Workers call for reformatting of the power industry

NAGKAISA

PRESS RELEASE

29 January 2014

The power industry needs not just a reboot but a major reformatting to better serve the country’s current and future energy needs and to satisfy the people’s clamour for affordable and sustainable power.

This, according to the labor coalition Nagkaisa, should be the new frame in seeking amendments or replacement to the failed Electric Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA.

The group made this challenge as some of its leaders attended the Department of Energy’s (DoE) consultations on EPIRA amendments while its members called for the law’s scrapping in a demonstration held outside the Legends Hotel in Mandaluyong City. 

“A bad law like EPIRA may need some amendments to address the current mess.  But a wrong policy such as wholesale privatization can only be addressed by replacing it with a new one, a better one,” stated Josua Mata, one of the convenors of Nagkaisa.

Mata, who is also the secretary general SENTRO, told the DoE that workers will engage the amendment process in Congress and at the same time work for its replacement when such is probable amid the incurability of EPIRA and the viability of other options.

Another convenor, Louie Corral of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), said amendments are necessary on issues of cross-ownership; the generation being a ‘non-public’ utility, reforms in the ERC (composition and rate-setting methodology); privatization of the transmission system and the Agus-Pulangi hydro complexes in Mindanao; retail competition and open access; and on electric cooperatives, among others.

It can be recalled that in a petition letter submitted to President Aquino during the Labor Day celebration of 2012, Nagkaisa raised the following issues to the Executive, some of these require legislative actions:

1.      Removal of oil and power from EVAT coverage;

2.      Stopping the indexation of/or pegging the prices of natural gas and geothermal steam to international prices of oil and coal;

3.      Stopping the ERC’s implementation of Performance Based Rate (PBR) methodology as this allows power firms to increase rates in anticipation of future expansion and other capital expenditures; and,

4.      Reforming the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

The group also bats for the re-nationalization of the transmission lines and the permanent stay in the planned privatization of the Agus-Pulangi.

Partido ng Manggagawa spokesperson, Wilson Fortaleza, another convenor said the country and the people will not accept another 13 years of failed rule under EPIRA.

“It’s time to rethink and come up with a new model of public power that is completely different from what the industry is, before and under EPIRA. Fortunately we are blessed with so much national potential to do that.  It is only the government that thinks it can’t be done without the prescribed track imposed by the ADB and World Bank,” said Fortaleza.

Advisory: Workers picket DOE consultation

PM supports riders’ fight vs profiling, indiscriminate road use policies

PRESS RELEASE

26 January 2014

 

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed its support to motorcycle riders who were protesting against indiscriminate road and anti-crime programs, specifically the ‘no back-ride’ and the ‘vest with plate number’ policies being proposed by law enforcers and some local governments.

 

Hundreds of motorcycle riders under Arangkada and the Motorcycle Rights Organization (MRO) today held a motorcade-cum-rally from the Quezon City Elliptical Circle to the People Power Monument in Quezon City.

 

“The proposed ban on back-ride is not only unconstitutional but also anti-worker,” said PM spokesperson Wilson Fortaleza, adding that while many criminals use motorbikes in committing crimes, “not all riders are criminals and thus do not deserve a ‘person of interest’ kind of profiling.”

 

Fortaleza explained that using motorbike is now the popular choice among workers both in the formal and informal sector because it is the cheapest and fastest mode in getting to work or in delivering personal and community services. 

 

“In fact many in the PNP, MMDA, LGUs and other NGAs are also using motorcycles. And many of labor organizers, too,” he added.

 

According to the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB), motorcycles overtook the utility vehicles from 2005 onwards and close to half of the private vehicles roaming our streets are motorcycles or tricycles. 

 

The NSCB added that it could be a sign of progress or proof of a shrinking middle class.  There are some 3-4 million registered motorcycles, according to the MRO.

 

Fortaleza, however, clarified that the labor group will not oppose government’s campaign against criminality as long as it recognizes the limits of its power to impose unjust rules. 

 

“Solving street crimes must be a collective effort.  One way to do it is for law enforcers to be in close coordination with legitimate, organized riders’ clubs, not by intimidating them.  And also not by striking a modus vivendi with godfathers of criminal gangs,” concluded Fortaleza.

Workers to PNoy: Apply step 3 on P4.15/kWh Meralco hike

NAGKAISA

PRESS RELEASE

25 January 2014

  

Asserting its position that recent price hikes in electricity market were the result of wrong commercial decision and regulatory failure, the labor coalition Nagkaisa called on Malacanang to apply step 3 of President Aquino’s declared position on power hike. 

“Rectifications must be done outright on the P4.15/kWh Meralco hike, not on future occurrences of similar nature,” said Wilson Fortaleza, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) spokesperson and one of the convenors of Nagkaisa labor coalition. 

Corrective steps were announced by Malacanang yesterday, amid the heightening controversy on Meralco’s sharp generation rate hike for the November - December billing period. 

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma explained that under Step 1, preparations should be made to for foreseeable events such as regular maintenance. Step 2 is to ensure that regulators prevent collusion. And Step 3 will ensure that unjust price hikes are not passed on to and borne by the consumers.

“The test for Malacanang right now is whether it can apply Step 3 to the Meralco case and prevent the same in the future by applying Step 1 and 2,” said Fortaleza.

Nagkaisa said that if this can be done outright, it will erase the suspicion that investigations at the Executive and Legislative levels are leading to the exoneration of private players, pin the blame to the system operator, and subsidize the cost of market failure from the Malampaya fund.

The group is opposed to Malampaya subsidizing market failure as this is tantamount to subsidizing fraud.  Labor groups contend that risks borne out of wrong commercial decisions must be at no cost to consumers.

Workers had been protesting the power hikes on the belief that they were caused by flawed policies under EPIRA.

Workers ask Senate to declare EPIRA a failure

NAGKAISA

PRESS RELEASE

23 January 2014

With the committee on energy resuming its probe on the spike in Meralco rate today, the labor coalition Nagkaisa, pressed the Senate as a whole to declare the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) a failure and consider crafting a new policy framework for sustainable energy and energy democracy. 

The group, which held another picket outside the Senate building, said that unless there is a declaration to that effect, public hearings and investigations will offer no material relief to consumers.

Nagkaisa explained that since 2008, consumer groups have attended, submitted position papers, and argued against the ills of EPIRA before committee hearings of both houses of Congress, including those conducted by the powerful Joint Congressional Power Committee (JCPC).  Yet no actions were made to address those concerns. 

“Public hearings end with another scheduled hearing then nothing happens until another controversy arises. Workers are really tired of wishy-washy intervention on a social problem of this scale,” Nagkaisa said, referring to the crises of escalating power rates and diminishing supply. 

Nagkaisa asserted that since the enactment of EPIRA which led to the deregulation of the generation of generation sector, privatization of Napocor assets, creation of the spot market, and the introduction of performance-based regulation.  Fraud became the norm in the power industry as shown by rising prices and cartelization.

The group reminded the Senate that in 2008, Senator Miriam Santiago who chaired the JCPC then stated in her opening remarks in one of JCPC’s public hearings that EPIRA is a failure; the Senate is a failure as well as the Executive. 

“That is seven years ago and the people will not accept another decade of unrewarding probes to a mess that has been there since day one of the implementation of EPIRA,” said the group.

Nagkaisa has been protesting the power hikes which they believed were caused by flawed policies under EPIRA.

Workers to ‘gods of Faura’: Stop power firms’ blackmail, fraud

NAGKAISA

PRESS RELEASE

20 January 2014

While politicians and businessmen have joined President Aquino for the National Day of Prayer and Solidarity to the victims of natural and man-made calamities, workers in Metro Manila belonging to the labor coalition Nagkaisa, trooped to the Supreme Court to seek relief and ultimate deliverance from unjust power rate hikes. 

The fifteen (15) justices, also known as ‘The gods of Faura’, were set to hear oral arguments tomorrow on several petitions seeking injunctions to Meralco’s P4.15/kWh rate increase.  Prime in the agenda to resolve are questions on whether or not the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) committed grave abuse of discretion in approving Meralco rate hike; whether or not automatic rate adjustment is valid; and whether or not the generation sector is not a public utility and therefore beyond regulation by ERC, among others.

“We pray that the justices deliver us from a decade-old fraud and industry blackmail,” said Nagkaisa in a statement released during their picket at the gates of the Supreme Court building. The group was referring to frauds committed under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), including the latest allegations on collusion and market abuse among power firms and the latter’s threat of rotating blackouts had they fail to collect rate increases. 

Nagkaisa asserted that since the enactment of EPIRA which led to the deregulation of the generation of generation sector, privatization of Napocor assets, the creation of spot market, and the introduction of performance-based regulation, fraud became the norm in the power industry as shown by rising prices and cartelization.

“It is no secret that owners of power firms, the so-called Voltage 5 (Aboitiz, Lopez, San Miguel, Henry Sy, and Pangilinan) have been earning record high profits from record high tariffs of their power-related firms,” said Nagkaisa.

The labor coalition recalled that lowering the cost of power was the pledge of the Arroyo administration when it prodded Congress to pass the EPIRA upon assumption to power 13 years ago today. 

Nagkaisa explained further that since 2008, many of its convenor groups have attended, submitted position papers, and argued against the ills of EPIRA before committee hearings of both houses of Congress, including those conducted by the powerful Joint Congressional Power Committee (JCPC).  Yet no actions were made to address those concerns. 

It likewise chided the Executive for peddling the line that the only choice for now is between expensive power, or having no power at all.

“We hope the Supreme Court brings light to a dark decade of power hikes, naked greed, and blackmail amid unreliability of power supply,” concluded Nagkaisa!

Advisory: Workers picket @ SC re Meralco rate hike

Advisory: Workers picket @ SC re Meralco rate hike

Media Advisory

20 January 2014

Contact: Wilson Fortaleza

09178233956

REQUEST FOR COVERAGE

PICKET @ SUPREME COURT

20 January 2014

10:00 AM

Day before SC hears oral arguments on Meralco rate hike

Call center workers demand reforms in BPO industry

Press Release

January 15, 2014

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW)

Amidst the closure of a BPO company in Cebu City, an association of call center workers today demanded reforms in the industry to protect labor rights. Rosie Hong of the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) declared that “We are for a stable BPO industry so that we can have regular jobs that provide decent salaries and benefits but this cannot happen if the requirements and criteria for operating a call center company are so relaxed.”

Last Monday some one hundred employees of Leadamorphosis picketed their office building in downtown Cebu in protest at illegal closure and non-payment of salaries. Workers then trooped to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) to file cases against management.

Tomorrow ICCAW will attend an industrial tripartite council meeting together with representatives of the DOLE and BPO employers to demand a swift resolution to the Leadamorphosis labor dispute.

Hong averred “ICCAW is in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Leadamorphosis. We are enraged that a call center company closes down then runs away from its obligations. We attribute this problem due to lack of strong state regulation in BPO industry. For a start, we demand that BPO companies be required to post cash bonds equivalent to one month of salaries and benefits of its total workforce.”

The bond requirement was proposed but was not enacted at the height of the hasty shutdown of another the Cebu City-based BPO company called Direct Access that left some 600 employees with unpaid wages, commissions, overtime pay and separation benefits.

A priority agenda of ICCAW is stricter government regulation of the BPO industry. It is proposing guidelines on requirements to set up call centers must be put in place and strictly implemented. This will reduce fly by night centers that are not financially equipped to run the business and does not respect labor rights, according to the group.

“We want a BPO company to be a better place to work with but if the occupational health of employees are compromised this industry will instead be a time bomb just waiting to explode. ICCAW aim to be a voice and advocate for call center and BPO workers so that the 600,000 employees in the industry who are entirely unorganized can enjoy protection,” Hong insisted.

ICCAW is also calling for industry-wide standards for wages, benefits and entitlements that must be well above the minimum mandated by law and commensurate to the profitable dollar-earning nature of the call center industry.

BPO workers protest illegal closure

Press Release

January 13, 2014

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW)

Some one hundred employees of a BPO company in Cebu City held a mass action at their office building today in protest at illegal closure and non-payment of salaries. Workers of Leadamorphosis picketed the Dakay Building along Escario St. in downtown Cebu before trooping to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to file cases against management.

“Leadamorphosis management took away the joy from Christmas and the hope for the new year. Fly-by-night BPO companies like Leadamorphosis are a scourge on young workers and breadwinners,” asserted Marnick Unabia, one of some 120 affected employees.

Leadamporphosis workers only received 30% of their wages due for December 15 to 31, 2013 while none of the mandatory deductions for the last quarter of last year have been remitted. Leadamorphosis also did not submit any required notices with DOLE for bankruptcy, insolvency, redundancy or closure before abruptly shutting down last January 8.

The Leadamorphosis workers are expecting to hold a dialogue with DOLE Region 7 officials for the resolution of their grievances after the formal filing of complaints. Meanwhile their call for Leadamorphosis management to meet with them has fallen on deaf ears. They have been on vigil outside their office since last Friday to stop management from running away with company assets.

Rosie Hong of the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) criticized DOLE for its inability to require BPO companies to put up cash bonds to defray employees for their money claims. ICCAW is an industry-wide association of BPO workers and has a chapter among Leadamorphosis employees. “In the parlance of the BPO industry, the DOLE is a bottom performer for failing to meet its metrics,” Hong claimed.

The DOLE was supposed to compel BPO companies to put up cash bonds equivalent to one month of salaries and benefits of its total workforce. The bond requirement was proposed at the height of the hasty shutdown of another the Cebu City-based BPO company called Direct Access that left some 600 employees with unpaid wages, commissions, overtime pay and separation benefits.

“The DOLE has been found sleeping once more on the job. Where can Leadamorphosis workers now get their unpaid wages and unremitted deductions in the absence of a bond? Does the DOLE want a dozen more BPO companies to run away from its obligations to thousands of workers before it acts on its responsibilities?,” Hong added.

Leadamarphosis handles voice and non-voice outbound calls for US clients. The company was formerly called Vector whose corporate officers still comprise Leadamorphosis. In June of 2013 it merged with another BPO company called Sasnet which handled non-voice marketing for home security gadgets.

(Photos of vigil @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=774160375944928&set=pcb.774160479278251&type=1&theater)

Group calls on gov’t to aid laidoff BPO workers

BPO workers hold vigil vs illegal closure

Press Release

January 12, 2014

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW)

A BPO workers association called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to assist some 120 call center workers who have been laid off after the abrupt and alleged illegal closure of their company. Workers of Leadamorphosis, a BPO company in Cebu City, have been on vigil outside their office since Friday to stop management from running away with company assets. Tomorrow the BPO workers are planning a protest action to highlight their plight and demands.

“The DOLE should immediately come to the aid of Leadamorphosis workers and resolve their grievances. DOLE should hold Leadamorphosis management accountable for its violations including illegal shutdown and runaway shop. Also the bond put up by Leadamorphosis must be disbursed ASAP to defray the unpaid salaries of its workers,” asserted Rosie Hong, an officer of the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW). ICCAW is an industry-wide association of BPO workers and has a chapter among Leadamorphosis employees.

Leadamporphosis workers only received 30% of their wages due for December 15 to 31, 2013 while none of the mandatory deductions for the last quarter of last year have been remitted. Leadamorphosis also did not submit any required notices with DOLE for bankruptcy, insolvency, redundancy or closure.

The DOLE required BPO companies to put up cash bonds equivalent to one month of salaries and benefits of its total workforce. The regulation was set up after the experience of the hasty shutdown of the Cebu City-based BPO company Direct Access that left some 600 employees with unpaid wages, commissions, overtime pay and separation benefits.

Marnick Unabia, one of the Leadamorphosis workers, explained that “We will hold a vigil outside Leadmorphosis until management dialogues with us in good faith and resolve our grievances. In particular we ask CEO and owner Paul Steven Flannery and vice president Kirk Nethercott to explain the true situation of the company.”

Hong also appealed to the Call Center Association of the Philippines and the BPO Association of the Philippines to exert moral suasion on Leadamorphosis management to heed the demands of their workers.

Leadamarphosis handles voice and non-voice outbound calls for US clients. The company was formerly called Vector whose corporate officers still comprise Leadamorphosis. In June of 2013 it merged with another BPO company called Sasnet which handled non-voice marketing for home security gadgets.

Cebu BPO workers hold vigil to stop runaway shop

Press Release

January 11, 2014

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW)

Workers of a BPO company in Cebu are now holding a vigil outside their office in a bid to stop management from carting away company equipment and assets. “We are victims of illegal closure and runaway shop. But we will fight against our employer’s attempt to take away our livelihood,” asserted Marnick Unabia, one of the affected BPO workers.

Some 40 Leadamorphosis employees starting camping out yesterday at the Dakay Building along Escario St. in Cebu City after some 20 computer units were taken out of the 6^th floor office of the company. The BPO workers vowed to sustain the stakeout until management dialogues with them in good faith. Workers presume more than a hundred computers and the server are still at the company offices.

In the early morning of January 8, Leadamorphosis management announced to its 120-strong workforce that it will shutdown temporarily due earthquake-induced structural damage. The workers though checked with city hall officials and found no truth to the claim that Dakay Building is unsafe.

“Leadamorphosis also did not submit any required notices at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for bankruptcy, insolvency, redundancy or closure,” reported Unabia. He and other Leadamporphosis workers also did not receive their last paycheck covering the period Dec 15 to 31, 2013 and the mandatory deductions for the last quarter of last year have not been remitted.

Rosie Hong, an officer of the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW), called on the DOLE and the BPO industry employers association to facilitate the resolution of the grievances of Leadamorphosis employees. ICCAW is an industry-wide association of BPO workers and has a chapter among Leadamorphosis employees.

Unabia declared that “We call on Leadamorphosis CEO and owner Paul Steven Flannery and vice president Kirk Nethercott to face us and tell us the real score about the company. No more lies and maneuvers. You owe your employees who have served you for several years the truth.”

Leadamarphosis handles voice and non-voice outbound calls for US clients. The company was formerly called Vector whose corporate officers still comprise Leadamorphosis. In June of 2013 it merged with another BPO company called Sasnet which handled non-voice marketing for home security gadgets.

Leyte groups: Engage people in Yolanda rehab

Press Release

January 10, 2014

Informal workers associations in Leyte are asking the government to engage with people’s organizations in the planning and implementation of the Yolanda rehabilitation in the face of allegations of overpriced and substandard bunkhouses.

“Aside from the opinions of experts, the participation of the people themselves is vital in the success of the Yolanda rehab plan. Yolanda survivors should not just be passive recipients of aid but active stakeholders in the reconstruction process. We demand transparency and people’s participation,” asserted Judy Torres, chair of the Tacloban City tricycle federation and coordinator of Partido ng Manggagawa in Region 8.

Last December 30, Torres’ group held a motorcade around Tacloban of a hundred tricycles which were garbed in tarp posters with the message “Make jobs a priority in Yolanda rehab.” The motorcade signalled the launch of the campaign for decent employment, social protection and people’s participation as pillars of Yolanda rehabilitation plan. A representative of the International Labor Organization (ILO) observed and documented the campaign launch.

Torres averred that “People’s organizations can also serve as watchdogs against graft and corruption in the rehab process. Even more than the problem of temporary shelter, the input of the people is crucial in the issue of permanent housing. We insist on in-city relocation and climate-resilient socialized housing program for informal settlers.”

Some of the controversial bunkhouses are being built near Torres’ home and he does not believe they can cost almost a million each. He also attests to the fact that the contractors are not locals and even the laborers came from Mindanao.

He added that “Every cent of the USD 8.17 billion Reconstruction Assistance of Yolanda must be spent to meet the immediate and long-term needs of survivors. We also ask that locals be employed as workers with decent jobs as a guideline.”

The Tacloban tricycle federation together with drivers associations in Hilongos and Baybay, Leyte have issued a manifesto calling for decent employment to be a priority in the rehab plan. The demand echoes an ILO report that stated that more need to be done to provide decent work in the Yolanda affected areas that includes ensuring minimum wages, sound occupational safety, skills development and social protection.

“Decent jobs are a necessity since it is a guarantee to a person’s long-term security and a life of dignity” Torres argued.

Labor groups picket Korean embassy

Press Release

January 10, 2014

PALEA

The labor groups Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) picketed the South Korean embassy today in protest at labor repression in Korea and Cambodia.

The picket-protest was in coordination with a general strike in South Korea. The groups also presented a letter of concern addressed to the Korean ambassador Hyuk Lee.

“The peril to labor rights and conditions in any country is a disadvantage to workers everywhere in this globalized world,” asserted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.

In a joint statement, the groups declared their outrage that a South Korean firm, Yakjin Cambodia Inc., called for the intervention of the armed forces of Cambodia that ended in the killing of four garment workers and the wounding of 23 others last January 2 and 3.

The Philippine workers also expressed their solidarity with the Korean workers fight against rail privatization and for labor rights. Even as the strike of the railway workers ended last December 31, the South Korean government has continued to pursue criminal charges against leaders of the Korean Railway Workers Union (KRWU) and civil damages against the union in the amount of over 7.7 billion won. The Philippine groups are also concerned about the threat of dismissal and disciplinary action against some 490 KRWU members.

Together with the police raid on the office of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) last December 22, Rivera averred that “These events constitute a clear and present danger to workers rights in the Republic of Korea.”

In their letter to the Korean ambassador, the groups insisted on the demand for the:

1. withdrawal of criminal charges against KRWU leaders;
2. withdrawal of damage suit against KRWU;
3. stop to the dismissals and disciplinary actions against KRWU members;
4. end to labor repression in the Republic of Korea; and
5. end to rail privatization.

Rivera ended that “We serve notice to the Korean embassy that Philippine workers will be monitoring the developments in South Korea and will be ready to undertake solidarity actions in the Philippines in coordination with our brothers and sisters in Korea.”

Policymakers to blame why poor people turn to saints for jobs, healthcare

PRESS RELEASE

09 January 2014

Policymakers are to blame why throngs of poor and sick people opt to seek deliverance from the Black Nazarene at Luneta and Quiapo Church rather than flock to hospitals for regular medical treatment, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

The group said that besides the yearly observance of this centuries-old tradition, the devotees’ main concerns for keeping the faith revolve around their plea to relieve them from serious illness and lift them out of poverty.

“Policymakers should look at this phenomenon in a more political rather than in purely religious sense. It’s failure of polices and governance. When poor people are afraid of hospitals because of high cost, their traditional option is to look for divine and non-discriminating sponsors in the likes of the Black Nazarene and other saints,” said PM.

The group pointed out that while faith and deliverance is a personal devotion to the Creator, quality healthcare, employment and other aspects of good life are the State’s social and moral obligation to its people.

Along this line PM chided lawmakers for making noise about their constituents having problems in availing the ‘pork’ they have realigned to different agencies. 

Earlier Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga complained against the lack of guidelines from government agencies on how former pork beneficiaries can have access to the services they previously enjoy.

“The problem is that lawmakers merely realigned their PDAF to line agencies without putting in place a universal system in delivering social services, creating in effect administrative gridlocks because politicized and discretionary parts of the budget remain,” said PM.

The group had pushed for the creation of a universal social protection fund in place of the pork barrel system during the height of the anti-pork barrel campaign last year, adding that the terms ‘pork scholars’ and ‘medical assistance’ should have been replaced now by ‘state scholars’ and ‘universal healthcare’. 

PM explained further that the United Nations (UN) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have been pushing for ‘universalisation’ in place of the ‘targeting system’ in the provision of social services because it is administratively less costly, inclusive, and more empowering when they become legal entitlements based on people’s needs and not the ability to pay.

The group warned lawmakers not to exploit the frustrations of the masses to smuggle in a plan to reconstitute their PDAF.

Advisory: Labor groups to picket Korean embassy

MEDIA ADVISORY

January 9, 2014

Contact: Gerry Rivera @ 09165047751

Labor groups to picket Korean embassy

WHAT: Labor groups to hold picket in support of Korean workers

WHEN: Tomorrow, January 10, 10:30 am

WHERE: South Korean Embassy, McKinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio

DETAILS: The Partido ng Manggagawa, Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) and Alliance of Progressive Labor will hold the picket as a solidarity action for Korean workers. The picket is in coordination with a general strike in South Korea today.

The groups will also present a letter to the South Korean ambassador expressing their concern at the repression of Korean workers. Even as railway workers ended a month-long strike last December 31, the South Korean has continued to pursue criminal charges against union leaders and threatened dismissals against hundreds of members. Also the police raided the headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions at the height of the strike against rail privatization. “The peril to labor rights and conditions in one country is a disadvantage to the state of workers everywhere in this globalized world,” the groups assert.

            In the picket, the groups will demand (1) withdrawal of criminal charges against KRWU leaders; (2) withdrawal of damage suit against KRWU; (3) stop to the dismissals and disciplinary actions against KRWU members; (4) end to labor repression in the Republic of Korea; and (5) end to rail privatization. ###

Group calls for transparency, people’s participation in Yolanda rehab plan

Yolanda bunkhouse

Press Release

January 6, 2014

Amidst reports and allegations of overpriced and substandard temporary shelters for Yolanda survivors, the Region 8 chapter of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called for transparency and people’s participation in the implementation of the rehabilitation and reconstruction plan.

“We are victims of disasters not once but twice. First of climate change-spawned supertyphoon Yolanda and now of the greed-induced calamity of corruption,” said Judy Torres, PM regional coordinator and chair of the Tacloban City federation of tricycle drivers and operators associations.

Torres has seen the controversial bunkhouses since some are being built near his home and he does not believe they can cost almost a million each. He also attests to the fact that the contractors are not locals and even the laborers came from Mindanao.

He added that “Every cent of the USD 8.17 billion Reconstruction Assistance of Yolanda must be spent to meet the immediate and long-term needs of survivors. The participation of people’s organizations should be institutionalized in the plan and they can serve as watchdogs against graft and corruption.”

Torres called on the Philippine government, international aid groups and donor countries to dialogue with grassroots labor and people’s organizations. He also asked that locals be employed as workers with decent jobs as a guideline.

Led by Torres, the tricycle drivers of Tacloban are spearheading a campaign demanding decent jobs, social protection and people’s participation as bedrocks of the Yolanda rehabilitation plan. To signal the launch of the campaign, last December 30 a motorcade of a hundred tricycles garbed in posters with the message “Make jobs a priority in Yolanda rehab,” went around Tacloban and were warmly received by typhoon survivors. A representative of the International Labor Organization observed and documented the campaign launch.

In a manifesto of the tricycle and trisikad drivers in Tacloban, Hilongos and Baybay, the groups explained that prior to the onslaught of Yolanda, they already were living poor, miserable lives since transporting people through motorized and non-motorized vehicles for hire was their only source of income. The groups’ priority demand is decent jobs because it is a guarantee to a person’s long-term security and a life of dignity.

Torres declared that that since current extreme weather systems are the awful outcome of climate change caused by unrestrained economic activities of industrial countries thus more than the humanitarian aspect, developed countries have the historical, moral, and social responsibility to come to the aid of Yolanda survivors.