Press Release
May 1, 2007

Lift nightwork prohibition against women,
promote compressed workweek -- Angara

Reelectionist Senator Edgardo J. Angara today called for an urgent and thorough review of the Philippine Labor Code to make it in tune with the sweeping changes in the labor market.

"Our Labor Code has become obsolete and is even considered an obstacle to many industries in the country now," he said.

Among his proposed reforms are to lift the prohibition against nightwork for women, and to promote flexible time arrangements for workers.

Angara said the labor market has drastically changed over the years, and our Labor Code is no longer able to respond to the needs of our current employment picture.

"We have an almost unprecedented number of women entering the workforce. The nightwork prohibition against women currently in the Labor Code makes no sense now because we already have thousands of women working in call centers at unusual hours," he said.

Angara added, "people are no longer looking at a 9-to-5 job. They may want to work 40 hours in two or three days, and have four days left for other activities."

Thus, he suggested to incorporate the compressed workweek scheme adopted by many establishments as a capital-saving strategy, and to modify the meaning of overtime work to be consistent with flextime arrangements.

"An ordinary worker's expectations are very different from what another worker had five or ten years ago. Our labor policies must adapt to a fast moving, increasingly globalized labor market," he said.

Angara also stressed the importance of skills training, especially for the youth, to make Filipinos more employable. He proposed to liberalize the apprenticeship rule and expand it to allow young people, whether in or out of school, to acquire training and experience. "We must combine classroom learning with floorshop experience. By giving young people an early taste of the rewards of work, we prepare them for employment in the future," he said.

"If we want to create more jobs for Filipinos, we should take a comprehensive, overall look at our labor market and our labor laws," said Angara.

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