13 June 2016 - The Philippines urged stronger international cooperation to ensure the welfare of workers and ensure labor productivity, as climate change continued to put vulnerable sectors like those in agriculture and construction at greater risk from heat exposure and threatens overall productivity due to shorter viable working hours.
The call was made during a High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change and Labor, which the Philippines, as President of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, led on June 08 on the margins of the 105th Session of the International Labor Conference (ILC) in order to draw attention to the often-overlooked link between climate change and labor.
“The repercussion of climate change on decent work is enormous as we increasingly realize that those most at risk are engaged in the lowest-bracket work and are therefore the most susceptible to extreme poverty,” said Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), who headed the Philippine Delegation to the ILC.
Secretary Baldoz shared the experience of the Philippines in addressing the impacts of climate change in the labor sector. The DOLE, for instance, was named as an ex-officio member of the Climate Change Commission, ensuring that labor concerns were an integral part of climate change strategies. The Philippines was also one of the three pilot countries to apply the 2015 guidelines of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on just transition to environmentally sustainable economies and societies, which aimed to support the development of green enterprises and jobs and identify new occupational and safety health hazards in the shift to green production.
She enumerated other initiatives, such as the Green My Enterprise training program wherein more than 1,800 enterprises had received assistance towards, among other objectives, improved workplace safety and lower greenhouse gas emission; the Productivity Olympics that recognized companies promoting green practices; the revision of the advisory on measures to address increasing workplace heat; and the new Labor Law Compliance System that mandated officers not only to monitor compliance but also to provide assistance and advice on labor standards and risks, including those brought about by extreme weather events.
Secretary Baldoz also expressed support for efforts to review international labor standards in order to take climate change into account, committed to continue exchanging best practices with other stakeholders on climate change, and supported initiatives to help make climate change an agenda in future discussions of the ILO.
Following the tripartite nature the discussions in the ILO, the other high-level participants and speakers during the event were, for the government, H.E. Carlos Alvarado, Minister of Labor of Costa Rica; H.E. Abdulfatah Abdullahi, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of Ethiopia; H.E. Carlos Alberto Madero, Minister of Labor and Social Security of Honduras; and Mr. Deepak Bohara, Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Employment of Nepal. Meanwhile, the labor unions were represented by Mr. Philip Jennings, General Secretary of UNI Global Union, and Ms. Anabella Rosemberg, climate change and occupational health advisor of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Mr. Tony Walcott, Executive Director of the Barbados Employers Confederation, spoke on behalf of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE).
Minister Alvarado, in particular, highlighted how the issue on labor and climate change started off in Costa Rica as a health issue after receiving information that many of its workers exposed to extreme heat reported kidney problems. Meanwhile, the representatives from labor unions called for greater protection for workers as many industries became increasingly affected by climate change.
The IOE expressed similar concern as, for instance, rising sea levels affected the shorelines of small island states whose main industry related to tourism, and as responses continued to evolve in order to address the issue of reduced productivity resulting from extreme heat.
Some 70 participants took part in the event, with representatives from other Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva and from international organizations like the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, and the UN Development Programme.
“Because climate change affects all sectors, the Philippines hopes to help bring the discussion on climate change into other related forums,” said Ambassador Cecilia Rebong, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva.
“With the support of countries facing the same risks, we have supported various resolutions in the Human Rights Council, arguing that climate change affects in a fundamental way the full enjoyment of human rights. We have worked with the World Health Organization to highlight how health systems both suffer from, and contribute to, climate change. We hope more will join us in this advocacy,” she added.
The event, which was attended by ministers of labor and other high-level officials from governments, as well as representatives from labor unions and employers’ groups, was co-organized by the Philippines as President of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), together with the ITUC, IOE, UN Development Programme, and ILO.
The CVF, an organization of developing countries that are most vulnerable to climate change, aims to enhance understanding and awareness about the adverse impacts of a warming planet and is engaged in related exchange of information and capacity-building programs. END
