The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE) gathered private and public entities from across the region in a Bangsamoro Labor Day Summit held Friday, April 30, in this city to formulate measures that will help both employers and workers in combatting the impact of Covid-19 on employment and labor.
“This summit is really intended for our workers both local and overseas to come up with what are the best interventions the government and employers can offer so that we can mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic to the labor market,” MOLE Minister Romeo Sema said.
Impact on business entities and workers
To deal with the drastic change brought by the pandemic, some business owners said they have resorted to lay off some of their workers, adapt skeletal work system, close some parts or entirely their establishments during the lockdown, and decrease their employees’ wages.
“Yung iba, duty ngayon then bukas iba naman mag duty. So that all of them will have an income,” said Atty. Anwar Malang, a food establishment owner in the city.
“Kumbaga pa ang kasabihan natin at that time ‘buhay buhay nalang’ kung paano tayo makakasurvive na mabuhay,” he added.
Aside from the low profits the businesses have earned during the crisis, the pandemic also caused additional expenses for they had to purchase personal protective equipment (PPEs) and sanitizing agents, print Covid-19 informational materials, and some offered free transportation and meals for their on-duty employees.
Some workers were also given additional tasks such as monitoring personnel’s health condition, contact tracing, and monitoring strict observance of Covid-19 guidelines, among others.
Overseas workers were also not spared from the pandemic’s impact on labor. While some were left jobless due to repatriation and termination of contracts, others who opted to stay abroad were pushed to work for longer hours and do tasks more than they can carry for a day’s work.
Read more: https://bangsamoro.gov.ph/…/mole-labor-groups-formulate-me…/
Source: Bangsamoro Government
(Bangsamoro Information Office)
