MORE than a week ago, labor, overseas Filipino workers, local officials and legislative staff have formed themselves into a group to shepherd the immediate passage by Congress of a measure seeking to ban age discrimination in the workplaces.
The initiative was through the efforts of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute which convened them for a first informal meeting held at the Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros, Manila last May 21.
“As advocates for the welfare of Filipino workers here and abroad, we have agreed that age, like gender, should never hinder any able individual to seek decent work or apply for a job he or she is qualified,” Susan Ople, head of the center, said.
“The group believes that a law needs to be shepherded in Congress as well as among the general public, particularly in informing and educating them about this issue,” she added.
Among those present were representatives of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), International Labor Organization (ILO), Ang Nars Partylist, Advocates of OFWs, PSLINK, Obrero Pilipino, Mandaluyong City Councilor Jesse Cruz, and legislative staff from the Offices of Senators Pia Cayetano and Koko Pimentel.
Diane Lynn Respall, programme officer of the ILO, noted that unlike other countries, the Philippine does not have a specific law which prohibits discrimination in the workplaces despite being a signatory to the ILO Convention 111.
Under ILO Convention 111, all workers should be protected against discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, preventing them from participating in the labor market and reaching their full potential.
Cruz, who once served as Mandaluyong’s vice mayor for three consecutive terms, stressed that the group needs the support not only of the lawmakers but also among local elective officials, especially those sitting in the local legislative councils.
Ople said the group plans to bring the issue not only in the halls of Congress but also among labor groups and trade unions, particularly among the returning OFWs who are now finding it doubly difficult to get a job in the country after spending years working abroad.
“Our OFWs whom we call our modern heroes should be given equal opportunity to get employment in the country. They have long suffered enough in foreign lands, and the least thing we can do to them is to spare them from being discriminated because of their age,” she said.
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.. Continue: Remate.ph (source)
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