The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will be joining hands with McDonald’s, one of the leading fast food chains in the country today, in shaping the next generation of the country’s labor force to becoming dynamic, assertive, passionate, and productive employees through the Special Program of Employment for Students (SPES), Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz announced yesterday.
“A total of 3,900 SPES beneficiaries will get a chance to work with the global fast food chain,” Baldoz said as she announced that she and officials of Golden Arches Development Corporation, McDonald’s franchise holder in the Philippines, will sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on March 28, 2012.
The labor and employment chief said this undertaking is in accordance with the overarching goal of President Benigno S. Aquino III in his 22-point labor and employment agenda which is to invest in the country’s top resource, the human resource, to make it more competitive and employable while promoting industrial peace based on social justice.
To join the Secretary in the signing of the MOA at McDonald’s Greenbelt, Makati are DOLE Regional Directors Atty. Alan Macaraya of the National Capital Region (NCR), Raymundo Agravante of Region 3, Ma. Gloria A. Tango of Region 7, and Joffrey M. Suyao of Region 11.
The SPES, a bridging-employment program for the youth supervised by the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns under Director Chita DG. Cilindro, aims to help poor and deserving students to pursue their education by encouraging employment of all qualified high school, college or vocational/technical students, and out-of-school youth (OSY) with partner companies.
Under the accord, the SPES beneficiaries will be working for a minimum of four hours to a maximum of eight hours a day, six days a week and receive salaries not less than the prevailing minimum wage in the region where they will be employed. Sixty percent of the said amount will be paid in cash by McDonald’s and the remaining forty percent will be in the form of education vouchers issued by the DOLE for the payment of tuition fees and books in any secondary, tertiary, vocational, or technical educational institutions.
Following the successful pilot-testing of the SPES project in 44 McDonald’s branches during the months of November and December last year, McDonald’s Philippines’s director for human resource, Rebecca P. Roselada stated in a letter to the Secretary that the project will be rolled out in all McDonald’s branches nationwide.
Students and OSY with ages 17-20, with pleasing personality, have average passing grades, and whose parents’ combined income does not exceed P120,000 per year, may visit the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) in their areas and submit the following documentary requirements;
1. Duly accomplished SPES Application Form
2. Copy of birth certificate or any document that shows his/her date of birth
3. Certification by the School Registrar/Form 138/original class cards
4. Copy of latest Income Tax Return of parents or BIR certificate for exempted parents; and
5. Certificate of good moral character issued by the barangay (for out-of-school youth)
The first batch of successful SPES hires for McDonald’s branches in Metro Manila will be deployed on April 10 until June 20, 2012.
The highest number of SPES beneficiaries was recorded last year when 119,045 students were placed in short-term jobs during the summer and Christmas breaks. With an additional budget of P168.1 million this year, a total of P340.2 million was allocated to provide employment for 140,000 students who will enroll under the program.
“More than the financial rewards of working, we want our youths to be empowered with significant work experience and deeper understanding of work life,” Baldoz said.
“With the strong brand and highly-regarded image that represents McDonald’s, we are confident that students who will have the opportunity to work for the fast food chain will gain a very productive and valuable work experience that they can use once they are engaged in a full-time employment,” she adds.
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