The House of Representatives has approved a bill relaxing the ban on night shift work for women, which President Benigno Aquino III earlier identified as one of his priority measures. The chamber approved on third and final reading Wednesday night House Bill 4276 — authored by Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez — or the measure “rationalizing" the night work prohibition on female workers. The approved bill seeks to amend Articles 130 and 131 of Presidential Decree No. 442, commonly known as the Labor Code of the Philippines. Under the measure, women will only be prohibited from working for a period of 11 consecutive hours between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the following “industrial undertakings":
mines, quarries and other work for the extraction of minerals from the earth undertakings where articles are manufactured, altered, cleaned, repaired, ornamented, finished, adopted for sale, broken up or demolished shipbuilding and jobs related to the generation, transformation or transmission of electricity; and building and civil engineering work “It (bill) brings the old provisions from the Labor Code up to date with the times. Commercial establishments like business process outsourcing (BPO)... would no longer have to seek exemption. This is an added attraction for those choosing to invest in the country," Angara said in a text message to GMA News Online on Thursday. The Labor Code formerly bans women from working from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in “any commercial or non-industrial undertaking" other than agricultural work. With the passage of HB 4276, the House has already approved three of President Aquino’s 23 priority measures. The two other priority bills which have been approved by the House were the bill postponing the ARMM elections to 2013 and the bill limiting perks for officials of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs). The counterpart bill of HB 4276, Senate Bill 2701 authored by Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy" Estrada, has yet to be approved on second reading as of February 16. The Senate can either pass its own version of the bill or adopt the House version. After this, a bicameral conference committee will be convened to reconcile the respective versions of the House and Senate. Once the bicameral committee approves the bill, it will be returned to the House and Senate for ratification. It will then be submitted to Malacañang for the signature of the President. - Andreo Calonzo/KBK/MRT, GMA News 
GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
