Councilor Leah A. Librado is pushing for the swift approval of a proposed city ordinance that seeks to create a ‘Workers’ Protection and Development Desk in Davao City.
Authored by Librado, the ordinance is designed to aid to alleviate worker’s condition in the city. ‘’In a fast growing and developing city, like Davao, we need local legislation that will address various issues of our workers. This law should provide further protection to workers, especially those who are victims of unfair labor practices of their respective employees.” Librado said.
“My legal assistance desk in the city council has been handling and assisting different cases pertaining to labor rights and standards. We have been witnessing almost every day the hardships of many workers seeking legal assistance and economic relief versus unjust employers,” she added.
Librado cited the report from the Department of Labor and Employment-Davao last September, that around 300 companies in the Davao region are violating the minimum wage law – an instance, according to Librado, that can be strictly investigated and monitored if the city has a desk that ensures implementation of labor standards set by the law.
In a committee hearing led by the SP committee on labor chaired by Councilor Edgar Ibuyan last November 3, provisions of the ‘Workers Protection and Development Desk of Davao City’ were discussed by some labor union representatives and employers.
The desk, as stated in the proposed ordinance aims to organize a network of volunteer lawyers and para-legal aides to provide free legal service to workers and to undertake studies, researches, surveys and analysis necessary for the enforcement and implementation of labor standard laws as defined by existing and relevant laws and statutes.
