Filipino women welders complete training, ready for trade jobs

Sixteen (16) young women received on 13 October their hard-earned certifications after completing a Shielded Metal Arc Welding National Certification II (SMAW NC II) Training in Pasig City, Philippines. The awarding of the certificates was held at the Pasig City Hall led by the city’s young and progressive Mayor, Vico Sotto.  

Also present in the event were Tobias Settergen, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Sweden in Manila, Jeron Manzanero, Pasig City Administrator, Councilor Angelu de Leon, BWI-Asia Pacific Regional Education Secretary Marlon Quesada, National Union of Building and Construction Workers (NUBCW) Secretary General Santiago Nolla, welding and plumbing graduates from San Jose del Monte Bulacan, and the families of the women workers.

Aside from acquiring their certificates, the women workers also celebrated their passing of the SMAW NC II Assessment Test, which was conducted right before the event; making them eligible for employment. This prompted NUBCW Education Officer Tess Borgoños, who was also the host of the event, to call on the attention of the Pasig City Public Employment Service Office (PESO) to facilitate and prioritise the employment of the said women.

Speaking to the women workers and trade unions, Sotto underlined the importance of the non-traditional skills training program for workers and committed to continue the local government’s cooperation with NUBCW and BWI.  He also announced that his councilors, through a resolution, unanimously approved to integrate gender awareness in skills training in cooperation with NUBCW and the AWWCI.

Meanwhile, the women workers who completed the training organised themselves through a guild. Called the “Strong Women Welders’ Guild,” its newly elected President Khyla Jane Lugares expressed her thanks to BWI, NUBCW, Union to Union, SBTF and the Pasig City local government for helping workers acquire new skills to access more trade jobs.  “Before, we are not felt and are invisible.  But because of this program, we are given ample opportunities to enter and reform the male-dominated world of the construction industry. We will not put this to waste,” she said. 

AWWCI Secretary General  Mary Ann Vargas stressed that the struggle for gender equality still has a long way to go.  “We will work with you, graduates.  Together with other women members of AWWCI-NUBCW and the trade union movement, at the national and global levels, we can build our strength, we can show our force in the world of work, in the world of the construction industry,” she said.