Companies urged to provide number of employees laid off

By SAMUEL BARIASI
THE Papua New Guinea Trade Union Congress (PNGTUC) is urging companies to provide the number of employees they have laid off due to the Covid-19 in order to receive some relief from the Government.
PNGTUC general secretary Clemence Kanau said this when presenting the union’s recommendations for relief help to State of Emergency Controller David Manning on Friday. Manning, also the Police Commisioner, said the key to understanding Covid-19 impacts on employment was to know the rate of unemployment caused by the fear of the deadly disease.
He explained that unemployment forced by Covid-19 was an issue affecting all countries, including PNG.
“We will continue the dialogue between PNGTUC and the Labour Department to see how best we can address unemployment issues,” Manning said.
Kanau said more than 10,000 people in PNG had lost their jobs because of Covid-19.
“In our society, one employee looks after at least 10 Papua New Guineans, so if 10,000 people have lost their jobs then that means at least 10 times (100,000) that number of people are affected,” he said.
He also called on all workers to join unions in the country.
“Some Papua New Guineans don’t think unions play important roles (but) in crucial times like this, you will find unions.”
“We have included concerns of those who are affected through loss of jobs and fringe benefits such as leave entitlements, maternity leave and others in the submission that we presented to the emergency controller.”
Kanau said PNGTUC was confident that the Government would provide some relief to those affected, including businesses.
“We believe the emergency controller and the Government will listen to the cries, the pain and the suffering of our workers,” he said.
The PNG Manufacturers’ Council last week suggested the Government to review the “very high level of corporate and personal taxation” to help people and businesses to cope during these hard times.
The council said tax holidays would mean a lot to everyone as most firms were making losses.