Workers to employers: share the wealth created by labor

 

In response to the clamor by labor groups for a national minimum wage of P750 to P800 a day, employers are raising disaster and doomsday scenarios of closures, layoffs and inflation. Behind the panic mode of employers is their opposition to any sharing of the wealth that has been created by labor in more than a decade of robust economic growth.

Even as inflation has undeniably eroded workers nominal wages, below the radar inequality is worsening due to the stagnation of real wages while productivity has booming. From 2001 to 2016, labor productivity grew by at least 50 percent, yet the real wages did not grow at all.

This is not a figment of workers’ imagination but a study by Finance Undersecretary Karl Chua as cited by Mahar Mangahas (Stagnation of real wages, PDI, 3 March 2018).

Workers have been denied their so-called “fair share in the fruits of production.”  Workers as well as the economy will benefit more if government will exercise its police power to compel employers to share the wealth produced by the blood and sweat of laborers.

Employers profit from workers. They utilize the labor power of the latter to produce goods and services sold to the market. But employers pay workers less in terms of wages and benefits than the amount they have produced in the production of goods and services.

The difference between the amount paid to the workers and the amount they have produced and sold to the market is called profit and is wholly owned by the employer. This is how wealth in society is generated and how the wage system works from which employers profit.

The present constitution guarantees workers their just share in the fruits of their labor. But the prevailing wage regionalization system under RA 6727 and the behavior of employers which seek more profit than providing what is due to their workers make the condition of workers and their families worse that they cannot afford a decent living. The widening gap between workers’ wages and the rising cost of living and the prevalence of poverty in society are evidences of this unjust system of wage setting and wealth distribution.

PM reiterates its call to PDigong to certify urgent HB 7787 aimed to abolish the regional wage boards and provides a national minimum wage of Php 750 to all workers and penalties to abusive employers.

PM also calls on Secretary Bello to stand for and behalf of workers welfare by not speaking as if he was the secretary of the DTI. 

May 30, 2018

Hundreds of urban poor slam NHA for 3-year long wait in housing units

Some 300 informal settlers in Bulacan trooped to the National Housing Authority (NHA) provincial office in Balagtas to demand approval of their housing applications that date back to 2015.

“Three years is too long to wait for housing for the poor. We have complied with requirements. We are willing to pay amortization. What is taking the NHA that long? In the meantime, housing units lie vacant and rotting in San Jose del Monte and other relocation areas,” argued Ver Estorosas, head of the Bulacan chapter of Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP), which organized the protest action.

The rally today is the latest in a series of protest actions at the NHA Bulacan. Yesterday, informal settlers who occupied the Pandi relocation area had a rally. Last Friday, a hundred members of AMP-Bulacan trooped to the NHA Balagtas but no officials came out to dialogue with them.

AMP, a nationwide organization of urban poor and informal settlers, called on NHA to negotiate in good faith with the protesters. It is their second time to rally at NHA in a week's time. The group is criticizing the utterly slow pace of the National Housing Authority in providing socialized housing for the poor.

Hundreds of urban poor families have waited for three years for the NHA Bulacan to process their applications for relocation. Of almost 700 potential beneficiaries, only 81 have actually been relocated. Almost 100 families have already been qualified but have yet to be relocated. In addition, AMP has submitted 200 more names for pre-qualification. All the poor applicants were vetted by the provincial government.

In April last year, a hundred of them rallied at the NHA Bulacan to press for the demand for socialized housing. In a dialogue, the NHA promised to expedient the processing. The urban poor families filed their applications in 2015. 

May 30, 2018

Southern Luzon network of civil society groups launch Manlaban Ka

A Southern Luzon-wide network of civil society organizations working for the promotion and protection of human rights was launched in Cavite.

Some 300 representatives of basic sectors from labor, urban poor, farmers, fisherfolks, women, youth, transport workers, church and anti mining advocates, gathered Wednesday at the historic Casa Hacienda popularly known as the Tejeros Convention Center in Rosario Cavite, to launch the Mamamayang Nagkakaisa sa Laban ng Bayan para sa Karapatan or Manlaban Ka.

Made part of the launching program is a forum on charter change and human rights with constitutionalist Christian Monsod and former Representative Erin Tanada as guest speakers. Representatives of the CHR also graced the occasion.

The formal launching of Manlaban Ka ended up with the ratification of the group’s Unity Statement and a brief discussion on the network's ways forward such as conducting grassroots education, database building on cases of HRVs, operational structures and ways forward. (see attached unity statement)

The formal launching was followed by a march of the participants to the Cavite economic zone in support of the strikebound workers of Dong Seung, a garments factory. During the past several months, a series of labor disputes around the freedom of association and working conditions have rocked the Cavite ecozone, the country's biggest publicly-managed zone.

Ecozones particularly in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Batangas employ tens of thousands of workers. Regrettably it is also in these economic havens of foreign investors in the country where rampant violations of human and labor rights go unchecked and the violators go unpunished.

The launching of Manlaban Ka is the final outcome of a five-month process of consultations and focus group discussions among the basic sectors and civil society organizations working for the promotion and defence of human rights in the Southen Luzon region. This partnership building initiatives among the CSOs is in cooperation with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) under its Governance in Justice or Go Just program.

The Southern Luzon process was facilitated by Kalipunan ng Kilusang Masa, with Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) as lead organizations.

Prior to this launching, consultation meetings were held in Calamba City last April 7-9, 2018 where participants discussed the state of human rights in their respective areas and sectors. Resource speakers were invited in this process to give inputs on the many aspects and forms of human rights issues, including the many cases of extrajudicial killings in the southern Luzon region due to the ongoing war on drugs as well as violations of the economic, social and cultural rights of our workers, farmers, urban poor, women; and the destruction of many communities due to mining and land-grabbing activities.

Representatives from Bicol, Mimaropa, and the Calabarzon areas have actively participated in the previous process leading to their decision to form this loose but highly coordinative network of organizations willing to work together for the promotion and protection of human rights.

Part of Manlaban Ka Unity Statement declared:

“NANININDIGAN ang MANLABAN KA na ang mga karapatang pantao at demokrasya kung saan maraming aspeto nito ay hindi pa namin ganap na natatamasa, ay nararapat lamang na ipagtanggol at ipaglaban sa halip na isuko sa harap ng sinumang kapangyarihan na may hayagan at tagong layunin na ito’y pahinain o kaya ay ganap na patayin.

KUNG GAYUN,  at mula sa mga batayang nabanggit, kami’y nangangahas at ngayon ay ipinapaalam sa lahat, na kaming mga sektor at indibidwal na nabibilang sa koalisyong ito, ay nakahanda nang MANLABAN sa ibat-ibang paraan katulad ng pagmumulat, pag-oorganisa, pagpapalawak at mga direktang pagkilos para ipagtanggol ang karapatan at demokrasya ng buong sambayanan.”

PRESS RELEASE

Manlaban Ka

30 May 2018

Media Advisory: Workers march to Cavite ecozone after human rights alliance launched

Media Advisory

May 30, 2018

Partido Manggagawa

Contact Ramil Cangayao @ 09336331847

After human rights alliance launched:

Workers march to Cavite ecozone to demand right to unionize, living wage, regular jobs

WHAT: Workers to march to Cavite ecozone to demand right to unionize, living wage and regular jobs

WHEN: Today, May 30 (Wednesday), 4:00 pm

WHERE: Cavite Economic Zone main gate (gate 1)

DETAILS:

Workers will hold a rally this afternoon to the Cavite economic zone to demand a national minimum wage, inspection of factories about contractualization and a the right to unionize. From inside the ecozone, strikebound workers of Dong Seung, a garments factory, will march to meet the workers outside the gate.

A series of labor disputes around freedom of association and working conditions have rocked the Cavite ecozone, the country's biggest publicly-managed zone.

Led by labor unions and informal workers associations, some 300 leaders of people's organizations and civil society groups will convene this morning to launch "Manlaban Ka," a broad alliance in the Southern Luzon area in defense of human rights.

Constitutionalist Atty. Christian Monsod, former representative Erin Tanada and Commission on Human Rights officials are expected to grace the occasion. Part of the program is a discussion of charter change as a human rights issue.

Similar human rights alliances led by people's organizations have recently been formed in Metro Manila and the Visayas.

Violations of workers rights in the heavily industrialized Calabarzon, agrarian disputes in many provinces, and mining issues in Mimaropa and Bicol are the most pressing human rights concerns in Southern Luzon, aside from incidents of extra-judicial killings due to the war on drugs. ###

Media Advisory: Urban poor rally at NHA Bulacan today

Media Advisory

May 30, 2018

Partido Manggagawa

Contact Ver Estorosas @ 09339680449

Urban poor rally at NHA Bulacan today

WHAT: Picket-dialogue by 300 urban poor to demand approval of housing applications

WHEN: Today, May 30 (Wednesday), 10:00 am

WHERE: National Housing Authority (NHA) office, Balagtas, Bulacan

DETAILS:

The rally today is the latest in a series of urban poor protest actions at NHA Bulacan. Yesterday, informal settlers who occupied the Pandi relocation area held a rally. Last Friday a hundred members of the Bulacan chapter of Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) and Partido Manggagawa (PM) trooped to the NHA provincial office.

The group is calling on NHA to dialogue with the protesters today. It is their second time to rally at NHA in a week's time. PM is criticizing the utterly slow pace of the National Housing Authority in providing socialized housing for the poor.

Hundreds of urban poor families have waited for three years for the NHA to process their applications for relocation. Of almost 700 potential beneficiaries, only 81 have actually been relocated. Almost 100 families have already been qualified but have yet to be relocated. In addition, PM has submitted 200 more names for pre-qualification. All the poor applicants were vetted by the provincial government.

In April last year, a hundred of them rallied at the NHA Bulacan to press for the demand for socialized housing. In a dialogue, the NHA promised to expedient the processing. The urban poor families filed their applications in 2015.  ###

PM supports P750 national minimum wage bill

Partido Manggagawa (PM) supports the abolition of regional wage boards and the formation of a wage-fixing mechanism that satisfies the constitutional mandate of granting workers a living wage.

We urged PDigong to certify to Congress the House Bill 7787 filed by the Makabayan bloc as an urgent measure which will pave the way for the realization of his commitment to labor groups in their dialogues to abolish what he termed as “provincial rates” of wages.

We also call on all labor groups to close ranks and form a stronger unity that will push for the demand to raise wages and to abolish the regional wage boards by amending RA 6727 or the wage rationalization act of 1989.

The continued existence of a mechanism that fixes the minimum wage rates by regions under this law renders futile the demand for higher wages to cope up with the sky-rocketing cost of living today caused by the TRAIN law and global spike in prices of oil products. In the past 3 decades, the most that regional wages board can provide as increase in the minimum wage is less than Php 1000 per month.

Finally, we call on all employers to share the wealth that has been created by utilizing labor power of workers in the production of goods and services that they sold in the market.

Indeed wage increases would affect profit margins but it will not make employers poor. But on the other hand, a wage increase raises the capacity of workers to uplift their well-being and at the same time raises the demand for the production of goods and services, hence will sustain economic activity and growth.  Simply put, increasing wages affects profit in the short term, but sustains the economy that employers profit from in the long term.

May 29, 2018

Media Advisory: "Manlaban Ka" human rights alliance launched tom

Media Advisory

May 29, 2018

Partido Manggagawa

Contact Ramil Cangayao @ 09336331847

"Manlaban Ka" human rights alliance launched tom

WHAT: Labor unions & associations to lead formation of Southern Luzon alliance to defend human rights

WHEN: Tom, May 30 (Wednesday), 10:00 am-4:00 pm

WHERE: Casa Hacienda, Brgy. Tejero Convention Center, Rosario, Cavite

DETAILS:

Led by labor unions and informal workers associations, some 300 leaders of people's organizations and civil society groups will convene to launch "Manlaban Ka," a broad alliance in the Southern Luzon area in defense of human rights.

Commission on Human Rights head Chito Gascon, constitutionalist Atty. Christian Monsod and Atty. Erin Tanada are expected to grace the occasion. Part of the program is a discussion of charter change as a human rights issue.

Similar human rights alliances led by people's organizations have recently been formed in Metro Manila and the Visayas.

Violations of workers rights in the heavily industrialized Calabarzon, agrarian disputes in many provinces, and mining issues in Mimaropa and Bicol are the most pressing human rights concerns in Southern Luzon, aside from incidents of extra-judicial killings due to the war on drugs.

The launching will be followed by a march of the participants to the Cavite economic zone in support of the strikebound workers of Dong Seung, a garments factory. A series of labor disputes around freedom of association and working conditions have rocked the Cavite ecozone, the country's biggest publicly-managed zone. ###

PDigong asked for an EO to abolish “provincial rates” of workers

Similar to the broad unity forged in the fight to end endo, different labor groups are now raising a common demand for a national minimum wage. The change in wage fixing from regional to national will be facilitated by a Presidential Executive Order directing the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to review and amend RA 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989.

The Executive Order should direct the DOLE to draft a new wage fixing bill after consultation with labor, employers and other sectors. The bill should then be certified urgent to Congress by the President.

This effort will pave the way for the realization of PDigong’s promise to labor in their dialogue to end what he termed as “provincial rates” of worker’s wages.

RA 6727 and its implementing rules and regulations sets the minimum wage rates by region through the establishment of regional wage boards and a criteria for the determination of the amount of wage increases.

Left alone, the regional wage boards cannot satisfy the demand of workers for a substantial and uniform increase in the minimum wage as demanded by different labor groups. Historically, for almost three decades, the wage boards have granted minimum wage hikes that are less than PhP 1,000 per month. This is a far cry from what is needed today to augment the lives of low income workers gravely affected by the rising cost of living.

The root of this cheap labor policy is that regional wage boards base their determination of minimum wage increases on employers’ capacity to pay instead on the prevailing cost of living and living wage.

Meanwhile, aside from ordering the wage boards to motu proprio conduct public hearings, the President should clarify that they should base their determination for a minimum wage increase on the prevailing cost of living and living wage.

May 28, 2018

Workers call on Duterte to order a national minimum wage

The militant labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on President Rodrigo Duterte to implement a national minimum wage as he had previously promised. This was PM’s response to the directive of the President yesterday for the Labor Department to convene the regional wage boards to study the grant of salary increases in the face of sharp inflation.

“The order to convene the regional wage boards falls short of a firm presidential response to the inflationary crisis. For the past three decades, wage orders by the regional boards are so low that at present it cannot offset the impact of the rising cost of living brought about by the TRAIN law and profiteering by unscrupulous employers. President Duterte should amend his order to explicitly ask a substantial salary hike as a relief measure and direct the wage boards to raise minimum wages to a national level,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The PM leader recalled that in a dialogue with labor leaders, President Duterte declared that there is need to abolish what he termed as “provincial rates” of workers. “Now is the perfect time to turn mere words into presidential action,” Magtubo insisted.

He added that “The substantial increase can be attained only if the wage boards will decisively base the determination of minimum wages on the cost of living and the living wage criteria not on their default criterion—the capacity to pay of employers. Because of this subjective criterion, records will show that the increase in minimum wage rates granted by the regional wage boards do not exceed PhP 1,000 per month, a far cry from the additional burden of expenses incurred by low income earners to date brought about by the rising inflation.”

The group stated that the present mechanism of fixing minimum wage rates per region should be abolished for it does not satisfy the mandate of the Constitution of granting workers a living wage. “While the abolition of the regional wage boards require the repeal of the ‘Wage Rationalization Act of 1989,’ there is no rule preventing the existing boards from coordinating towards raising wages to a national minimum in response to a presidential call,” Magtubo affirmed.

He furthered that “Wage regionalization does not conform to the principle of ‘equal pay for work of equal value.” Differentiating wage rates on the geographical location where a worker works which is absurd. Why would an equally capacitated carpenter differ in minimum wage rate in a construction firm because one works in Quezon City and the other in Bulacan?”

May 27, 2018

Wage increase now!

A supervening event from the sharp inflationary impact of the TRAIN law is enough reason for the regional wage boards to conduct summary proceedings on the necessity of wage hikes even in the absence of wage petitions within their respective regions. 

Evidently, the effect of TRAIN law on inflation is fast and furious nationwide hence, the regional wage boards need not wait a year to lapse from their last issued wage orders before they can conduct public hearings on wage petitions. In fact, they can even act moto propio on this issue on the basis of a supervening event like this one. 

Workers, especially the majority of wage earners who gained nothing from TRAIN yet ending up devastatingly hit by inflation, clearly need a wage hike now.

 

On the other hand, we would like to point out that a wage hike in the immediate would merely mean recovery of the lost purchasing power of wages due to inflation. In the long term, this action will neither rectify the structural defects in the country’s wage fixing mechanism that keep wages low nor satisfy the worker’s right to a living wage mandated by the Constitution.

In other words, while a wage hike is an immediate concern for workers now due to the effects of TRAIN, reforming the existing wage policy has long been a necessity demanded by labor under different regimes, including the Duterte administration. As a matter of fact, aside from his unfulfilled promise to make endo history, President Duterte has yet to abolish the ‘provincial rates system’ in favor of a national minimum wage standard that he promised during the presidential campaign and previous dialogues with organized labor.

Unfortunately for now, the President only has the TRAIN law to drain our pockets, with the poor shouldering the pay-pay-pay (PPP) part of the build-build-build (BBB) program of the administration.

Mr. President, either you stop the TRAIN or let the poor bleed some more.

25 May 2018

Cavite workers go on strike, slam harassment by PEZA

Workers of a garments factory in the Cavite ecozone went on strike yesterday morning in response to the mass termination of 16 union officers. However the picketline setup by workers was torn down by an official of the Cavite ecozone administration and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) police.

“We condemn the harassment by Cavite industrial relations officer Mr. Lindon and the head of PEZA police, a certain Mr. dela Cruz, of the legal strike by Dong Seung workers. Just like during the strike by women workers of the electronics company Lakepower Converter last December, PEZA is actively suppressing the right of workers to peaceful concerted activities. These are gross violations of the Joint DOLE-PNP-PEZA Guidelines in the Conduct of Security Personnel During Labor Disputes,” declared Dennis Sequena, coordinator of the Cavite chapter of Partido Manggagawa (PM), which is assisting the striking workers.

The strike continues today with scores of Dong Seung workers conducting a roving picket. This morning, PEZA police once more harassed the striking workers and prohibited their use of a megaphone while conducting a protest program in front of the Dong Seung factory gate. Members of the union are also being stopped and prevented from entering the Cavite ecozone.

Last April 27, Dong Seung workers and their supporters trooped to the Cavite ecozone main gate to protest the union busting and call for respect for freedom of association. The rally followed a forum in which Cavite ecozone workers aired their grievances about low pay, insecure jobs, verbal harassment and excessive work quotas.

The Dong Seung union officers were served notices of termination in their houses by an HR officer of the company last April 12. They were supposed to back to work on April 13 as part of the agreement. An earlier strike notice was precipitated by the one-month suspension of the 16 union officers.

“The firing of all 16 union officers, including the union president, was the latest in a series of union busting moves by management. Moreover it is a maneuver done in bad faith as the union just withdrew a notice of strike earlier filed. The retraction of the strike was part of an agreement mediated by the Labor Department wherein workers will be accepted back to work after an investigation by management,” explained Juanito Diaz, president of the Dong Seung Workers Union-Independent.

Dong Seung Inc. is a Korean-owned apparel manufacturer inside the Cavite Economic Zone, the country’s biggest government-run export processing estate. It manufactures garments for global brands Macy’s and Ann Taylor. Dong Seung workers are asking Macy’s and Ann Taylor to remediate the code of conduct violations of its supplier.

Diaz declared that “Tama na. Sobra na. Oras na para igalang ang karapatang mag-unyon para mapabuti ang kalagayan ng mga manggagawa. Workers in the Cavite ecozone are organizing to improve their wages and working conditions but the response of companies is to bust unions and harass workers.”

The union had filed a petition for certification elections in the company last December. Immediately after, the union alleged that management started harassing officers and members. Unionists were denied loans or were forced to withdraw support for the union in return for access to loans. Union leaders were transferred to different production lines and a union officer was demoted from mechanic to sewer.

Then in the latter part of March, management suspended for 30 days all union officers on the pretext that they smeared the company by seeking action from the factory customers regarding violations of freedom of association and labor standards.

Photos of the Dong Seung workers strike and rally can be accessed at FB page of Partido Manggagawa: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/

May 12, 2018

Quo warranto vs Sereno was a political coup

The decision of the Supreme Court to remove Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno can never be considered as a triumph of justice. It’s purely a result of a political coup organized from both the outside and inside of the country’s deteriorating state of institutions.   

Sereno was clearly ousted not because of her missing SALNs but mainly because of her missing loyalty to the Chief Executive.  And while the quo warranto was effectively used only as a means to achieve the end of administratively ousting the Chief Justice, it’s the political side of it that’s more intimidating as far as the whole nation is concerned.  It’s not really the quo warranto proceedings, we believe, that has become a threat to the SC itself as an institution.  Rather, it’s the majority vote that is worth watching as this number has already become a political trend in itself.    

Is it the same majority that will ensure the victory of Bongbong Marcos before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal? Will the same majority vote in favor of ConAss to ensure the smooth sailing of the chacha train? Were they the same majority who voted to reverse the FASAP decision 20 years after? 

The recent decision on former CJ Sereno provides a preview of what’s going to be the next big things this ruling majority will do or undo in this increasingly becoming confused and supressed nation.

11 May 2018

Workers challenge Senate on endo

In pursuit of their respective interests, the “class conflict” between employers and workers on the issue of labor contracting has shifted to Congress, the Senate in particular, after President Duterte issued EO 51 last Labor Day. President Duterte dropped the ball on endo. Workers challenge the Senate to pick it up.

EO 51 was welcomed by employers’ groups, especially by the subcontractors, but labor groups have not wholeheartedly accepted it.

The endo fight at Congress would be long and complicated battle given that both the employers and workers would deal with 23 senators to come up with a Senate version of the bill on security of tenure, and the members of the bicameral conference committee to iron out differences on the versions of both houses.

The House of Representatives has already approved their security of tenure measure under House Bill 6908 principally authored by Rep. Ting, chairperson of the Committee on Labor and Reps. Mendoza and Villarin of TUCP and Akbayan party-lists, respectively.

It would greatly expedite the process in the Senate in particular and to the Congress as a whole if President Duterte will issue clear “directives” to his “super majorities” in the Senate and House of Representatives.  Such “directives” should express his will for the realization of his campaign promise to end contractualization of labor.

Labor solidarity displayed in the fight against the ill-effects of widespread contractualization on workers’ rights and welfare has convinced the House of Representatives and the President to act accordingly.

It would be labor solidarity again that would play a vital role on convincing the Senate. But this time, the solidarity should be broader, stronger and sharper on its action in order to win the battle.

May 4, 2018

Ka Rene Magtubo

PM Chair and Nagkaisa Labor Coalition Spokesperson

On the signed EO on Endo: Will Congress stand stronger than the mightiest President this country ever had?

Press Statement

Rene Magtubo

PM National Chair

The EO narrative is over. Sadly, we are in for another waiting game as the anti-endo ball was passed by the President to Congress for ultimate resolution.  The workers’ struggle for security of tenure, therefore, is far from over. Tuloy ang laban! 

A bigger question, consequently, is bothering our workers now: Will Congress, which is known for greasy political horse-tradings, stand stronger than the mightiest President this country ever had?

Yes, we were truly dismayed and frustrated with the Executive Order (EO) on endo signed by President Duterte yesterday. First, it was an EO that no one in the labor sector was able to read. Second, none of the most important povisions demanded by labor - which is the reinstatement of direct-hiring and regularization as the norm in employment relations - was adopted in the signed document. 

In short, after more than two years of protest actions, negotiations and labor groups’ dutiful drafting of five drafts of an EO, it was big business and their captured officials in DTI and DOLE in the end that won the heart of the President. The die is cast here and in this episode of class battle it is the side of capital that gained momentum with their effective capture of the Executive, including the President. 

Upon signing of the EO, President Duterte admitted that his order is limited only to what is provided under the Labor Code. What he never explained is the fact that such limitation is surmountable by the the Code’s the same grant of executive powers to the President and the Labor Secretary (Article 106) to prohibit contracting and sub-contracting. The five drafts submitted to him by labor groups have in fact addressed that concern by providing exemptions to allowable forms of contractualization upon consultations with the tripartite council. 

The President said he cannot be a legislator to correct the Labor Code’s constraints. That, to us, sounded so legalese and diplomatic for a President known for unorthodox political brinkmanship. 

“Sinagad ko na ito,” Duterte declared after signing the EO. At nasagad nga sa kasiyahan ang ECOP.  

2 May 2018

Labor's reaction to EO signed by PDigong

Our reaction on the EO that what signed by PDigong in Cebu, today, Labor day:

PDigong signed the DOLE-DTI sponsored EO which was rejected by Nagkaisa! months back.

We felt we were taken for a ride. There was no consultation with our 5th draft submitted to the Office of the President thru the Labor Secretary last April 13. The EO that was signed definitely is an EO for the employers not for the workers. We will not waver, we will continue to fight to give justice to workers affected by the widespread contractualization of labor.

If PDigong wanted to fulfill his promise of ending endo he should have signed the 5^th draft of the workers’ EO that would make direct hiring of workers to principal employers a norm in employment relations of his administration but on the other hand would open some jobs or functions to labor contracting subject to consultations in the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council. Instead PDigong broke his promise and betrayed the workers.

Ka Rene Magtubo

PM Chairperson and Nagkaisa! Spokesperson

May 1, 2018

Labor group slams Duterte for endo, inflation and unemployment

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for the persistence of endo, rising inflation and the threat of unemployment. PM called on the government to drop charter change and instead prioritize regular jobs and a living wage.

“Ang end endo ay naDuterte. Isa itong naDigong pangako. Workers are bearing the brunt of the broken promises of the administration. Malacanang’s belated announcement that an EO may be signed today is obviously a last minute maneuver. We’ll judge the EO when indeed one is signed. Contractuals do not become regular just because of a press release. Gawa hindi salita,” exclaimed Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

PM joined the labor coalition Nagkaisa and the Cebu Citizen’s Assembly in the rally that gathered at the Sto. Rosario Church before marching to downtown Colon. PM participated in the labor unity rally of Nagkaisa and KMU in Manila that was a massive indignation mobilization against President Duterte’s failure to end contractualization. PM chapters in Bacolod, Davao and General Santos also mobilized for the nationwide Labor Day commemoration.

In Bacolod, PM and KMU contingents had a salubungan in the morning at the Fountain of Justice at the old City Hall. PM’s main rally was held in the afternoon after a mass meeting in the morning. In Davao, Nagkaisa and KMU assembled in the morning at Orcullo Park and then marched around the city.

PM warned of rising unemployment with a call from President Rodrigo Duterte for Kuwaiti OFW’s to come home, the six-month closure of Boracay and the impact of TRAIN on the economy.

“President Duterte is again making a personal promise, this time of providing jobs for OFW’s. But he has yet to deliver on his campaign promise two years go to end endo the moment he assumes the presidency. Mr. President, not another broken promise,” averred Derige.

The group is concerned as well with the rising inflation together with worsening unemployment. Economists predict that inflation will hit 4.6% this April. Inflation has steadily climbed every month from just 2.9% last December.

“Even as jobs remained contractual not regular, wages are being eroded by the escalation of prices. Where is the iron fist to control prices? Government is sleeping on the job!,” Derige argued.

He insisted that the fight against contractualization is not over as the group vowed to organize and mobilize workers in the continuing campaign to end endo. 

May 1, 2018