‘Too much work kills,’ says Poe; 8 million Pinoys overworked

PHOTO FROM SEN. GRACE POE’S OFFICE

Alarmed by a recent report that more than 8 million Filipinos are overworked, Senator Grace Poe now wants the Senate to look into the problem and propose legislative measures to address it.

Poe has filed Senate Resolution No. 316 calling for a probe on the dramatic rise in the number of overworked Filipinos in the last 20 years.

In the resolution, the senator cited the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) report on Decent Work in the Philippines which showed that there were 8.105 million overworked Filipinos in 2015 in primary jobs, an increase of 41.2 percent or 2.363 million from 5.742 million in 1995.

The same report showed that employed persons with excessive hours of work per week in all jobs were around 8.845 million in 2015, higher by 4.5 percent or 378,000 from the 8.467 million in 2005.

“Several studies have shown that excessive work hours could trigger serious health problems and even cause death. Chronic overworking, as various research suggest, can lead to threatening levels of stress,” Poe said in a statement on Friday.

More Filipinos, she said, “may be working their way into an early grave” if the problem would not be addressed immediately.

“Too much work will kill you,” the senator further said.

Poe then proposed a comprehensive review of company policies requiring employees to work excessively long hours, an overhaul of labor laws, and passage of legislative measures to ensure the constitutionally guaranteed “just and humane work conditions.”

“Napakaimportanteng bigyang halaga ang work-life balance dahil hindi lamang sa trabaho umiikot ang mundo ng ating mga manggagawa. Bagama’t kailangang kumita, walang lugar ang pang-aabuso sa kanilang karapatan. Sa ganitong paraan, mas mapagtutuunan nila ng pansin ang kanilang sarili, kalusugan at pamilya,” she said.

(It is very important to value work-life balance because it is not just work that workers need to focus on. While there is a need to earn, there should be no place for the abuse of their rights. This way, they can still prioritize their welfare, health and family.)

The resolution also noted that based on the PSA study, more than half of the total workers with excessive hours of work were wage earners and salaried workers.

“Excessive hours of work is one of the primary indicators of decent working time. Having more than the usual hours of work may interfere with the balance between personal life and work, may increase injury hazard risks, may signal an inadequate pay, and in the long term, pose a threat to workers’ physical and mental capacity to work. It may also be connected to the reduction of the productivity of workers,” the PSA report said. IDL/rga

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