Groups say ADB harms workers in the Philippines

Press Release

May 4, 2012      

More than a hundred members of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) joined the newly-formed Nagkaisa labor coalition in a rally workers rally against the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting this morning as President Benigno Aquino II was due to give as speech.

“PNoy should not cover up the number of poor in the Philippines and the ADB should not wash its hands off the worsening poverty in the country. The ADB is an instrument of corporate greed that has aggravated the destitution of the 99% in Asia,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair. “ADB’s privatization intensifies poverty,” the workers chanted as they assembled in Harrison Plaza and then tried to make their way to the PICC, the venue of the meeting.

Magtubo explained that “The ADB meeting’s theme of inclusive growth is mere doubles-speak for its policies of privatization are tailor-fit to facilitate the fire sale of state-owned assets to giant multinationals and big capitalists. As a result of ADB-funded privatization, the costs of electricity and water in the Philippines have skyrocketed and as a result workers real wages have fallen despite yearly increase in nominal wages.”

The ADB pushed for the passage and provided loans for the implementation of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). In 2000, Magtubo exposed a P500,000 payola for members of the House of Representatives to ensure the legislation of the controversial EPIRA.

The Nagkaisa-led rally of several hundred workers today follows the coalition’s historic 20,000-strong May Day mobilization which brought together the country’s main labor groups for the first time since the 1980’s. “The unity of labor last May 1 has made government listen to our concerns. The rally today is part of the next step—the struggle of workers to make government grant our demands,” Magtubo insisted. Among the list of demands that Nagkaisa submitted to Malacanang last Labor Day is the repeal of EPIRA and the lowering of power costs to consumers.

Magtubo expressed fear that the ADB also has a hand in the proposed privatization of the Agus-Polangi hydroelectric plant in Mindanao as a purported solution to the power crisis in the island. The proposal has been temporarily shelved due to widespread opposition in Mindanao.

He added that “The ADB’s shadow can also be seen in the scheme to sell off to private interests the provision of water services in municipalities. The ADB is Asia’s mini-IMF and mini-WB, and its public relations pitch is a result of the discrediting of the policies of privatization, deregulation and liberalization worldwide.”

Militant labor slams PNoy’s rejection of wage hike

Press Release

May 2, 2012

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) slammed President Benigno Aquino III’s rejection of the wage hike demanded by the workers groups on Labor Day. “PNoy is parroting the blackmail and black propaganda of capitalists in arguing that a wage increase will lead to inflation and layoffs. It is time for capitalists to sacrifice for a change, that is for them to absorb the salary hike through less profit instead of passing it on as price increases,” explained Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

He also clarified that DO 18-A falls short of workers’ demand to regulate the widespread practice of contractualization. “The loopholes provided by DO 18-A and the Labor Code plus lax enforcement by the Labor Department are the reasons why despite the prohibitions, the ‘5 months endo’ work is a raging epidemic. We call on PNoy to certify as urgent the proposed Security of Tenure bill and deputize labor leaders as labor inspectors in the enforcement of labor standards,” Magtubo averred.

He added that “PNoy is echoing the usual capitalist horror stories. Why should we be afraid of additional money circulating in the economy due to a wage hike when billions of dollars in remittances entering the country is always applauded? If the stronger purchasing power of OFW families is a positive factor in the economy then should not the same thing hold for more money in the hands of workers which we will use to buy the necessities of life? A wage hike will be good for the workers and will also be beneficial to the economy because it will spur the production of more goods and provision of more services.”

He called on the newly formed Nagkaisa, which led the historic 20,000-strong rally at Mendiola yesterday, to plan for the next stage of the fight for a wage hike, end of contractualization, repeal of the oil deregulation and electricity privatization, and a moratorium on demolitions. “The unity of labor has made government listen to our concerns. The next step is the struggle of workers to make government grant our demands,” Magtubo insisted.

“Why is it that the prices of the goods and services bought by workers are not tempered by the capacity to pay of the consumers? The answer is that prices take into account the cost of production with a margin included for the profit of capitalists. If that is how prices are fixed in this society called capitalism, then the price of the only thing sold by workers—their labor power—should also be computed in the same way. Meaning, it must be based on the cost of production of labor power. And this is precisely the cost of living of workers and their families, which in Metro Manila is now more than PhP 1,000 daily,” Magtubo argued.

Partido ng Manggagawa slams government inaction on workers demands

Press Release

May 1, 2012

The militant Partido ng Manggaggawa (PM) slammed the administration of President Benigno Aquino III for its inaction on workers demands for a wage hike and against contractualization. “Grace Lee is far luckier than private sector workers for President Benigno Aquino has surprises for the former but no gifts for the latter on Labor Day. But this is not due to a personal defect on the part of PNoy but a systemic defect of the government. The government is captive to a defective economic model called globalization which sacrifices workers needs to the interests of foreign investors and local capitalists,” asserted Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

PM joined the recently-formed Nagkaisa in holding a 20,000-strong “historic” rally by the newly-formed Nagkaisa, which unites the country’s major labor center for the first time since the 1980’s. An advance contingent of some 500 youth and workers held a “Lakbayan para sa Pabahay at Trabaho” yesterday that started from Baclaran Church and ended at the Holy Trinity Church in Balic-Balic, Manila for an overnight vigil.

In today’s protest, PM members flew kites symbolizing the lifting of the dignity of workers and rising of workers’ wages. They also carried makeshift “gadgets” labeled “Stop Noynoying, Work for the workers” to bring attention to the administration’s inaction on workers’ demands for regular jobs, wage hike, socialized housing, and low prices of electricity.

As early as 7:00 a.m. the different groups assembled all along the length of Espana from Welcome Rotonda to Forbes. By 9:00 a.m. the Nagkaisa rally started proceeding to Mendiola and the program lasted until 11:00 a.m. After the rally, PM and the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association held a motorcade back to the protest camp for an afternoon program.

Magtubo added that “The recently released ‘Global Wage Report’ of the ILO notes that workers in the Philippines are among the lowest paid in the world and wages are falling still. But PNoy remains deaf and blind to the call for salary increase.”

The Labor Day commemoration by groups comprising Nagkaisa was nationwide in scope. In Cebu, some 4,000 members of PM, ALU-TUCP, APL-SENTRO and Makabayan marched by 8:00 a.m. from the Pier 1 to downtown Colon and then a staged rally at the office of the Department of Labor and Employment.

Some 1,000 sugar workers and factory laborers led by PM held a rally at the Bacolod public plaza. Hundreds of leaders of labor unions, jeepney drivers associations, trisikad federation, truck drivers association, farm workers and urban poor in Iloilo City held an indoor assembly in the morning and then marched downtown in the afternoon. In Davao, some 400 members of Nagkaisa including PM assembled by 1:00 p.m. at Orcullo Park and then marched around the city.

Reviving labor unity and struggles amidst the global rebellion of the 99%

Press Statement

May 1, 2012

Renato Magtubo

Chairperson, PM

Grace Lee is far luckier than private sector workers for President Benigno Aquino has surprises for the former but no gifts for the latter on Labor Day. But this is not due to a personal defect on the part of PNoy but a systemic defect of the government. The government is captive to a defective economic model called globalization which sacrifices workers needs to the interests of foreign investors and local capitalists.

From “Erap para sa Mahirap” to “Kayo ang boss ko,” Malacanang’s spinmeisters have concocted different kinds of packaging to the same product—a regime of suppression of workers wages and labor rights for the sake of an illusory development anchored on foreign investments and global competitiveness.

This is confirmed by the recently released “Global Wage Report 2010” of the ILO which notes that workers in the Philippines are among the lowest paid in the world and wages are falling still. Low wages particularly afflicts women workers and even those with high educational attainment. But we really do not need the ILO to confirm the bitter reality felt by Filipino workers—low wages, few benefits, contractual jobs, mass unemployment and repression of unions despite GNP growth.

The imperative to unite and fight for the dignity of workers is the spark for the formation of Nagkaisa which embraces the country’s major labor centers and groups for the first time since the 1980’s. The unity forged among some 40 labor organizations to advance the struggle for regular jobs, wage hike, low cost of electricity and oil, among others as immediate concerns together with long-term demands on policy shift is a key component of the renewal and revival of the labor movement. A strong militant labor movement is the foundation for the working class to regain its place as the tribune of the people and vanguard of social change.

In the entire world, May Day this year will be commemorated in mass protests if not in general strikes. May 1^st is a day to express the resistance of the 99% to the greed of the 1%. The convergence of the youth-led Occupy movement with the traditional labor movement will radicalize and strengthen both. In the US, the Occupy movement is calling for a general strike, meaning “no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no trading.” The call has reverberated in hundreds of cities across the globe and a worldwide disruption of the status quo is the agenda.

The struggle of PALEA against contractualization and of Tucuma Federation against demolition is part of the global rebellion of the 99% against the 1%. In the midst of such life-and-death battles for workers welfare and rights, the unity in action of Nagkaisa will be tested and forged. The historic Labor Day rally by Nagkaisa in Mendiola and in other cities in Visayas and Mindanao is an important first step on the long journey to recover the dignity of workers, revive the labor movement and ultimately reform Philippine society.