Manila Times/Manila
To ease the anticipated traffic gridlock in the metropolis, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is pushing for a four-day work week as well ensuring flexible timings for workers in various firms.
MMDA Traffic Engineering Centre (TEC) director Neomie Recio said the idea was proposed during the two-day summit aimed at finding ways to reduce traffic that may be caused by 15 simultaneous major road projects.
Recio said that under the proposal, workers in Metro Manila will report for work for four days but their time will be extended.
She said many at the summit favoured the proposal.
Apart from cutting the number of working days, Recio said participants in the summit also wanted workers to have flexible time “so that workers will not be reporting to work and going home simultaneously.”Recio said a technical working group was formed by the MMDA to study the proposal.
In 2011, Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo proposed a 10-hour, four-day or 10/4 work week.
In drafting his “Four-Day Work Week Act of 2011,” Castelo said this will not change the traditional 40 hours of work every week or cut back on service or productivity.
He said it will still be a 40-hour workweek, but it will run from Monday to Thursday.
To make up for the shorter work schedule, the daily work schedule will be extended by two hours.
Castelo’s proposal drew mixed reactions from employers and workers.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said the shortened work week would hurt productivity.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said workers favour such a policy provided it is implemented voluntarily and within a specific period.
