Labor union groups on Friday called for the protection of life before profit and politics in the midst of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Associated Labor Unions (ALU) and global union Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) in a joint statement called for the end of violence and harassment which “have worsened” during the pandemic. 

As the 18 days of Activism in the Philippines ends on December 12, ALU Vice President and Women’s Committee Chair Eva Arcos stated that “the call and response to end violence on account of social justice, sex, and unionism should be every day, not occasional, until there is no more need for them.”

Arcos stressed that measures to save lives must be enhanced, including adequate health and safety financing. She also called for the classification of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as occupational disease.

“Violence and harassment have been aggravated by the pandemic, restrictions, poverty and economic insecurity. Home has all the more become a place of work or the supposed refuge of those who have become jobless or underemployed,” the labor organizations said. 

“Women are the most vulnerable to multiple tasking and violence, particularly those who are economically challenged or dependent on their partners or other family members,” they added.  

The labor unions also emphasized the prevalence of online sexual exploitation amid the new normal, stressing that other contributing factors to the rising cases of violence and harassment are “lack of gender and rights education, weak law enforcement, and limited access to report and life-support mechanisms.”

They likewise lamented that policies and measures to deal with the pandemic “were drafted and implemented without consultations with workers, especially with women labor.”  

“The Associated Labor Unions and BWI recognize that women too have the capacity to participate in policy and program formulation, and that labor and women’s rights are human rights,” ALU National Executive Vice President Gerard Seno said.

Arcos also further appealed for access to vaccines for workers, decent jobs and wages, freedom of association, zero tolerance to gender-based violence, and the ratification ILO Convention No. 190, among others.

ILO Convention No. 190 recognizes the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment and acknowledges that violence and harassment also affects the quality of public and private services, and may prevent persons, particularly women, from accessing, and remaining and advancing in the labor market.