EMPLOYERS COMPLETE BLUEPRINT FOR COPING WITH GLOBALIZATION’S CHALLENGE
GMA’s 2010 goal: 0 strikes
By Mia M. Gonzalez and Artemio Cusi III
Reporters

PRESIDENT Arroyo is aiming for a zero incidence of labor strikes by the end of her term in 2010, a feat she hopes to achieve by forging labor-dispute agreements between the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and business groups and local governments.
       Speaking at the 27th National Conference of Employers at the Manila Hotel on Tuesday, the President said the DOLE has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Archdiocese of Manila so that Catholic schools and hospitals will be compelled to settle labor disputes among themselves before cases are filed.
       She said this way, the number of disputes going into arbitration are reduced and the case dockets are declogged.
       “It will minimize the hardening of labor-management conflicts, and I hope and I would like to propose in this Ecop conference, that we do similar agreements between DOLE and Ecop and also with the local government units. Our goal is to have zero reason to have strikes by the end of my term in 2010,” she said.
       The President also said recent favorable reports from the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) and the Bank of America, together with the P17-billion budget surplus and the all-time high of $21 billion in foreign reserves, have pointed to the country’s economic resiliency amid the continuing threat of spiraling world oil prices.
       “Survive, that’s what we’ve been able to do . . . We’ve shown we can survive. Now we have to succeed before we enter the enchanted kingdom,” she said, joking about the reference to the famous theme park whose owner was in the audience.
       She said that the government would have to catch up in infrastructure development, which is possible now that it finally has the revenues to fund it, while the business sector would have to improve its business efficiency.
       The President cited developments in the government’s infrastructure program that will improve business operations in the country such as the North Expressway, the South Expressway, the Clark airport, the Subic port, the Batangas port and the Lipa airport.
       Now that road and airport projects are under way, the government will now concentrate on power infrastructure projects, she said.
       Ecop furnished the President with the resolutions of its conference, among them a “joint inventory of skills critically needed by the nation,” and identified by affected industries, with priority on job-rich industries like cyber services, agribusiness, health services, mining, creative industries, hotels and restaurants, medical tourism, aviation, and maritime sectors.
       The Ecop also resolved to prepare “effective social safety nets” for vulnerable workers such as the youth, women, persons with disabilities, senior workers, domestic workers, self-employed, and others.
       The Ecop also resolved to improve the match between demand for jobs and supply of skills, and to work with the government and other sectors to help create decent jobs, and flexible and competitive labor markets.
       Employers have been urged to prepare themselves in confronting the challenges offered by globalized trade.
       In its conference resolution presented at the close of the conference, the Ecop said: “There are tremendous opportunities for employers to have a stronger voice, and be represented in negotiations with various bilateral and multilateral trade partners to prepare the workforce for drastic changes, including regional economic integration, pandemics and other disasters.”
       Negotiations are particularly focused on countries that benefit from Philippine human capital.
       The Ecop thus expressed its intent to pursue agreements on ethical recruitment and good working conditions for migrant health workers.
       It also seeks commitments from foreign governments benefiting from the human capital of the Philippines “to replenish the country’s investments in education and training.”
       Through bilateral and multilateral agreements, the Ecop said the Philippines must “facilitate the harmonization of education, training and practice regulations.” This includes mutual recognition of the qualifications, skills and competencies for migrating skills in critical supply.
       Also cited as requiring urgent attention is the problem of mismatch between demand for jobs and supply of skills.
       To solve this, the resolution underscored the need to ensure the provision of entrepreneurship skills to the youth “through modules at all levels of the educational curriculum, especially at the elementary level.”
       The resolution also mentioned the importance of raising joint funding for research and information systems on critical labor markets.
       The Ecop supported the creation of the Opportunities Advisory Boards in colleges and universities. It is “part of the measures aimed at resolving the jobs and skills mismatch resulting in structural unemployment.”