MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / July 11, 2013) – The Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said it favors a proposed compressed work week provided it is implemented voluntarily within specific period.
The proposal is to have one or two cities implement a four-day work in a week among cities and municipalities to alleviate the worsening traffic congestion in the National Capital Region.
“We support the good intention of the proposal. However, the scheme, by operation, can be advantageous and or disadvantageous to both workers and companies,” Gerard Seno, ALU-TUCP Executive Vice President, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
The proposal calls for a 10-hour a day work for four days, but Seno said this will already be arduous for precarious, critical and labor-intensive workers, particularly those in the manufacturing, production, transport and construction sectors, and would create fatigue which will compromise safety and productivity.
He said compressed work week also means reduced income as it require waiver of overtime pay for millions of regular and non-regular workers. It may also bolster the rank of unemployment and underemployment in the course of workers’ attempt to recover reduced income during the two days off.
On one hand, compressed work week, if implemented in selective basis, can be beneficial depending on the objective, he said, adding such work scheme was previously implemented by the government amid an extreme weather disturbance and due to energy crisis in the 1990s and was lifted after a specific period.
A bill was filed in the House of Representative in 2011 which called for a mandatory and nationwide four-day work week in both private and public sector to lower the business costs to enable companies cope with operational expenses. The bill never prospered after it was vehemently opposed by the labor sector for its adverse implications on established work life balance and due to the issue of reduced income.
“If government mandates all private and public sectors implement the scheme, it will create complicated problems than solutions. But if it is adopted voluntarily through consultation and dialogue using the Decent Work Framework particularly with workers and employers, the compressed work week proposal can contribute not just in helping ease traffic congestion but other issues such as saving energy and curbing operational costs,” Seno said.
The International Labour Organization encourages the discussion on compressed work week through four-way test criteria – will it help employment levels; will it expand access to employment opportunities; will it improve the quality of employment, and will it help promote mutual and/or collective gains?
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