“Chi-cha not cha-cha” top nationwide Labor Day calls

Kababaihang manggagawa nanguna sa hiling na P100 dagdag-sahod 

 

Demands for a salary hike and ayuda for the poor instead of changing the Constitution were among the workers’ issues highlighted in the nationwide protests today. “We endured the heat of marching under the sun because the burning issue of low wages and high prices is a priority concern. Chi-cha not cha-cha,” declared Rene Magtubo, national chair of the militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) and a city councilor in Marikina, in reference to an urgent response to the economic crisis instead of politicians tinkering with charter change.

 

PM also lambasted a newly drafted Executive Order (EO) creating an inter-agency committee on labor rights. The group argued that the EO falls short of the recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO) high-level tripartite mission (HLTM) for the President to personally direct the committee and was crafted without dialogue with workers and employers. “Where is the President? The fact that President Bongbong Marcos is abroad today mirrors his absence in the inter-agency committee and reveals his utter disregard for improving the rights and welfare of workers,” Magtubo stated.

 

PM members assembled at 7:00 am at the Petron Blumentritt along Espana in Manila before marching towards Mendiola. The main Labor Day mobilization in Manila was led by the coalition All Philippine Trade Unions which brings together the groups Nagkaisa, Trade Union Center of the Philippines, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). Similar rallies were held in the cities of Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Iligan, General Santos, Cotabato and Tagum.

 

“Sahod, Trabaho, Karapatan” was the theme of the nationwide protests. “We call for a P100 minimum wage hike to recover the lost purchasing power of workers. Also, we demand an end to endo and the return of regular employment as the norm. Finally, we ask the government to heed the ILO HLTM proposals on protecting labor rights in the country,” Magtubo explained.

 

In Metro Cebu, PM assembled at the Plaza Independencia at 8:00 am before marching to Metro Gaisano in Colon for the joint rally of the coalition Sugbuanong Mamumuo Nagkahiusa Alang sa Living Wage (SANA AL). Some 1,000 workers marched for the demand for wage hike and regular jobs. The highlight of the protest was the destruction of a makeshift statue of Sen. Robin Padilla by a giant hammer (maso) to symbolize the workers’ fight against cha-cha.

 

In Iloilo City, the coalition United Labor led the march of some 1,500 workers at 2:30 pm to the Capitol grounds. The unions at Pepsi, Coke, URC and Iloilo Doctors were among the participants together with a contingent from the Iloilo Grab Riders Union (IGRU). The IGRU is the first union established among Grab riders in the country.

 

In Bacolod, some 3,000 workers joined the United Labor of Negros rally at the city Public Plaza. Sugar workers trooped to Bacolod City for the Labor Day protest of the groups PM, KMU, NACUSIP, BMP, CAILO, BUNYOG and BACOD. Unrest is brewing among sugar workers due to the early onset of tiempo muerto (dead season) as a result of the sugar crisis.

 

In Iligan, the Federation of Democratic Labor Organizations (FDLO) led the Labor Day march around the city which ended at the city plaza. PM, Mindanow, and other civil society organizations joined the FDLO rally. 

Press Release

May 1, 2023

“Chi-cha not cha-cha” among nationwide Labor Day calls tomorrow

 

Demands for a salary hike and ayuda for the poor instead of changing the Constitution is among the workers’ issues to be highlighted in the nationwide protests tomorrow. “We will endure the heat of marching under the sun because the burning issue of low wages and high prices is a priority concern. Chi-cha not cha-cha,” declared Rene Magtubo, national chair of the militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) and a city councilor in Marikina, in reference to an urgent response to the economic crisis instead of politicians tinkering with charter change.

 

PM members will assemble at 7:00 am at the Petron Blumentritt along Espana in Manila before marching towards Mendiola. The main Labor Day mobilization in Manila is led by the coalition All Philippine Trade Unions which brings together the groups Nagkaisa, Trade Union Center of the Philippines, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). Similar rallies are expected in the cities of Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Iligan, General Santos, Cotabato and Tagum.

 

“Sahod, Trabaho, Karapatan” is the theme of the nationwide protests. “We call for a P100 minimum wage hike to recover the lost purchasing power of workers. Also, we demand an end to endo and the return of regular employment as the norm. Finally, we ask the government to heed the recommendations of the International Labour Organization high-level tripartite mission on respecting labor rights,” Magtubo explained.

 

In Metro Cebu, PM will assemble at the Plaza Independencia at 8:00 am before marching to Metro Gaisano in Colon for the joint rally of the coalition Sugbuanong Mamumuo Nagkahiusa Alang sa Living Wage (SANA AL). Some 1,000 workers are expected to march for the demand for wage hike and regular jobs. The highlight of the protest will be the hammering of a makeshift statue of Sen. Robin Padilla by a giant hammer (maso) to symbolize the workers’ fight against cha-cha.

 

In Iloilo City, the coalition United Labor leads the march of some 1,500 workers at 2:30 pm to the Capitol grounds. The unions at Pepsi, Coke, URC and Iloilo Doctors are among the participants together with a contingent from the Iloilo Grab Riders Union (IGRU). The IGRU is the first union established among Grab riders in the country.

 

In Bacolod, some 3,000 workers are joining the United Labor of Negros rally at the city Public Plaza. Sugar workers will troop to Bacolod City for the Labor Day protest of the groups PM, KMU, NACUSIP, BMP, CAILO, BUNYOG and BACOD. Unrest is brewing among sugar workers due to the early onset of tiempo muerto (dead season) as a result of the sugar crisis.

 

In Iligan, the Federation of Democratic Labor Organizations (FDLO) will lead the Labor Day march to the city plaza. PM and other civil society organizations will join the FDLO rally. 

April 30, 2023

Partido Manggagawa

Women workers decry high prices and low wages

 

Women members of the militant labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today called for a wage hike and government aid as they decried the high prices of goods. In a buildup activity for the coming Labor Day commemoration, women PM members bought daily necessities at the Pritil Market out of a budget of P570, which is the minimum wage in Metro Manila.

 

“Kakalog-kalog ang basket of goods na mabibili ng P570 minimum wage. The minimum wage is a libing not living wage,” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.

 

The group stated that the impending rice crisis is not just the looming shortage of the staple food but also price inflation. Miranda explained that the recent P2 to P3 per kilo increase in the prices of rice alone has eroded workers’ wages further by another P71 to P106 per month based on an average 8.9 kilo rice consumption per week for a family according to the government’s Family Income and Expenditure Survey.

 

“But things are yet to become worse as the price of rice is expected to increase by up to P6 due to the supply and demand imbalance. Anyare sa pangakong P20 na bigas? Dagdag P2 ang nangyari!” Miranda continued.

 

A wage hike, along with demands for a stop to contractualization and respect for labor rights, will be the highlight of the Labor Day rally led by the All Philippine Trade Unions (APTU) next Monday. The APTU is a coalition of the major labor groups in the country and is spearheading the Labor Day march from Espana to Mendiola in Manila.

 

The Labor Day protest will be nationwide as counterpart workers’ mobilizations by PM and allied organizations will be held in the cities of Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Iligan, Tagum and General Santos.

 

PM affiliated groups in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Cebu and Iloilo have filed petitions for a P100 minimum wage hike. The wage boards have yet to hold any hearings on the petitions. The group estimates that P100 has been eroded from the purchasing power of wages as a result of inflation.

 

“The P100 wage increase is a demand for wage recovery. It is just a stepping stone for a call for a living wage or for a just share in labor productivity gains,” Miranda elaborated.

 

Tomorrow, PM and other women workers’ groups are holding an assembly at the University of the Philippines Diliman School of Labor and Industrial Relations for a whole-day of discussions, art workshops and a press conference to reiterate their demands for wage hikes and ayudang sapat together with specific women issues such as gender-based violence in the workplace.

April 27, 2023

Partido Manggagawa

Workers to march to Mendiola on Labor Day to demand wage increase, decent work, right to freely unionize

Organized labor, in a display of solidarity, will troop to Mendiola on Labor Day to demand an increase in wages, an end to contractualization and the full recognition of the right to freely unionize.

 

At a press conference today, the All Philippine Trade Unions (APTU) announced that it will gather more than 10,000 workers and march from España to Mendiola in the morning of May 1 to collectively air their demands.

 

The APTU, composed of the Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) and a host of other trade union centers and confederations, was established in January 2023 as workers submitted its report on the state of freedom of association in the Philippines to ILO High Level Tripartite Mission that looked into the killings of trade union leaders and other FOA violations since 2016.

 

“Wages should climb together with productivity because it is only right and just that workers, who create the wealth of our nation, get their fair share of our economic growth. Workers cannot wait anymore and workers definitely deserve better,” said Paul Gajes, Legislative Officer of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

 

There are petitions for wage increase in almost all regions, even as proposed measures for wage increase have been filed in both Houses of Congress, ranging from Php 150 to Php 750.

 

“Workers will march on May 1 to press for Malacañang’s position on our demands for an inclusive roadmap to achieve decent work, an immediate action to the popular clamor for immediate wage increase and an end to impunity among other matters. Titiyakin naming maririnig ang sigaw ng manggagawang Pilipino saanman sa mundo,” said Elmer Labog, chairperson of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).

 

Protest actions have also been planned in different parts of the country.

 

“Depriving someone of the right to life diminishes us all. We are all part of the greater humanity. As trade unions, we are in solidarity with one another. Thus, we must defend, promote, and protect our individual rights to decent life, security of tenure in our work, as well as our rights to organize and engage in collective bargaining,” said Rene Magtubo of the Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition.

 

Magtubo is referring to the joint workers report submitted by the APTU to the ILO-HLTM that that documented 68 trade union killings and hundreds of violations of the right to freedom of association, thus the need for whole of government approach to better guard labor rights.

 

"Milyong-milyon ang walang trabaho, at kung meron man, karamihan ay kontraktwal. Hamon natin sa gobyerno: ibasura ang Department Order 174, iwaksi ang kontraktwalisasyon, at igarantiya ang regular at ligtas na trabaho para sa lahat,” said Atty Luke Espiritu, president of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP).

 

Ending contractualization remains high in the priority list of organized labor.

 

"Low wages, rising prices, contractualization and workplace violence are hitting working women the hardest. Raising the minimum wage would considerably benefit women workers who are disproportionately concentrated in low-wage, precarious jobs and help close the gender wage gap. The current administration should pass the security of tenure bills in both the public and private sectors, and ratify ILO Convention 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work,” said Annie Geron of Women Workers United (WWU). The WWU was formed parallel to the APTU. 

PRESS RELEASE

All Philippine Trade Unions

26 April 2003

Contact Rene Magtubo @ 09178532905

Nagkaisa Spokesperson