DOLE optimistic on passage of labor laws in 2012 
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January 13, 2012

 Notwithstanding the attention on the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona when Congress resumes session Jan. 16, the Department of Labor and Employment voiced hopes lawmakers can pass several key labor laws and international instruments.

DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz particularly pushed for the passage of the “Kasambahay” bill that President Benigno Aquino III had endorsed as a priority measure.

“We at the Department take off from President Benigno S. Aquino III’s and the Legislative Development Advisory Council’s endorsement of the Kasambahay bill as a priority measure in the 15th Congress,” Baldoz said.

She said the DOLE has led a series of multi-sectoral consultations with labor, employers, civil society, consumers groups, and homeowners’ associations for a consensus bill on improving the minimum wages and working conditions of close to one million domestic workers or “kasambahays.”

The proposed measure primarily seeks to amend the present minimum wage for domestic workers, which is still pegged at P800.

Baldoz also said she hopes Congress will ratify International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189 on Domestic Workers.

ILO Convention 189 is a labor standard instrument that will accord migrant and domestic workers protection and decent work standards.

The Philippines had shepherded the adoption of the Convention in the 100th ILO Conference in Geneva in June 2011, with the DOLE chairing the ILO Labor Standards Sub-Committee on Domestic Work.

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