Solon wants labor education in college curriculum

MANILA, Philippines - A legislator is now pushing for Congress to approve a bill seeking to include labor education in the college curriculum in the country.

TUCP partylist Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza said House Bill 4399 aims to make students aware of their rights and privileges as workers as well as of their responsibilities to society.

Mendoza said it is imperative for college students who will eventually join the labor force as workers and employees to have knowledge about labor rights, worker’s welfare and benefits, among others.

HB 4399 mandates the Commission on Higher Education  to develop a mandatory subject or course on labor education that will be separately offered together with existing subjects in the college curricula.

The bill refers to labor education as the teaching of labor rights, worker’s welfare and benefits, the core labor standards, labor laws and regulations, national and global labor situation as well as labor market concerns.

"Labor market concerns include job matching for career guidance, labor issues, overseas work and related problems, decent work and decent wages and other topics related to labor and employment," Mendoza said.

He noted the current curriculum in the tertiary level does not equip fresh graduates or the new entrants to the labor force with the basic knowledge of their rights.

"Knowledge of labor rights and standards is critical for college students to understand and use for their own advantage much more for those who opt to work overseas where they are governed by foreign laws and are away from home, their families and their own government and are especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation," he said.

He said that with trade liberalization and cut throat competition, violations of the internationally accepted core labor standards such as security of tenure, collective bargaining, the right to strike, and the need for workers to receive a decent wage have become more prevalent regardless of a worker’s educational attainment or academic background.

Mendoza said violation of workers’ rights and core labor standards denigrate the dignity of labor and that the massive practice of contractualization and labor-only-contracting also adds to the woes of workers who continue to be marginalized despite their great contributions to economic and social development.