Roundtable Discussion on Young Workers Held
May 17,
2015 – The Workers Assistance Center (WAC) hosted a roundtable discussion in
its office in Rosario, Cavite concerning the presence of young trainees
allegedly working in some of the manufacturing plants located inside the Cavite
Economic Zone (CEZ).
Said
trainees are under the Dual Training System (DTS) Program supervised by the
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and implemented
thru accredited training schools and institutes.
WAC decided
to hold the discussion as the number of trainees seeking advice on their
training arrangement inside the manufacturing plants grew particularly trainees
from the Chopil Manpower Institute Corp. also known as Chopil.
Newly-appointed
TESDA Cavite Director Rolando Dela Torre attended the event along with the
National College of Science and Technology (NCST) president and newly-elected
president of training school and institute association in Cavite Mr. Emerson
Atanacio.
Also
present in the discussion were other owners of accredited training institute, a
representative from TESDA Region 4A office, trainees from other schools,
workers, and parents.
Mr. Dela Torre
first explained the gist of the DTS Law and its benefits.
Christian
Salazar, a trainee himself, recounted his experiences as he bounced from one
training center to another. According to him, they (trainees) considered
themselves as workers that receive wages instead of training allowance.
He also
related that as trainees their workload inside the plant do not differ with that
of the workers and some of them were even assigned to hazardous processes that
involved chemicals which workers refuse to work on.
Chopil
Trainees Appeal to TESDA Cavite
Months
before the roundtable discussion, Chopil trainees sought WAC’s assistance through
the help of the Hye Sung Workers Union (HSWU) to address their concerns
regarding their training arrangement inside the manufacturing plant of Hye Sung
Phils. Inc. located in CEZ, Rosario, Cavite.
25 Chopil
trainees that also included Christian, each submitted their handwritten letter
to then-TESDA Cavite Director Leticia Ogbac asking her office to conduct a
compliance inspection on Chopil Manpower Institute and hide their identities on
August 2014.
However, TESDA-Cavite
official only gave the trainees an audience almost a month after most of the
trainees were called home by their parents to their respective province after
TESDA Cavite investigated the matter but revealed the trainees identities to
the training school officials for the alleged purpose of verification if said
trainees were really enrolled at the institute.
Thus, only
five (5) of the 25 trainees who sent their letters to TESDA Cavite were able to
meet with Dir. Ogbac.
At the said
meeting, Dir. Ogbac repeatedly questioned the trainees of going to WAC for help
while they are trainees and not workers. She also asserted to the trainees with
the presence of staff from WAC that it would have been better if they
approached TESDA Cavite officials directly than asking for WAC’s help with
their inquiries.
The meeting
that the trainees requested from TESDA Cavite office was also attended by owners
of Chopil who were invited by Dir. Ogbac to the surprise of the trainees.
The meeting
ended after Dir. Ogbac directed the Chopil officials to hand over the trainees’
remaining allowances and pertinent documents withheld by the institute.
Positive Result
WAC aired its
view regarding the precarious situation of trainees under the DTS program.
Like the
fact that the trainees are stationed at hazardous processes without or very
limited protection. Likewise, if accidents happen, trainees are not covered by
the Labor Laws but by the DTS law which provides very limited protection under
such circumstances.
The TESDA
regional office representative on the other hand explained that if there were
violations in the implementation of the DTS program they couldn’t gauge if the
trainees that they interview during inspections were telling the truth because they
couldn’t conduct surprise inspections or visits.
On their
part, TESDA welcomes that a discussion as such would clear things up and asked
for cooperation from all stakeholders to improve loopholes in the DTS law and
its implementation.
Dir. Dela
Torre and Mr. Atanacio also urged everyone to write and forward their
complaints in their respective offices so that, they could act accordingly.
In : News
Tags: wac forum tesda dts cavite
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