Labor groups preparing for bigger battles vs Con-Ass

PRESS RELEASE
10 June 2009

The militant labor partylist group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said several labor groups are preparing for a bigger battle over the issue of cha-cha as time constraint pushes this administration to resort to desperate actions such as last week’s railroading of the Con-Ass resolution in Congress.

PM chair Renato Magtubo said the ultimate battle will be during the time when Congress formally convenes into a Constituent Assembly. During that time, the labor leader said, the Arroyo government may face the biggest assembly of people that may not only derail the convening of Con-Ass but may also call for radical change in government.

Magtubo made this bold prediction while leading members in the “Byaheng Riles Laban sa Cha-Cha train ni Gloria” this morning. Some 300 members of PM and Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) in push-trolleys trek the south rail track from Bicutan Interchange in Paranaque City to Magallanes in Makati to participate in the scheduled Ayala anti-Con-Ass rally.

Those who participated in the railway protest were displaced workers from shutdown factories in the former industrial belt of Paranaque and urban poor communities in the area who were demolished or evicted from their homes.

From Magallanes, PM members will merge with other members and the Laban ng Masa contingent at the corner of Pasay Road before proceeding to Ayala Avenue. PM chapters also held simultaneous local protests in Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Ilo-ilo, Cebu, Davao, and Bacolod.

Magtubo, said the toiling masses will not allow these political machinations to distract their energy in pushing this government to address the plight of workers and the poor amidst recession, adding that workers will not only oppose cha-cha but will continue fighting for their demands for a bailout and the reversal of liberalization, deregulation and privatization policies.

“Workers need no service extensions from Gloria and the plundering trapos. What we need are new policies that will free this country from foreign and elite control. Workers need no new constitution to perpetrate old and new criminals clothed in official barongs. What this country needs is a new government that ensures full protection to labor and where the real majority of our people rules,” concludes Magtubo.