Press Release
October 22, 2021
Partido Manggagawa
Contact Rene Magtubo @
09178532905
The labor group Partido
Manggagawa (PM) slammed the opinion of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello that
unvaccinated workers can be fired and their salaries withheld on the basis of
an IATF resolution.
“While refusing unvaccinated
workers to work in facilities prohibited by alert levels is a practical health
measure that employers may impose, terminating them from work is a cure worse
than the disease. We demand that Secretary Bello withdraw this statement,” stated
Rene Magtubo, PM chair.
The group declared that the
call to defend the jobs and wages of unvaccinated workers will be included in
the demands to be raised in the motorcade tomorrow of the Alliance of Labor Leaders
for Leni (ALL4Leni). The ALL4Leni contingent of the “Unang Arangkada ng TROPA” will
assemble by 8:00 am in the vicinity of the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City. The
motorcade will start by 9:00 am and wind its way around Quezon City before
turning to EDSA and converge with other groups at the People Power Monument by
11:00 am.
Magtubo added that “We do not
agree with the interpretation of Sec. Bello that the IATF resolution on alert
levels can form the legal basis for terminating employees. Said resolution on
vaccination is never and should never be part of just and authorized causes for
terminating employment contracts. What can be done is place our workers in the
order of priority in reporting for work based on alert levels, but never that
their unvaccinated status be a ground for their termination.”
Following their expression of
full support for the candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo, ALL4Leni called
on their members and workers all over the country to join the “Unang Arangkada ng
TROPA” this tomorrow, a nationally coordinated action calling for all sectors
of society to unite and support the Team Robredo-Pangilinan (TROPA) in the May
2022 elections.
“TROPA will end the regime of
killings and repression, and provide space for the labor movement to campaign for
workers’ demands. That space is key since it is the movement that will win
change,” Magtubo insisted. ###
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