Unions urge Marcos to ratify ILO Convention 190

Labor unions are calling for President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to ratify the International Labour Organization Convention 190 (ILO C190), which seeks to protect workers from violence and harassment.

The Associated Labor Unions (ALU), along with the Associated Professional, Supervisory, Office, and Technical Employees Union (APSOTEU), and the Associated Philippine Seafarers Union (APSU) urged Marcos to show “zero tolerance” to violence and harassment.

The ILO C190 highlights the need to provide a work environment free from unacceptable behaviors and practices or threats, whether a single occurrence or repeated.

This covers all workers, regardless of their employment status, including trainees, volunteers, job applicants, former employees whose terms have ended, and employers.

“The government’s full enforcement of relevant existing laws, programs, and structures, and the C190 ratification of the Philippine President with the concurrence of the Senate, will show national and global leadership in putting a premium on lives, workers’ especially women's protection, non-violence, gender equality, and economic sustainability,” ALU National Vice President Eva Arcos said.

GMA News Online has reached out to Malacañang for comment on the matter, but no response has been received as of this posting.

The labor unions noted that some 743 million workers across the globe have experienced at least one form of violence or harassment, citing data from the ILO-Lloyd Register Foundation-Gallup survey.

“National decision-makers do not need an addition to all these (under)reported statistics on violence, and would not want to wait for more gruesome cases under their watch,” Arcos said.

The latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show that there were 49 million Filipinos employed in December, bringing the country’s employment rate to 95.7%. —NB, GMA Integrated News