Warning to be issued to recruitment agency

By Kai Fong | SingaporeScene

BG (NS) Tan Chuan-Jin emphasizes the need for fair play when it comes to hiring and the need to hire on merit. …

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More than 115,000 jobs created last year

Source: CNA

SINGAPORE: There were a total of 115,900 jobs created in Singapore for the whole of last year. This was a slight adjustment to an earlier estimate of 112,500.

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First batch of OFWs arrives from Libya

Source: PDI

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) The first group of Filipino workers arrived home from riot-torn Libya on Saturday and at least 16 more were expected to arrive Sunday, officials said.

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Low-wage workers' needs addressed

Source: CNA

SINGAPORE: Labour Chief Lim Swee Say said he is happy that the government has responded well to the needs of low-wage workers under the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme.

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2,500 OFWs vs Madagascar Employer

2,500 OFWs in Madagascar set to file case vs employer, says group

SOURCE: Jerry E. Esplanada

MANILA, Philippines—Some 2,500 Filipino migrant workers are set to pursue legal action against their employer in Madagascar, an island-nation in the Indian Ocean, and its affiliate Manila placement agency for alleged unfair labor practices and breach of contract.

At least 300 of the contract workers of the construction firm Kentz Engineers and Contractors have returned to the country.

Next Thursday, they are scheduled to file a formal complaint before the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration against their employer and its undisclosed local affiliate.

Their co-workers are set to return to the country shortly.

Reynaldo Ubasa, one of the leaders of the group, alleged they were "made to work for more than eight hours a day with no overtime pay."

In a statement, Ubasa also cited "discrepancies and delays" in the payment of their salaries.

"The construction firm we worked for cheated us of our salaries, prompting us to fight back," said Ubasa.

The firm also prevented the Filipino workers to "communicate with the outside world, cutting out Internet connection, and seek help in the Philippines," he disclosed.

During the past two months, the Filipino workers staged a series of strikes at their construction site in Madagascar, to no avail.

Terry Ridon, national chair of the militant League of Filipino Students, has taken up the cudgels for Ubasa and his co-workers.

Last week, Ridon bumped into Ubasa's group at the Johannesburg international airport shortly before they took a flight bound for Manila.

In an e-mail, Ridon told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, "our OFWs are suffering abroad under pitiful conditions while the Aquino government leisurely watches them return to the country in tears, deceived and unemployed."

"Worse, the government had cut the budget for assistance to distressed migrant workers. It also made more problems for OFWs with its compulsory insurance policy," Ridon said.

The LFS leader asked Malacañang and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to "respond immediately to the problems of these OFWs."

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P1.645-T budget to help ease unemployment

SOURCE: INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines—The proposed P1.645 trillion General Appropriations Act that Malacañang will sign into law on Monday is expected to help address mounting unemployment, Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr. said Sunday.

"Government is the country's single largest consumer and biggest employer. Its spending will help propel economic as well as jobs growth next year," Barzaga said in a news release.

Barzaga said government would pay out some P526 billion in salaries and benefits to public sector workers next year, thus driving household consumption spending.

"Government spending will stimulate in a big way the demand for goods and services, and in the process energize local industries," he said.

Domestic industries benefiting directly and indirectly from the spending are bound to create new employment, according to Barzaga.

Next year's budget represents almost one-fifth or 18.2 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, he added.

Barzaga said the budget's P148.2-billion fresh allocation for new public infrastructure spending would also be another driver of jobs growth.

"A provision in the budget requires contractors to adopt a labor-intensive mode of implementation of infrastructure projects. Priority hiring will be accorded to the underprivileged residents of local communities where the projects are located," he said.

Barzaga said the infrastructure spending would benefit poor households, mainly through construction-related jobs.

Meanwhile, the P6.6 billion budget of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) includes P700 million for the Training for Work Program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Barzaga said the program would benefit 50,000 job seekers.

He also said P425 million has been set aside for the DoLE's Capability-Building for Employment Service of Students and Workers' Income Augmentation Program.

Another P300 million has been allotted for the department's Employment Placement Facilitation Program, plus P21 million for Labor Market Information and Networking Program, Barzaga pointed out.

In terms of direct hiring, he said government would be creating 14,000 new posts next year -- for 10,000 teachers and 4,000 police, fire, and jail officers.

Barzaga's remarks came not long after the latest Labor Force Survey showed that some 2.8 million Filipinos were totally without jobs in October, up from 2.72 million in the same month in 2009.

The survey indicated that some 80,000 able-bodied Filipinos aged 15 years old and above joined the ranks of the unemployed over the 12-month period.

The number of underemployed Filipinos -- those only partially employed and actively seeking longer hours of work -- also increased by 260,000 heads over the same period, from 6.88 million to 7.14 million, according to the survey.

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