PH Consulate in SF, US labor dep’t widen workers’ rights drive
Consul General in San Francisco Henry Bensurto Jr signs the memorandum of understanding with U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Western Regional Office Administrator Ruben Rosalez to be partners for the promotion of labor rights of Filipino nationals regardless of immigration status. JUN NUCUM
SAN FRANCISCO – Officials of the US labor department and the Philippine Consulate here signed a memorandum of understanding for the joint the promotion of labor rights and awareness and understanding of workplace laws applicable to all Filipino nationals regardless of immigration status.
The MOU signing was timed to mark Labor Rights Week August 29-September 4 this year. Signing for the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Western Regional Office was Administrator Ruben Rosalez while Consul General Henry Bensurto Jr. was on hand to sign for the PCG in San Francisco.
“We’ve partnered with Filipino workers in Los Angeles to start a 1-800 number that’s hooked up with different agencies including ours that they can call that and file a complaint. There is someone that can speak the language they can understand like Ilocano and Tagalog and we’ll give you information,” Rosalez reported.
Complaints from all over
“We get calls from Seattle, Hawaii, and from other places as complaints are from all over,” Rosalez added. “This is the beginning of establishing a direct connection that they can call and they can feel comfortable filing a complaint with and asking some questions about their conditions.”
Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco signed its first arrangement with the Wage and Hour Division San Francisco District Office together with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) San Francisco Region also at PCG San Francisco on November 14, 2013.
Another arrangement was signed on September 5, 2014, this time with the DOL-WHD Southwest Regional Office encompassing Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming over which the consulate has jurisdiction.
The newly signed MOU covers areas with shared jurisdiction over Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Northern Nevada and Northern California, which is broader in scope as it is regional and not just district-wide.
“As we are about to sign and make this historic event solidify for us, one thing we have to remember is that even starting tomorrow there is somebody that needs our help. There is somebody right now who is not getting minimum wage, not getting proper overtime (pay). There are people in slave labor. There is human trafficking going on right now. We have to make a commitment and our signature on this document is our commitment in the Department of Labor to eradicate those. We are going to end that. We are going to give everybody what they are entitled to have,” Rosalez declared.
Regardless of status
“The Philippine Consulate has always been a partner with the Department of Labor. “It is extremely important for Filipino workers to know of their rights regardless of their immigration status, and I am very proud of the work we have been doing with the wage and hour division,” stated DOL- WHD San Francisco District Office Director Susana Blanco.
Blanco also reported that they have been able to put more than $5 million in the hands of abused Filipino workers who sometimes had to work 100 hours a week in residential health care industry.
The men and women behind the successful partnership between the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco and U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Western Regional Office culminating in the signing of a memorandum of agreement (from left): Vice Consul Carlyn Monastrial; Deputy Consul General Jaime Ascalon; Consul Reginald Bernabe; Consul General Henry Bensurto Jr.; Administrator Ruben Rosalez and DOL-WHD San Francisco District Office Director Susana Blanco; other officials of the DOL. JUN NUCUM
“I want everybody to feel comfortable in coming to us because whatever information given to us is kept confidential. And again we are glad that we do investigation and it doesn’t matter what the immigration status is for an individual,” Blanco reiterated.
Empleo Pinoy
“We also have launched a program in Southern California called Empleyo Pinoy where individuals can call us at an 1-877-8856641 number they can feel free to call. There is going to be an individual who can take information from them, if there is a complaint that they want to file, it would be done anonymously. And that information would be passed to the proper agencies and whatever action needs to be taken will be taken.”
Consul General Bensurto said that with the MOU, he wished that “fear would turn to hope to alleviate the plight of those so-called TNT who are usually willing to take all the sufferings in terms of unfair or non-payment of wages for being undocumented and therefore not entitled to protection.”
“The law is applicable and does not discriminate against undocumented worker. This is something we really have to disseminate this information to them to take that fear away,” Bensurto stressed.
