MANILA: Many workers in the Philippines and abroad are expected to be displaced next year, labor groups and recruitment industry officials has warned the national government.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) was quoted as saying by Philippine Star that about 24,000 local government employees are likely to lose their jobs with the setting up of Bangsamoro Transition Council next year.
“Workers employed in municipalities, cities, provincial and regional offices will be displaced once the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is dissolved and taken over by the Bangsamoro Transition Council,” TUCP executive director Louie Corral reportedly said.
“The major responsibility of the government is to provide safety nets for these workers who had been serving the bureaucracy quietly,” he reportedly said, adding that the Aquino government apparently has no not yet planned for the impending displacement of government employees.
He also called on the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to step in and take the necessary course of action.
“We are wondering why the commission has not geared up for one of the very important elements of the transition issue,” TUCP official Gerard Seno was quoted as saying.
Seno further said the CSC should ensure that the affected workers are integrated into the new Bangsamoro government using lateral transfer and merit-based integration rather than leaving their fate to circumstance.
Officials of the job placement industry have reported that around 4,000 Filipino workers employed in US bases in Afghanistan are also expected to be displaced by the impending pullout of US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
They reportedly said about 4,000 Filipinos are still posted in Bagram Air Base and Kandahar Airfield and only around a thousand will be retained for maintenance of the military facilities.
Some of the workers are expected to return home starting November as their companies shut down after losing bids to supply logistics to the US forces.
But the workers are hoping that they will still be needed by international contractors hired by the US government, the recruitment officials were quoted as saying by Philippine Star. – The Filipino Times
Trade Union Congress Party - TUCP Party-list 