DOLE asked to issue order on riders’ employment status

The motorcycle riders’ rights group Kapatiran sa Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong) called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to issue an order on the employment status of app-based riders in the light of the recent decision by a National Labor Relation Commission (NLRC) arbiter. The arbiter ruled that seven Foodpanda riders based in Davao were regular employees of the app and found the company guilty of illegal dismissal. The labor case stemmed from the suspension by the app for 10 years of 43 Foodpanda riders who planned in July 2021 a “log-off” protest over low pay.

 

“This is a landmark decision in clarifying the employee-employer relationship of app riders. We urge the DOLE to settle the issue by issuing an order based on this decision. It is long overdue,” insisted Don Pangan, Kagulong secretary general.

 

He added that “We are also calling on the DOLE to deliver its commitment to convene the Technical Working Group involving rider’s groups, trade unions, worker’s organizations and concerned government agencies as agreed upon the tripartite consultations convened in the build up to Labor Day 2021.”

 

Kagulong had long advocated for recognizing app riders as employees so they can enjoy the protection of labor standards and rights, including social protection and job security. The group earlier criticized the Labor Advisory 14-21 issued by the DOLE in July 2021 that did not resolve the dispute. The Labor Advisory was issued in the wake of the Davao Foodpanda labor row and other disputes involving app riders.

 

In November 2020, Kagulong led some 700 Foodpanda riders in a protest action at the DOLE national office to seek resolution of their grievances over reduced pay and unsafe conditions DOLE officials who met leaders of Kagulong and the Metro Manila Foodpanda riders promised to act on the complaint.

 

The Foodpanda protests in Davao and Manila correlate with a global study (http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/16880.pdf), which found out that food delivery riders launched the greatest number of protests among app or platform workers. The most prominent grievance concerned pay although employment status also figured as a secondary issue. In Asian countries such as Indonesia and India, gig workers have formed associations or unions. Similar organizing and struggles by food delivery riders in Europe, Australia and Latin America was also revealed in the study. 

Kagulong

August 2, 2022

Riders group slams Foodpanda’s glitch alibi

 
 

The motorcycle riders’ rights group Kapatiran ng Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong) slammed Foodpanda for stating that the 10-year suspension of 43 Davao-based food delivery riders was just a “technical glitch.”

 

Don Pangan, Kagulong secretary-general, averred that “Technical glitch is a lame excuse for Foodpanda’s corporate abuse. Foodpanda is trying to hide its anti-worker misbehavior behind digital technology. This modus operandi is no different from Foodpanda disguising its employment relationship to riders using the platform nature of work as an alibi.”

 

At the same time the group criticized the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for speaking on behalf of Foodpanda. “As the third party in the tripartite industrial relationship, the DOLE should show non-partisanship. If at all, the DOLE should be biased for workers as the Labor Code provides that in cases of ambiguity, labor should be favored in the interpretation,” Panga expounded.

 

“In fact, in this case, there is really no ambiguity as suspending workers for 10 years is a flagrant violation of the Labor Code. Workers can only be suspended for a maximum of 30 days and for actual administrative cases. Workers cannot be penalized for planning a protest that has not yet happened!” insisted Pangan.

 

Kagulong reminded the DOLE about its commitment “To convene a Technical Working Group (TWG) represented by rider’s groups, trade unions, worker’s organizations and concerned government agencies to start the research and investigation that would lead to creating policy standards to protect the gig workers,” Pangan recalled.

 

Kagulong asserted that the TWG is an urgent necessity given that Foodpanda’s action are exposing the disguised employment relationship between the app and its riders. “If riders are indeed independent contractors then they have the choice not to deliver and thus cannot be penalized. Foodpanda’s suspension reveals its control of the working conditions of riders. The control test is the key metric in determining the existence of an employee-employer relationship,” Pangan explained.

 

He added that “Other than the power to suspend and penalize riders for transgressions in the conduct of their work, the fact that uniforms and delivery bags are mandated by Foodpanda shows that it does control the working conditions of riders who must then be treated as employees not freelancers.”

Kapatiran ng Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong)

July 23, 2021

 

EO vs endo pushed in nationwide rallies at DOLE offices

Workers are holding simultaneous rallies at DOLE offices in key cities as part of a campaign by labor groups who are calling for the signing of an executive order (EO) to abolish contractualization. Members of Partido Manggagawa (PM) and the labor coalition Nagkaisa are picketing this morning the DOLE offices in Intramuros, Calamba, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Bacolod and Davao City.

In a dialogue between labor groups and President Duterte this month, the latter promised to make a decision by March 15 on the former's lobby for an anti-endo EO.  Rene Magtubo, PM chair and spokesperson of Nagkaisa said that “President Duterte won on a campaign platform of abolishing contractualization. Two long years have passed and the promise remains unfulfilled. Duterte criticizes EDSA for its broken promises but his own vow to end endo remains unrealized.”

The rallies will also call on the Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to act on major labor disputes at firms Lakepower, Coke and Philippine Airlines. Last week the DOLE main office was rocked by rallies of workers of electronics firm Lakepower Converter and employees of Coke. Women workers of Lakepower in Cavite ecozone have been on strike for more than two months now. They are calling on the office of the Labor Secretary to intervene to resolve the protracted dispute. The workers are calling for a stop to the termination and suspension of union officers and members. The dispute has become a litmus test of freedom of association at ecozones.

Last year, the DOLE released a new department order on contractulization called DO 174. “DO 174 however is no different from previous orders which allow contractualization, and give wide latitude to capitalists to subcontract and replace regular employees with contractual workers. Thus we are asking President Duterte to issue an EO to implement his campaign promise of ending contractualization,” Magtubo explained.

The Philippine Airlines union PALEA is also asking the Secretary Bello to expedite the labor inspection report on the use of contract workers in the national flag carrier. Last year, the DOLE conducted a labor inspection of Philippine Airlines and its sister company PAL Express. PALEA, which observed the inpection process as the duly accredited union, insists that the assessment uncovered clear acts of illegal labor-only contracting in the outsourcing program of PAL and PAL Express.

“Massive subcontracting and outsourcing at PAL that has reduced its plantilla of regular workers and bloated its army of contractual workers is not different from PLDT which the DOLE already found as guilty of illegal contracting,” argued Magtubo. The DOLE has also released an order to regularize 8,000 workers and pay millions in money claims.

Photos can be accessed at:

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10156042273339323

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10156042320789323

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10156042324344323

Workers slam RevGov in Bonifacio Day rallies

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) called for a stop to the RevGov proposal in nationwide rallies commemorating Bonifacio Day. “Bonifaco led a real revolution to gain democracy for the Filipino masses. Duterte’s RevGov is instead a coup d’etat to install a dictatorship over the people,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

PM joined the group Kalipunan ng Kilusang Masa in a several-thousand strong march from Espana to Mendiola this morning. PM and allied organizations also mobilized in Cebu, Davao and Bacolod.

Bonifacio Day was a litmus test for RevGov as anti and pro groups had separate for rallies today.

“We call on workers not to join any RevGov events. The first to be sacrificed in a RevGov-cum-dictatorship are the freedoms and rights of workers. Workers need political and civil liberties to advance their fight against capitalist exploitation and state abuses,” explained Magtubo.

Kalipunan assembled at Ramon Magsaysay High School along Espana by 8:00 am before marching by 9:00 am to Mendiola. In Cebu, the broad coalition Cebu Citizens Assembly marched at downtown Colon St. in the morning. Workers and urban poor led by PM and Sentro assembled at Orcullo Park in Davao, marched around the city and then returned to the park for a program. In Bacolod, sugar workers converged on the city for a rally at downtown.

Magtubo added that “RevGov seeks to capitalize on people’s discontent on the brutal failings of the EDSA democracy. But the alternative to the democracy of the trapos is not a return to a dictatorship of one man but forward to a democracy of the masses that was the agenda of Bonifacio’s revolution. A revolution from the top by a dictator is a fake. The real revolution is a the result of a movement of the masses.”

He added that the Bonifacio Day rallies against RevGov is just the opening salvo and the campaign will escalate towards the commemoration of International Human Rights Day on December 10. More events and mobilizations are slated in the run-up to the remembrance of human rights day. ###

November 30, 2017

Workers cry “End endo” and “Marcos Hindi Bayani” in Bonifacio Day rallies

Several thousand workers marched in key cities today to commemorate Bonifacio Day, demand a ban on contractualization and protest the hero’s burial of Marcos.

The nationwide rallies led by the labor coalition Nagkaisa were billed as a “National Day of Action Vs. Endo.” Partido Manggagawa (PM) together with other labor groups rejected the so-called “win-win” solution on contractualization and pushed for an “end endo” formula of prohibition of subcontracting of regular jobs.

“The misnamed win-win scheme proposed by employers, and promoted by the Trade and Labor Departments will not end endo. It is a scam that will lead to the utter proliferation of outsourcing and contracting out of regular jobs by the principal employers,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Member groups of Nagkaisa marched from Welcome Rotonda to Morayta where it held a program. Militant workers then joined other groups for another rally around noon at Mendiola to register labor’s condemnation of the surprise hero’s burial for Marcos. Labor organizations later participated in the broad protest at the People Power Monument called by the Coalition Against the Marcos Burial.

In Cebu City, workers marched from downtown Colon to Plaza Independencia. Industrial and sugar workers rallied at the Bacolod marker Araneta. In Davao City, workers marched from the Freedom Park to the Bonifacio Monument. 

To express labor’s twin demands, PM highlighted the slogan “Ilibing ang kontraktwalisasyon hindi ang kasalanan ni Marcos.” Magtubo averred that “Students have already made their stand known. Today workers voiced out too their position on the burning issues of our country.”

“A hero’s burial for the late dictator is a stepping stone for the return to power of another Marcos. We can’t move on to a future where the occupant of Malacanang is an unrepentant member of a family that pillaged the public treasury and burdened generations with debt,” he added.

Magtubo argued that “President Duterte is accountable for this mockery of justice. He is in fact simply paying a debt, probably not of gratitude. Duterte’s newfound respect for the letter of the law in the case of Marcos’ burial contrasts with his utter disregard for due process and human rights for most everything else, including the execution of a bloody war on drugs.”

November 30, 2016

National moratorium on demolitions needed to avoid repeat of Davao incident –labor group

PRESS RELEASE

02 July 2011

The unfortunate, violent face-off between the furious Inday (Mayor Sara Duterte) and the hapless Sheriff (Abe Andres) could have been avoided if there had been a declared national moratorium on demolitions, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

According to PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda, violent confrontations between the informal settlers and the demolition team are normal occurrence whenever an eviction or demolition order is enforced either by the court or by the government itself.  And in many instances, a hapless sheriff who has no personal discretion at all to either withhold or press on with the order coming from his/her bosses, ends up getting the ire of angry residents, or in this recent case in Davao – a brutal hit from the mayor’s furious fist.

“As a party of ordinary labourers, we cannot help but sympathize with Sheriff Abe Andres for the humiliating experience he suffered from the hands of Mayor Inday.  Yet we also recognize the firm resolve of Mayor Duterte in addressing the problem of her constituents in an appropriate manner and to prevent the expected outbreak of violence,” explained Miranda.   

In fact, added Miranda, “Minus the disposition for brutality, all LGU officials should have the kind of social instinct that Mayor Sara Duterte has.” 

The labor group together with other groups under the Kampanya para sa Makataong Pamumuhay (KAMP) had been urging the Palace since last year to declare a moratorium on demolitions, evictions and foreclosures on informal settlers while a new comprehensive housing policy is not yet in place.

“If the Masang Pinoy is really his boss, PNoy should likewise have the political will of Mayor Sara.  The President in fact neither needs a fist nor a gun to stop violent demolitions but just a pen for an Executive Order declaring a moratorium,” concludes Miranda.

PM recalled that just recently also, exchange of words occurred between Makati Mayor and Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary (DILG) Jessie Robredo when violent confrontations flared up during the demolition of the Laperal compound in Guadalupe.

Several other demolition operations also ended up in violence and resulted eventually to the massive displacement for the cities’ informal settlers.