(We yield this space to the statement of the Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
THE INSTITUTE for Occupational Health and Safety Development (IOHSAD) calls on the government to directly address the reasons for the continuous oil price hikes instead of pushing for the implementation of a compressed work week that can be detrimental to workers’ health and safety. This work scheme passes the burden of surviving this crisis to the backs of workers while the government turns away from the responsibility of mitigating, or ending, the dreadful effects of oil deregulation on people’s lives.
Long working hours kill workers! Longer working hours prolong exposures to hazards at work, and this increases the risk for work-related injuries and diseases. There is a time-dependent increase in the risk for accidents, injuries, falls, infections, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases beyond the standard working hours. Twelve-hour workdays increase the risk for injuries and accidents by 37%, and this risk increases with overtime and an extended work week.
The eight-hour workday was won through persistent collective action of workers’ unions and organizations since the Industrial Revolution, and was enshrined as a landmark convention of the International Labor Organization (ILO). The widespread unrest emanating from this movement was “so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperiled,” prompting nothing less than the creation of the ILO to address this issue with urgency. While still not observed by a number of ILO member-states, the eight-hour workday allowed workers in most of the world to have time for rest, work and recreation. A compressed workweek is a rollback of this precious victory of the workers’ movement.
The consequences of longer working hours are not worth the perceived benefits. Advocates of a compressed work week claim a more flexible schedule with more rest days resulting in increased worker productivity and less business costs. These, however, came at a price: Workers reported increased stress and pressure from trying to complete their usual tasks in a shorter period of time and decreased focus at the eighth hour of work. For those with children, staying later meant less time spent with them before bedtime. Filipino workers face conditions that are more dire than those experienced by the workers in these studies: pay cuts, “no work, no pay” schemes and nearly impossible output targets – and less working days will mean less pay with more workload.
Only a comprehensive response focused on raising wages, decreasing the cost of basic necessities, improving transportation, and providing adequate financial support will allow our workers to tide over the ongoing pandemic crisis and fuel price hikes. Left unaddressed, workers’ issues will leave workers and the Filipino people suffering.
