Monday, September 21, 2020

Workers vow continuing resistance against restoration of dictatorship


His body is weak and his term in office is running out, but Duterte’s intentions to restore a system of dictatorship in the country remains strong. Continuing resistance is the only way to stop his plan while holding him responsible for the current crises resulting from his administration's incompetent and lousy pandemic response.


Four years under his brutal war on drugs, martial law experiments in Mindanao, attempts to change the constitution to make a transitional setup that makes him a dictator possible, and the militarist approach in dealing with the pandemic, were all playbooks running inside his mind.  The current health and jobs crises can in fact be the administration’s playground in advancing the agenda for a second dictatorship. 


We are always reminded by the fact that Marcos was only forced to lift martial law and called for a snap election when the economy was battered by a deep recession and peoples’ resistance to his dictatorship became unbearable. Yet, he remained a dictator until ousted by people power in 1986. Duterte may not have a complete machine to realize his dream, but he keeps the desire to make himself stronger than Marcos when allowed.
The pandemic may have provided him reasons to mobilize all the security forces to impose his will. But this militarist approach has only exposed the kind of leadership he is capable – violence in command. 


Workers were never hungry for dictators to rule their lives. They are only starving for jobs, income support, and workplace justice.  The country lost millions of jobs during this pandemic, but never will workers tolerate more draconian response like the anti-terror law, more so a restoration of a dictatorship. 


We will always resist. Until the workers finally assume the capacity and the power to govern themselves. 

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PM is joining groups like Nagkaisa, United Workers and Movement Against the Terror Act (MATA) in a mass action at the Commission on Human Rights today. The groups will symbolically file complaints against the government for human rights violations. The activity is a prelude to a mock trial on December 10.

 

In Iloilo, the provincial chapter of PM is holding a joint march with the Panay People’s Coalition from Sunburst Park to the Provincial Capitol from 1:00 pm.


21 September 2020

Friday, September 18, 2020

Bayanihan 2 grants educators’ wish: no-layoffs in schools receiving aid

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 09/18/2020

Contact: Prof. Rene Tadle

Lead Convenor, CoTeSCUP

0977-742-4120

  

The Council of Teachers and Staff of Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (CoTeSCUP) welcomed and applauded the strengthening of the education sector through the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2), as the new law made alternative learning and teaching needs more accessible to students and teachers alike, and protected the job security of workers in schools receiving assistance from government.

 

The organization had been vocal about their concerns including mass employee layoffs, wage cuts, and additional costs for distance learning needs for learners and educators, as learning and teaching go online.

 

“We are happy that our legislators responded positively to our plea”, Rene Tadle CoTeSCUP lead convenor said.

 

The Republic Act 11494 or Bayanihan 2 granted loan assistance, subsidies, discounts and grants for schools, universities, colleges, and technical vocational institutions as they aid themselves through DepEd, CHED and TESDA, with necessary materials for distance learning, like computers, laptops, and other information and communication technology equipment.

 

However, said benefits will only be available to private schools if they ensure that no employee retrenchment will occur for nine (9) months following the receipt of grant. The provision was lobbied by CoTeSCUP and supported actively by Senator Risa Hontiveros and Senator Joel Villanueva.

 

Meanwhile the youth group Partido Manggagawa-Kabataan called on CoTeSCUP to ally with students to monitor the implementation of the provision. “We call on the Commission on Higher Education (ChED) to ensure this no-layoff provision is strictly enforced. For this, the ChED should enlist CoTeSCUP for monitoring and oversight,” stated Jonel Salvador, PM-Kabataan spokesperson.

 

The coalition played a pivotal role not only in pushing, but in demanding the provision, as they emphasized the importance of job security especially as workers shoulder pandemic woes.

 

Prior to the signing of the new law, representatives of CoTeSCUP actively expressed these concerns and participated in government department dialogues, enjoining policymakers to focus on responding to the needs of private school teachers in the context of the current education climate.

 

“In the educational field in time of pandemic, teachers and non-academic personnel are frontliners and government must respond to their needs”, told Tadle.

 

Around Php8.9 billion was allotted for the education sector to alleviate the challenges of online teaching and learning modalities may bring about.

 

CoTeSCUP is a coalition among the Faculty Association of MAPUA Institute of Technology, Silliman University Faculty Association, Lyceum Faculty Association, Far Eastern University Faculty Association, Inc., Centro Escolar University Faculty and Allied Workers Union, St. Paul University-Manila Faculty Union, Union of Faculty and Employees of Saint Louis University, College Faculty Independent Union, University of San Carlos, Mapua Institute of Technology Labor Union; San Beda College Alabang Employees Association, Faculty Association of DLSU Dasmarinas Inc., De La Salle University Employee Association Union, De La Salle Zobel Staff Organization, and De La Salle Araneta Faculty Society.

 

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Group calls for bigger educ, ayuda budget in response to 3M unenrolled students


A youth group today called for massive government intervention in response to the 3 million students who are not enrolled for the school year. The Partido Manggagawa-Kabataan (PM-Kabataan), youth wing of the militant labor group Partido Manggagawa, asked for additional funds for basic education and emergency employment in the proposed 2021 budget.

 

“Three million students are bound to be left behind if the government does not act decisively. Even though education already has the biggest allocation in the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act, there are still yawning gaps if one looks at the details. Just to cite one example, the allocation for the DepEd computerization program is a mere P9 billion which is just half of the fund for the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict. It is obvious that the biggest threat to social development are 3 million unenrolled students and not 3,000 armed rebels,” observed Jonel Labrador, PM-Kabataan spokesperson.

 

Labrador sourced the figures from the information released by the Department of Budget and Management last August 25 (https://www.dbm.gov.ph/index.php/budget-documents/2021/2021-people-s-budget/2021-budget-at-a-glance-proposed).

 

The group also said that the main reason that students will not be enrolling is that income insecurity accruing from joblessness amidst the pandemic. The latest unemployment figures reveal 4.6 million Filipinos jobless last July.

 

“Government must provide emergency employment to jobless Filipinos even as it must call on employers for a timeout on layoffs. In the Mactan Ecozone for example, companies are shedding jobs left and right with the Sports City group of companies implementing the mother of all layoffs which victimized more than 4,000 workers. But the Labor Department has been curiously silent and inactive on these mass layoffs,” Labrador added.

 

He pointed out that “The tulong panghanapbuhay for displaced and disadvantaged workers is a paltry P9.9 billion. This will hardly make a dent in the dire unemployment and underemployment situation of the country.”


September 13, 2020

 

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Mother of all layoffs at Cebu ecozone slammed as 4,000 fired

 

Labor groups Partido Manggagawa (PM) and the MEPZ Workers Alliance slammed the surprise mass layoff of an estimated 4,000 workers in the Sports City group of companies in the Mactan Economic Zone. The firing started yesterday but are continuing today. The groups also heard that there was tension in the factory gates this morning over the terminations happening.

 

“Some 4,000 breadwinners had the surprise of their covid lives when they were unceremoniously terminated without any clear criteria. This is the single largest layoff in the Mactan Ecozone since the 2009 economic crisis,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM chair.

 

The two groups are calling on the affected workers to fight for their jobs and oppose the impromptu termination. PM is providing legal assistance to laid off workers and already held an online consultation a few days ago. Meanwhile the MEPZ Workers Alliance is asking workers to raise their grievances and concerns at their Facebook page.

 

PM is also assisting workers in the ecozones of Cavite and Laguna who were terminated, loss their jobs due to temporary closures and have not been paid their wages. A glass factory in Calamba, Laguna shutdown indefinitely in the middle of the lockdown and threw some 200 workers out of work. In the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) in Dasmarinas, Cavite, a garments factory have not paid their workers their last salary and have put them on forced leave. Suspiciously, the company is already selling pieces of machines. Earlier, the Sejung garment factory also located in FCIE shutdown also without paying workers their salaries and benefits.

 

Magtubo stated that “We call for a timeout on retrenchments in the ecozones. We demand immediate action from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the local government units.”

 

“Majority of those blindsided by the termination are women with families to feed but little prospect of finding new jobs in this pandemic economy. As per our monitoring, several hundred workers are being fired in each of the following factories: Vertex One, Mactan Apparel, Globalwear Manufacturing and Feeder Apparel,” explained Cherry Abadilla, spokesperson for the MEPZ Workers Alliance.

 

She added that the mass layoff at Sports City follows earlier terminations at Yuenthai and Kor Landa where 200 and 67 workers were affected. “There is a common modus operandi in all of these layoffs. They were surprise firings without prior notice. This is inhumane and disruptive of workers’ lives,” Abadilla insisted.

 

Scores of Yuenthai workers are refusing the separation offer of the company. In Kor Landa, the union filed a notice of strike which has triggered the preventive mediation proceedings of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board. Abadilla herself was terminated last July 10 along with Kor Landa workers, a French-owned manufacturer of jewelry.

September 5, 2020

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Group calls for a timeout on mass layoffs at the ecozones of Cebu and Calabarzon



Some 200 workers of a garments factory at the Mactan Economic Zone went to work on Saturday only to be told that they are already jobless. A big majority of the fired workers were women and breadwinners. The labor organizations Partido Manggagawa (PM) and the MEPZ Workers Alliance slammed the impromptu mass layoff at Yuenthai Philippines Inc. as inhumane amidst the difficulties of life during the pandemic.

PM is also assisting workers in the ecozones of Cavite and Laguna who were terminated, loss their jobs due to temporary closures and have not been paid their wages. A glass factory in Calamba, Laguna shutdown indefinitely in the middle of the lockdown and threw some 200 workers out of work. In the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) in Dasmarinas, Cavite, a garments factory have not paid their workers their last salary and have put them on forced leave. Suspiciously, the company is already selling pieces of machines. Earlier, the Sejung garment factory also located in FCIE shutdown also without paying workers their salaries and benefits.

“We call for a timeout on retrenchments in the ecozones. We demand immediate action from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the local government units. Nasaan ang ayuda?,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Likewise Cherry Abadilla, spokesperson for the MEPZ Workers Alliance, insisted that “We cannot accept that workers are the first to sacrifice in a time of covid and recession when we are the last to benefit during the period of economic boom. Nasaan ang bayanihan?”

Abadilla herself was terminated last July 10 along with other 67 workers of Kor Landa Corp., a French-owned manufacturer of jewelry at the Mactan Ecozone. She is president of the Kor Landa workers union and they have filed a notice of strike since they allege that the mass layoff in their company is just a subterfuge for union busting. The DOLE has called the union and management to a preventive mediation to prevent a full-blown strike.

PM and the MEPZ Workers Alliance are supporting the Yuenthai workers in their fight. Many of the jobless workers are refusing to accept the company offer. “Workers needs jobs so they can earn their daily bread. Accepting the company’s offer of separation will just tide workers over for a few weeks. When it is consumed, how can workers and their families survive when there is no ayuda from government and no hiring from other factories?,” argued Abadilla.

The two group are calling on workers in the Mactan Ecozone to unite and fight for their jobs. “We have no one to depend on but ourselves, our unity and our struggle. Mag-bayanihan po tayo at lumaban para sa ating trabaho!,”Abadilla appealed.

September 1, 2020