Promoting a Culture of Compliance to Labor Standards Through Social Dialogue Among MSMEs

Name of Project:	Promoting a Culture of Compliance to Labor Standards Through Social Dialogue Among MSMEs
Status:	On-going
Timeline:	Phase 1: August 2018 – December 2018 Phase 2: 2019 (tentative)
Background:	Under the EU Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) program, Philippine producers can export more than 6,000 products to any of the 28 member-countries of the European Union (EU) at zero tariff. To continue doing so, the Philippines must comply with 27 international conventions to allow for the GSP to foster growth in income, the economy, and job creation. In partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO), ECOP aims to aid and capacitate employers to comply with the General Labor Standards (GLS), Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS) and other pertinent international frameworks, associated with EU GSP+.
Participants:	The project is intended for MSMEs, companies with not more than 199 employees, in the house decors, furnishings, furniture, handicrafts, accessories, and food processing industries in Davao, Iloilo, and North Luzon to assess their state of awareness and compliance to the requirements of GSP+. Each of these workshops will have 20-25 participants representing at least 15 companies. Participation in the workshops under this project is by invitation only.
Objectives:	The primary objective of this project is to raise awareness among companies and their suppliers on GSP+ and develop tools to facilitate their compliance to General Labour Standards (GLS), Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS) and other pertinent international frameworks. The project also intends to: Ascertain the level of awareness on and compliance of selected companies, MSMEs in particular, to GSP+; Encourage companies to adopt policies and practices that promote compliance to GLS/OSH/ILO standards in relation to GSP+ requirements; Develop self-assessment tools, train selected entrepreneurs on their use and provide them assistance in addressing gaps in their compliance to labor standards and international frameworks; Incorporate the self-assessment tools and other relevant resources in the ECOP Helpdesk to enable interested companies to seek technical assistance from ECOP on compliance issues; The following activities are to be implemented by ECOP to realize the project objectives: Phase 1 a. Conduct of workshops among MSMEs in the house decors, furnishings, furniture, handicrafts, accessories, and food processing industries in Davao, Iloilo, and North Luzon to assess their state of awareness and compliance to the requirements of GSP+. b. Design and development of self-assessment tools, following the three (3) aforementioned workshops, to enable companies to check their compliance to labour standards, OSH standards, and international instruments under the GSP+; c. Pilot-test the self-assessment tools among selected companies. Phase 2 d. Development of IEC materials and conduct of a communication workshop to promote awareness on the use of the self-assessment tools; e. Conduct of remediation in at least three (3) companies using the self-assessment tools and provide them technical assistance in implementing the necessary corrective measures based on the action plans prepared; f. Incorporation of tools, other resources, and means of access to available technical assistance in the ECOP Helpdesk to promote and facilitate compliance to labour standards, OSH standards, and other international instruments.
Contact:	Name: Virginia Angela Usero Designation: External Affairs Coordinator Mobile No.: +639177092742 E-mail Address: [email protected] [email protected]