Opening address at the Capacity building review workshop of regional strategic compliance plans

• Undersecretary Benavidez
• Assistant Secretary Tutay
• Director Curada
• Assistant Regional Directors
• Provincial and Field Office Directors and DOLE officials
• ILO colleagues
• Ladies and gentlemen, magandang umaga (good morning)!

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is pleased to collaborate with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on this Capacity Building Review Workshop of Regional Strategic Compliance Plans (SCPs).

This is made possible with the support of the US Department of Labor (USDOL) through the ILO Project on “Improving Workers’ Rights in the Rural Sectors of the Indo Pacific, with a Focus on Women.”

Labour inspection is crucial in ensuring labour standards implementation, including the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW), which now includes occupational safety and health.

Two of the ILO’s Governance Conventions are on labour inspection the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), which has been endorsed by the President for ratification, now for Senate concurrence, and the Labour Inspection Convention (Agriculture), 1969 (No.129).

I am pleased to this initiative will contribute to Pillar 2 of the Labor and Employment Plan (LEP) on “Improved labor governance that ensures respect for all fundamental principles and rights at work, international labor standards and human rights.

Specifically, we aim to support DOLE in reviewing and updating its SCPs to ensure that it leads to sustained labour standards compliance, while also protecting the most vulnerable workers.

By starting the review and updating of DOLE’s SCP from the Field and Provincial Offices, rather than engaging only with the Regional Offices, we recognize the Field and Provincial Offices’ valuable role and insights in ensuring effective and efficient labour administration governance.

Furthermore, this promotes convergence of various DOLE programmes on labour relations, social protection and employment, so that delivery contributes to labour standards compliance in priority industries. This will enable the labour inspectorate to maximize its limited resources and broaden its impact including in sectors traditionally not reached by labour inspection such as the rural and informal sectors.

The ILO hopes that through this two-and-a-half-day activity, will serve as an opportunity to reflect on progress of respective SCPs, identify lessons learnt and opportunities, and build on those to identify strategies that more effectively leverage on the main functions of the labour inspectorate.

Hopefully, this activity, will help identify and replicate strategies that can improve coverage of labour standards enforcement and technical advisory in vulnerable sectors and categories of workers not traditionally reached by the labour inspectorate, which includes implementation of convergence programmes, partnerships and strengthening of social dialogue around compliance at all levels.

The implementation of SCPs at the local level has the potential to change behaviours and attitudes towards improved labour standards compliance, ensuring that all workers are protected and that no one is left behind.

All these efforts will contribute to advancing social justice and promoting decent work in line with the Global Coalition for Social Justice.

With this, I wish you productive discussions and look forward to working with DOLE to implement key components of these plans.

Thank you and Mabuhay (long live).