Labor group explains downside of working from home

While the proposed “work from home scheme” is a welcome proposal for most workers, a labor group said that it might also have adverse effects on employees.

According to Gerard Seno, executive vice president of Associated Labor Unions (ALU), working from home will help employees save time, avoid “disease-causing stress,” and cut expenses, but there is also a downside.

“The arrangement may also deprive workers of their right to organize themselves as a union and to collective bargaining for better wages and benefits,” Seno said in a statement on Thursday.

House Bill 7402 or the Telecommuting Act has passed the third and final reading in the House of Representatives.

READ: House OKs telecommuting act on final reading

READ: Bill promoting ‘work from home’ hurdles Senate

Seno also explained that workers might lose leverage in the discussion on insurances and exposure to occupational and health hazards brought about by overworking and fatigue.

“It is very important, therefore, for its tripartite-drafted implementing rules and regulation (IRR) to be crafted by the Department of Labor and Employment that guides employees and employers in the application of the scheme at the same time to promote the right to organize and to collectively bargain,” Seno said.

ALU spokesperson Alan Tanjusay also noted that the measure would not apply to all employees, especially those in a factory set-up where skilled laborers are needed to operate machinery.

He said that workers in the field of IT, business process management, business process outsourcing, animation, as well as journalists, writers, transcribers, and those working in the areas of social media management, data entry, customer service, project management, and web design and developer, will benefit the most, if the bill is enacted into law. /ee