WORKERS group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) “decry” the revival of policy that compels mandatory vaccination and requires testing of unvaccinated onsite workers.

“The policy reimposing the mandatory requirement to vaccinate workers as a condition for onsite workers will create unemployment and underemployment opportunities in the light of our economy striving to recover from the pandemic adversity,” said TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.

Tanjusay said, “The measure will also definitely reduce production, lose our competitiveness and will directly hit down the gains and derail the momentum the labor and the business had on employment in the past few months of recovery from the pandemic.”

“The policy will increase both the number of unemployed and underemployed – and many will, again, be put on furlough and on-call, floating status and put in peril the workers and their families because of these reimposed prohibitive requirements,” Tanjusay pointed out.

Also, the reimposition of RT-PCR and antigen testing for onsite unvaccinated workers in private and public sectors will “encumber” workers with the cost of testing at a difficult time when take-home pays are drastically losing their purchasing power due to prices of food and services are increasing.

“Workers and their families will sacrifice some more because a bigger part of their salaries will pay for the cost of periodic testing alone,” Tanjusay said.

TUCP stressed that vaccination should not be “mandatory” and the cost of COVID-19 tests should be made freely accessible and not born by workers.

“Government should follow the law on vaccination and should not oppress workers with their irresponsibility and prohibitive policies,” added Tanjusay.

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Jun I. Legaspi