Passage of bill promoting public sector rights lauded
A HOUSE leader has commended his colleagues in the House committee on civil service and professional regulation for passing the substitute bill to further promote the rights and welfare of public sector workers under the International Labor Convention No. 151.
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza, chairman of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, lamented that the rights of public sector workers have long been sidelined and sacrificed in the name of public service.
“Our public sector workers are the government frontliners at all times be it in time of abundance, calamities, crisis and pandemic; their rights need to be respected, prioritized and promoted,” Mendoza said.
“Depriving public sector workers of their basic rights is a blatant disregard of their importance in delivering fast, efficient, and graft-free services to the public; it also shows lack of concern to improved public service which is anchored on empowered public sector workers,” Mendoza explained.
The substitute bill seeks to implement ILO Convention No. 151, which was ratified by the Philippine government and signed by President Duterte in 2017. It has taken into consideration the positions of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the Commission on Audit (COA), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the unified position of public sector unions that include the Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA), the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), the Philippine Independent Public Sector Employees Association (PIPSEA), Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU), Public Services International (PSI), the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), and Kapisanan ng Manggagawa sa Government Financial Institutions (KAMAGFI), among others.
“The passage of the substitute bill at the Committee level is euphoric as the proposal was first filed during the previous Congress and had to hurdle the prevailing misconception that promoting public sector workers’ rights is inconsistent with better public service,” Mendoza explained.
Under the bill, Mendoza said workers in the public sector will be accorded their fundamental rights provided in the Philippine Constitution such as the right to freedom of association, the right to collectively bargain and negotiate, and the right to peaceful concerted activities.
“I ardently urges my colleagues in Congress to support this bill and recognize our public sector workers as able partners in rendering better services and assistance to our publics especially in this time of the pandemic, let us treat them accordingly and accord them their rights as workers; it is incumbent on government to show a good example to private sector employers and desist from perpetuating double standard in the treatment of workers,” Mendoza said.
