Labor groups seek ban on asbestos in work places

MANILA, Philippines - The Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP), the largest workers’ party in the country, and its sister organization the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Labor Center, led government, employer and union representatives and other sectors yesterday in calling for the promotion of safety among workers, including the banning of asbestos in work places during the observance of International Commemoration Day (ICD) and World Day for Safety and Health.

“With the changing world of work, a national occupational safety and health policy, system and program needs a sharper focus to better protect workers in doing their jobs. ILO Convention No. 187 embodies internationally accepted OSH principles and its ratification by the Philippine government will put the country’s OSH policies, systems and programs into a single national framework for coherent actions at all levels,” said former senator and TUCP general secretary Ernesto Herrera.

“We call on the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) – the body tasked to formulate policies affecting workers – to endorse to the President the ratification of Convention No. 187. We want safer work places to protect workers in doing their jobs, which would translate to safer communities,” added TUCP party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza.

The TUCP affiliate Associated Labor Unions (ALU) and Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) have joined forces with TUCP in pushing for asbestos ban in the Philippines, the ratification of ILO Convention 162 on Safety in the Use of Asbestos and the development of a National Program for the Elimination of Asbestos Related Diseases (NPEAD).