Friday, October 22, 2021

Labor group slams firing of unvaccinated workers

 

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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