionization of many workers is detrimental to them as it tends to make them exploited.
“What makes the problem worse is there are some union leaders that make their associations a milking cow. That’s a double whammy because aside from the fact that most of the unions are weak, the dues paid by workers go to the some pockets,” Herrera said.
The former senator said gone are days that unions can get their demands within 96 hours upon issuing notice of strikes since then, union members occupy sensitive positions in the company. If they join those who are striking, the company cannot operate.
According to Herrera, the union situation in the Philippines is very far from Europe where many members of the union are highly skilled workers who are capable of making companies comply to their demands. –Ed Velasco, daily Tribune
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