RIGHT #2: ARTICLE 23 - Right to Work

Workers' right should be the center of development.

                                                                                       - Joseph Stiglitz

          People often work to have money (from their salary) – which as we know, money itself is an essential for us in order to live and survive. We use money for food, for housing, for repair and more. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, under the Article 23 is known as the Worker’s rights, wherein it is stated that every adults has the right to join or apply for a certain job and receive their monthly, fair wage and more.

But then, it is saddening that even if we have a right regarding this matter, there are still some abusive employers who take advantage of their workers by hiring them to perform a job, adding additional responsibilities over time and yet, they do not increase their wages – in fact, that should not be the case but sometimes workers are having a hard time to negotiate with the employers because perhaps instead of the salary increase, they will end up being jobless. In addition to that, in 2018, among the workers in the Philippines, there is about 15.8% of women who were underpaid while 10.2% for men - and yes, this data is alarming.

          We should remind ourselves that working is not just about the money that we are getting but working in general is good for our health and wellbeing – it helps us have happiness, builds our self-esteem and rewards us financially. But then, we should not forget about the rights that we have under this circumstances.

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