AS AN obvious consequence of the ferocity of the global pandemic, business establishments, big and small, decided to downsize or altogether close shop and as a result, their workers were displaced and laid off causing unspeakable results to themselves and their families.

Figures generally don’t lie. Per reports culled by the Department of Labor and Employment or the Department of the Interior and Local Government, at least 25,000 workers were laid off in January 2021 alone, while about 108,000 more made go without pay or with drastic pay cuts as a devastating result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The last quarter of 2020 registered about half of the total 420,701 job losses in 2020. More losses are expected to be cut or lost as more businesses predictably fold up.

PDI columnist Joel Ruiz Butuyan, a lawyer, deplored the government’s neglect of its workers as he summarized its sins, their lack of security tenure, non-observance of the seniority rule, non-payment of benefits as are received by the private sector employees and keeping in its roll job order workers for the longest time.

Atty. Butuyan even branded the Philippine government as the biggest violator of workers’ rights. He should well know as he has several relatives working in the national government and local government units.