Cha-Cha endangers youths’ job—Kabataang Pinoy

Reposted from http://www.cbcpnews.com

QUEZON CITY, April 15, 2009—The newly organized Kabataang Pinoy party-list warns the government of more “job shortage” for young people, which constitutes 49.2 percent of the 34.258 million workforce of the country, if the proposed charter change (Cha-Cha) will push through.

Kabataang Pinoy spokesperson Alvin Peters said in a statement, Speaker [Prospoero] Nograles’ Cha-Cha resolution seeking to scrap the 40 percent limit on foreign ownership would only make the economy more vulnerable to foreign authority and to exploitation of our work force’s cheap labor. It clearly does nothing in addressing the much-needed boost to our local economy for it to be able to provide more decent and adequate jobs and job security for our fresh graduates and the labor force in general.

Yesterday, about 100 members of the Kabataang Pinoy had attended the House committee hearings donning graduation caps as a “silent and symbolic protest against how lawmakers are prioritizing (their) political interests over the more pressing need to tackle the unemployment issue.

In 2007, more than 11 million Filipinos were unemployed, or a total of 27.9 percent of the entire labor force. Half of this number consisted of youths aged 15 to 24 years.

“This figure is bound to balloon still, with the projected 200,000 threatened to lose their jobs within the first half of the year due to the global economic crisis coupled with the government’s failure to provide employment for this year’s 900,000 new graduates,” Peters said.

He added, the government relies solely on the projected 110,000 jobs available in the business processes outsourcing (BPO) industry, particularly call center and medical transcription jobs, but these are especially vulnerable to the crisis because they are foreign-controlled and their mother companies are situated in recession-ridden First World countries.

Kabataang Pinoy said, they will strongly appeal to the House Speaker and lawmakers to halt Cha-Cha and prioritize instead, policies in job creation, national industrialization and scrap neoliberal policies on trade and industry, which pave way to monopoly and death of local small industries. (Noel Sales Barcelona).

Mabuhay ang mga Kabataan!

Mabuhay ang Kabataan Pinoy!