TUCP welcomes election of new ILO Director General

FORMER SENATOR AND TRADE Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) president Ernesto F. Herrera has welcomed the election recently of Guy Ryder to the top post of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Herrera said Ryder, whose five-year term as ILO Director General will begin in October this year, is the “man of the hour” as he will always be at the forefront in championing international labor standards and fundamental rights at work and improving labor conditions by promoting a “rights-based agenda.” Ryder was a former general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) prior to his stint as ILO’s Executive Director.

According to Herrera, Ryder’s vast experience in the world of work, particularly in the international arena, augurs well in pursuit of the ILO’s goals of social justice and in strengthening tripartism and social dialogue.

Amid this development, Herrera said the TUCP, an affiliate of the ITUC, commends ILO for taking action vis-a-vis TUCP’s complaint transmitted to the ILO Credentials Committee in Geneva questioning the nomination of Victorino Balais as adviser in the workers’ delegation of the Philippines during the recent International Labor Conference held in Geneva.

Herrera, in his letter to the ILO Credentials Committee, said the action of the Government of the Philippines in nominating a person who is not an elected officer of TUCP and simultaneously designating him as vice president and General Secretary of the TUCP, “is clearly an affront to the leadership, membership, as well as to the Constitution of the organization,” which amounts to “blatant and notorious affront and violation of the TUCP Constitution.”

This has prompted the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to accede to Herrera’s demand in his letter to DOLE to demand rectification to the nomination of Balais submitted by the government to ILO. The Secretary of Labor and Employment wrote Herrera that the designation of Balais as the TUCP Secretary General on the initial credentials was an “honest oversight which the government immediately corrected in its final and official submission of credentials.”

The DOLE Secretary then wrote the ILO Legal Adviser asking that the title of Balais be corrected as “President, Philippine Transport and General Workers Organization and not as General Secretary of the TUCP.” The ILO Credentials Committee thereafter accepted the rectification made by DOLE of removing the title of Balais as TUCP vice president and general secretary.

Thus, Herrera lauded DOLE for such gesture in taking the appropriate action amid his complaint.