Duterte must be held accountable for drug war and labor-related killings

  

The workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asserted that former President Rodrigo Duterte must be held accountable for the widespread killings that transpired under his administration. “Duterte must face the music for all the killings during his bloody regime, from drug war killings to the murder of labor leaders and activists,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and Marikina City councilor.

 

He added that “For all intents and purposes, Duterte admitted to his culpability for the drug war deaths in his testimony yesterday at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing. But we must also remember that the drug war extended into a war against human rights defenders. His violent rhetoric not just against drug addicts but also against human rights activists enabled the security forces and vested interests who consider labor and environmental rights defenders as enemies or terrorists. Justice must be served to the 68 victims of labor-related killings under Duterte.”

 

Labor groups put the number of labor leaders and activists killed at 68 from 2016 to the end of Duterte’s term. For 2024, the Philippines slipped in the Labour Rights Index compared to its 2022 score because of the lack of protection for freedom to unionize and bargain collectively. The Labour Rights Index is maintained by the WageIndicator Foundation and the Center for Labor Research based in Amsterdam.

 

“The Philippines got a zero score for Freedom of Association which is to be expected given the unsolved labor-related killings. The Human Rights Watch counted four more union leaders and activists killed under the current administration bringing the total to 72. Moreover, the recommendations of the International Labour Organization’s High-Level Mission in 2023 remain remain pending due to the government’s lack of social dialogue with workers’ groups,” Magtubo explained.

 

The High-Level Mission was the result of outrage at the brutal daylight murder of union organizer Dennis Sequeña just a couple of days before the International Labour Conference of 2019. Sequeña’s killing remains unsolved despite a finding by the AO 35 national task force that it is labor-related. “Justice for Dennis Sequeña will partly be achieved if Duterte is punished for the thousands extra-judicial and labor-related killings under his administration,” Magtubo concluded.

October 29, 2024

Women Workers United on IWD demands

WAGES, DIGNIFIED WORK, PUBLIC SERVICES, AND FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: THE DEMANDS OF WOMEN THIS INTERNATIONAL WORKING WOMEN’S DAY

Women Workers United (WWU) marks the 112th year of the International Working Women’s Day, when we reaffirm our fight against poverty, injustice, inequality, and exploitation of women in all forms. WWU is currently composed of six major organizations: Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan (KMK), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Partido Manggagawa (PM), Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), and GABRIELA.

Filipino women find themselves in a time of crisis today. Joblessness is at an all-time high: 7 in 10 Filipinos—mostly women—are being driven into informal, precarious work; inflation is soaring at 9.3%; and violence against women (VAW) has seen a dramatic rise with 1 woman every 20 minutes becoming a victim of rape, physical abuse, lasciviousness, and other forms of VAW. 

Since the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM), in which we participated and submitted a subreport on women workers, we have developed a 15-Point Labor Agenda, within which we have expanded on the plight of women in the world of work.

This International Women’s Day, we reassert our call to (1) protect women workers’ rights to freedom of association and their rights to collective bargaining and negotiation; (2) close the gender wage pay gap and institute a national minimum wage closer to the living wage which is at PHP 1,100; (3) ratify ILO Convention 190; (4) strengthen legal framework and policies to address VAWC; and (5) pass the Magna Carta for Workers in the Informal Economy, among others.

This International Working Women’s Day, we remember the historic role women have played in advancing the people’s vision for a world free from exploitation. Today, we march on and carry the torch of the millions of working women throughout history who overcame society’s impositions on women and asserted their rightful place in the struggle for social justice.

Our fight for justice and equality in all forms continues. This International Working Women’s Day, the women workers of the Philippines march on. Women workers rise. Women workers strike. Women workers stand united.#

References:

GABRIELA Vice Chairperson Joms Salvador

Partido Manggagawa Judy Ann Miranda

Federation of Free Workers Women’s Network Vice President Arta Maines

Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK) Jillian Roque

Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan (KMK) Spokesperson Jaq Ruiz

Women Workers United

PRESS STATEMENT

08 March 2023

MEDIA ADVISORY: Women workers protest on IWD

MEDIA ADVISORY

for March 8, 2023

Reference: Trish Muli, 0917 865 8720

INTERNATIONAL WORKING WOMEN'S DAY

Women Workers United

1. Women workers dialogue & protest at DOLE

8:00AM assembly at Round Table, Intramuros

8:40AM March to send-off leaders to DOLE

9:00AM–10:00AM Program outside Round Table

10:00AM - Unveiling of WWU challenge, then March to Liwasang Bonifacio

Several women's groups under Women Workers United (WWU) will meet with DOLE officials to get DOLE's support for the ratification of ILO Convention 190, Women in the World of Work, on International Women Workers' Day (IWWD). The groups will also forward cases of labor rights violations against women workers and reiterate ILO-HLTM's recommendations to the PH government.

During the dialogue, around 200 women workers gathered outside will hold a protest action to highlight their issues and demands. WWU will conclude the program with the reveal of the latest unity among the broadest rank of Filipino women workers—their most urgent challenge to the Marcos government.

2. Filipino Women SALUBONGAN

10:30AM at Liwasang Bonifacio

Filipino women workers led by WWU and all other sectors of women will converge at Liwasang Bonifacio. Women leaders from various sectors will hand out roses to women workers to honor their leading role throughout history in the emancipation of women across the world, while women workers will offer bread to women leaders to symbolize the fruits of their labor that feed the peoples of the world.

3. IWWD Program: Women Workers Unite for Wage Hike, Decent Jobs, Accessible Quality Social Services, and Freedom of Association

10:30AM–12:30PM Program at Liwasang Bonifacio

Thousands of Filipino women from several major women's and sectoral organizations will gather for the IWWD program that will register the united call of women for wage, jobs, services, and rights amid severe economic and political crisis in PH. The program will highlight the severe hits suffered by women and Filipinos due to unabated price hikes, anti-people policies that massacres jobs, and the incessant attacks on rights and freedoms led by no less than the highest officials of the land.

4. Filipino Women take the IWWD protest right at the foot of Malacañang

12:30PM March to Mendiola

12:30PM–1:30PM Program at Mendiola

1:30PM Symbolic presentation of Filipino Women's Message to President Marcos Jr.

Women will march to Mendiola to implore Marcos Jr. to finally respond to the crises hounding Filipinos under his reign. Protesters will issue their condemnation of the government's anti-people and pro-foreign capitalist indulgences while Filipinos drown in massive poverty, mounting debts, and growing fascism and militarism.

---

MEDIA COVERAGE IS REQUESTED.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES AND INTERVIEWS WILL BE FACILITATED.#

Labor group to Bello: Deeds do not match words on killings of unionists

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello’s statement that the government is addressing the killings and repression of labor leaders and trade unionists. “Deeds do not match words. Labor Secretary Bello is unfortunately being disingenuous when he says that the government is acting on the complaints. In reality violations of labor rights continue with impunity,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

He added that “Just to cite one case, the murder of union organizer Dennis Sequeña remains unsolved to this day, almost three years after he was shot while facilitating a labor seminar for export zone workers in Cavite. It was the outrage over the killing of Dennis just days before the annual International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2019 that precipitated the current complaint against the Philippine government for systematic violations of Convention 87 and Convention 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining.”

 

Echoing the observation of the ILO committee of experts on the application of conventions and recommendations in its latest report, PM averred that speedy and effective probes of the killings and the conviction of perpetrators are lacking if not absent.

 

“Aside from Dennis, no justice has been served for the killings of PM leaders Orlando Abangan of Cebu, Rolando Pango and Victoriano Embang of Negros Occidental. As the ILO report has noted, the government keeps on repeating that investigations are happening without providing any details,” Magtubo insisted.

 

The group also stated that the government is dragging its feet on a review of the rules governing the conduct of security personnel during disputes and the scrapping of a program on peacekeeping in the export processing zones.

 

“The Philippine Economic Zone Authority in particular has been blocking progress on strengthening the freedom to unionize and the right to protest of workers in export processing zones. Their latest maneuver has been to change the name of the Joint Industrial Peace Concerns Office to Alliance for Industrial Peace and Program Office but the aim of militarizing ecozones by setting up police precincts and suppressing unionism remains in place,” Magtubo explained.

February 14, 2022

Justice for slain union organizer on his first death anniversary—labor group

The labor group Partido Manggagawa reiterated its call for justice for its union organizer who was brutally murdered last year. Dennis Sequeña, Cavite provincial chair of Partido Manggagawa (PM) and veteran labor organizer of ecozone workers, was shot and killed in June 2, 2019 while facilitating a union seminar among workers in the Cavite Economic Zone.

“On the occasion of the first death anniversary of Ka Dennis, we call the attention of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) that justice has not been served and his unidentified killers are still at large. The unsolved murder of Ka Dennis highlights the new normal of impunity characterized by killings of rights defenders, double standard in the enforcement of lockdown rules, restriction of civil liberties and the looming danger of the anti-terror bill,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The murder of Sequeña was immediately condemned by local and international labor groups and led to a recommendation at the International Labor Organization conference in June 2019 for a high level mission to be sent to the country to investigate the killings of unionists and violations of freedom of association. Later the Technical Executive Committee of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council made a determination that Sequeña’s killing was extra-judicial and thus was under the purview of Administrative Order 35 (AO 35). In August 2019 the DOJ, as lead agency of AO 35, announced that a special investigative team was formed to probe the killing.

“We thus ask both the DOJ and DOLE: what is the status of the probe on the murder of Ka Dennis? Neither the family nor our organization has been updated of any development,” declared Magtubo.

He added that, “Relatedly, we also call on the DOLE to convene the technical working group for the review of the guidelines on the conduct of PNP, AFP and other security forces during labor disputes and the exercise of the freedom of association in the ecozones, the advocacy for which Ka Dennis gave his life for. The DOLE cannot make covid an excuse for inaction. On the contrary, a workers’ picketline in an ecozone in Cavite was dispersed using the lockdown as an alibi. Two workers of Sejung Apparel in the First Cavite Industrial Estate were threatened with arrest on Black Friday night, April 19, by Dasmarinas police, who refused to identify themselves, for alleging violating the curfew rules since they were manning the picketline.”

“Justice for Dennis also means justice for all workers. We ask the DOLE to investigate the dispersal of the Sejung picketline and for the reopening of the garments factory to produce much needed face masks not only to provide employment to the jobless workers and but also assist in the covid response,” Magtubo proposed.

June 2, 2020

State of human rights in the country regressing further – labor group

The state of human rights in the country continues to regress under the Duterte administration, the Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement sent to media on the International Human Rights Day. The group joined the march by members of human rights community led by the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) and i-DEFEND in Quezon City. 

“Extra-judicial killings remain unchecked while harassments and actual assaults against human rights defenders (HRDs) in the trade union and other people’s organizations escalated in recent months,” said PM Secretary General Judy Miranda. 

These assaults, Miranda noted, include red-tagging, misogyny, arrest and detentions, including unsolved killings of HRDs working for trade union rights and protection of the environment. 

Last June, trade union leader Dennis Sequeña of PM Cavite was gunned down while doing lecture on basic trade union rights for EPZA workers. This incident, including other cases of trade union killings and violations, prompted the International Labor Organization (ILO) to send a high level mission to the Philippines to investigate the state of trade union repression in the country. That mission, however, is yet to be acknowledged and allowed entry by the government. 

But for the group, the biggest threat to human rights in the country is the counter-narrative being peddled against its very concept and principles by no less than the President who keeps on vilifying the HRDs as bad guys working with society’s criminal elements. 

“It’s very similar to having a company CEO who keeps on telling his workers that labor rights are bad. That mindset justifies all repressive actions while creating fear among workers that having a job is better than enjoying labor rights,” concluded Miranda.

10 December 2019

Fight against inequality is continuation of Bonifacio’s struggle—Partido Manggagawa

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on workers to fight inequality as the continuation of the struggle of Andres Bonifacio. On the occasion of this year’s commemoration of Bonifacio Day, thousands of workers from different labor groups are coming together to a big rally at Mendiola.

Members of PM are joining the major mobilizations in the cities of Manila, Cebu, Bacolod and Davao. Chapters of PM and groups Aguila, National Federation of Labor, Pwersa and Kilos Maralita from Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon are gathering at Blumentritt along Espana at 9 am. The groups will then link up with the Nagkaisa labor coalition march from Welcome Rotonda to Mendiola where they will hold a program up to noon.

Yesterday PM unveiled what it called “Panalo ang Pinas” and “Laban ng Pinoys” medals to express its message of fighting social inequality amidst economic growth. Scores of PM members trooped to Liwasang Bonifacio yesterday wearing symbolic medals that parodied the issues facing workers such as rampant contractualization and low wages, and the people such as government corruption and rice importation.

“For the last decade, the economy has doubled but real wages have remained stagnant. This means workers have not shared in the wealth that labor has produced and instead capitalists have monopolized it. If Bonifacio were alive today, he will be leading a new revolution against worsening inequality,” stated Judy Ann Miranda, PM Secretary General.

She added that “Endo and regional wages are among the key instruments by which government in collaboration with capitalists have kept workers from partaking in the fruits of their labor. Thus the campaign of workers to end endo and abolish regional wages are major struggles of the labor movement at present.”

PM is also condemning the repression of labor strikes that are breaking out as contractual workers demand regularization. The group also denounced the government for the slow action in resolving the killing of union organizer Dennis Sequena last June. The group reiterated its demand that the government allow the International Labor Organization to conduct a High Level Mission to probe the killings of labor activists and the suppression of freedom of association and collective bargaining. ###

Photos of the activity yesterday can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10157637737124323?__xts__[0]=68.ARAn6-GMxwARR7qpY1oScEC3ekZbxGpX5IrLSegz0XHYB2CyraT4YSP0hKOdWPClp--TcQdtTe9raovNypx2qx7grv30G_34JfRBD7g1ITPn3sid-1Of2C9XtjX4j7NPaka9Q1sNY0K2IevrDpR52FOSp_KSmyXD6vyUAmc8sj5Ln9VNgKBwAPrfJTsUlaZQxNQXj0iRfmLveuLuSldbgAnCbdxLPZtAGI3p7zuxbNAootVv7Xh2haUKlXTcX61sB8NHDZyMll5x_PjUMnczvMSsTKUyNy40AG4rhJ6RD36eZFwD_qIgTEhDHEK1GWrK-qRaoeappLTVtV7fK7Wq&__tn__=-R   

November 30, 2019

Labor demands tripartite investigation over raids and mass arrests in Bacolod

Photo from Kodao.org

The country’s biggest labor coalition, Nagkaisa!, is demanding a tripartite investigation over the simultaneous raids and mass arrests conducted by security forces Thursday night against members of militant labor and women groups in Bacolod City to protect workers’ right to self organization. 

“We won’t let this assault on freedom pass without demanding accountability from authorities who ordered these Gestapo-style raids. We also want to send notice to the government that labor organizations in the country are jointly opposed to this kind of highhanded approach in dealing with legitimate sectoral organizations,”said Nagkaisa! in a statement sent to media. 

Some 57 people were arrested during the simultaneous raids conducted by a joint military and police forces against the Kilusang Mayor Uno, National Federation of Sugar Workers and Gabriela offices in the cities of Bacolod and Escalante in Negros last Thursday night. Cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosives were filed against those who were arrested, a charge vehemently denied by said groups. 

Nagkaisa! is pointing out that while the raids and mass arrests were carried out by virtue of a search warrant issued in Quezon City, it believes that this legality is eclipsed by the repressive character attending it which is common only under authoritarian rule.

The least that could have been done by security forces, the group said is to coordinate with labor department under the spirit of the Guideline on the conduct of the DOLE, DILG, DND, DOJ, AFP and PNP relative to the exercise of Workers’ Right and Activity.

“We envisage further that there’s more to this than meets the eye. Its chilling effect was obvious as they happen at a time the democratic spaces in the country were shrinking fast, including, among others, the systematic repression of trade union rights and the employment of violence against trade union organizers. We therefore demand a stop to the institutionalization of these draconian measures,” stated Nagkaisa! 

Labor groups were deeply concerned that the labor department’s ineffective response against trade union killings and red-tagging has emboldened our security forces to step up its brazen campaign against organized labor. 

“Thus we urge Secretary Silvestre Bello to step in, form a tripartite body and remind the military and security forces that DOLE has the prerogative in dealing with organized labor,” Nagkaisa said. 

Nagkaisa! is also urging the government to invite the ILO High Level Mission to visit the country the soonest time possible. 

The group finally reminded the government that the labor movement will always come to the defence of freedom and human rights as it values the union principle ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’. 

“An assault against a part of the labor movement, therefore, is an attack against the whole movement,” concluded Nagkaisa!

03 November 2019 

Cavite garments workers to spend Undas at the picketline

Workers of a garments factory in the First Cavite Industrial Estate in Dasmarinas, Cavite will be spending undas at the picketlines instead of the graves of their departed love ones. The dispute between workers and management of Sejung Apparel Inc. is on its third week.

A hearing at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board ended last Wednesday without any agreement between the union and management. The union is demanding the reopening of the factory and the return to work of all employees.

The workers started their picket protest last October 14 after management locked out them out. The lockout happened just a week after the union submitted a proposal for a collective bargaining agreement.

“This is not the first time and unfortunately not the last time that a recently unionized factory suddenly closed down. This is the action of last resort by management in order to bust and avoid unions. We have seen this happen with the Faremo garments factory at the Cavite Economic Zone in 2016 and the Cebu Nisico electronics firm at the Mactan Economic Zone in 2017,” stated Rene Magtubo, national chair of Partido Manggagawa (PM).

Josephine Odchimar, union president, lamented that the freedom to unionize are dead in the ecozones. Tonight, workers staying at the picketline plan to light candles in memory of their dead family members but also in protest at the death of labor rights in the country.

Odchimar vowed that the union will continue the picket protest until workers are allowed back to work. She also called on the administration of the First Cavite Industrial Estate to respect the right of workers to protest in compliance with the DOLE-PEZA-PNP guidelines of 2011 and 2012. These guidelines on the right of workers to protest and strike in the ecozones were enacted in the wake of a high level mission by the ILO in 2009.

PM has been assisting export zone workers in Cavite and Cebu in their bid to improve wages and working conditions. “We call on the DOLE and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to intervene as this is a clear case of violation of the freedom of association (FOA). While the dialogue between labor groups, DOLE and PEZA about ensuring respect for freedom of association has been much delayed, union busting complaints like that in Sejung are happening with no action from government institutions. This is among the reasons the International Labour Organization last June resolved to investigate the government’s enforcement of Conventions 87 and 98 about freedom of association and collective bargaining respectively,” Magtubo explained. ###

Pictures of the protest can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10157527744059323?__xts__[0]=68.ARCaRRYPn8rVb-E5n76a9LjSdXW5Rflicg5-84RMiVYS3HTDeQSZjkWQVv9XP5MlwErctJovaQfN37Rqc9rI75yec2Fm-6tyXeRu6onpbPzE0r9i3R44mZ5bywgXRVBKKENfK9OcqXj4HDskc4OY-DLBMmCjat96DEmwAbzAO49CtpmU7F6lu2GhGlwetUGB0Pj7K91gBsgRNiHtjM_kn4GcHWNbJyIGliqThdAMvpUlTYOJLFtWh2IiY9XCB2d_mzsc6wi6r91kk6t2NZSXRRiJbtjkhx_yQlm8-apsTQgPoW7zs0iaGZyHkEfYYwhnrPy4mz692vdYTQUOASJF&__tn__=-R

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10157504983004323?__xts__[0]=68.ARCiJTCeLzNjnnKIZyeoJ4GmB-8lAoX8-1b4W4TfA_jbykXfmVFQBwz156jFNvYcrv9HfuGySZ6_pIBj-CnsjagaxxUKn5SL2wXsNTRzKms7dE1flHv7KJp_cvILr8UYvG0WGawmr8fGZJj9I0MlurLI1rIX_XvacVpct4_sDTUQ0L-lQacqfMftuWkcRdP72GTXlMizP7CcE7B650EJ0NW01TUqUJDLAf9mNgaYpWcIsQqqv0Kr0ciAyywKZ9KfJRInITjQmFFaSeCNGEdgyvQ8n4GAQQ-HeKeQjvLqTOksKAo38DbPZEIocfrl80HIxJePMVJzSE2n0YTfsUfY&__tn__=-R

November 1, 2019

Intl, local groups ask Bello to act on killing of Cavite union organizer

International and local labor groups are asking Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello for action on the killings of labor leaders after the fatal shooting of a union organizer in Cavite during a meeting of workers.

“We deplore the ongoing violence and assassinations targeting labour and human rights defenders in the Philippines. Extrajudicial killings must be stopped and the environment of impunity must come to an end. It is the responsibility of the government of the Philippines to ensure that the lives and personal security of workers and activists must be guaranteed and that they are able to exercise their basic rights without threats and fear,” stated Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The ITUC represents 207 million workers in 163 countries.

The ITUC letter to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello arose from the fatal shooting of Dennis Sequena, provincial leader of the Partido Manggagawa (PM) in Cavite, while meeting a group of ecozone workers last June 2.

The labor coalition Nagkaisa earlier called on the Department of Labor and Employment for urgent response on the death of Sequena.

“We demand action from Secretary Bello to stop the series of extra-judicial killings of labor activists and trade unionists. As Labor Secretary, he must raise a voice against these killings. And we ask him to immediately convene the National Tripartite Monitoring Body (NTMB) which has the mandate to probe labor-related EJK’s,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The NTMB was formed in response to the recommendation of the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) in 2009 to investigate violations of the freedom of association and killings of trade unionists.

Yesterday, scores of workers attended a tribute to Sequena at his wake in Workersville, Tanza, Cavite. He was honored a “hero of epza workers.” Epza is the popular term for the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario which is the largest export processing area in the country.

Sequena is to be buried on the morning of June 12. Hundreds are expected to participate in the funeral march which will also be a protest to seek justice for his killing.

THE ITUC letter can be accessed here: https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ituc_letter_to_dole_on_leonides_dennis_sequena.pdf.

Photos of the tribute to Sequena can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10157187408269323?__xts__[0]=68.ARAse6d1ymGJdc2i7_QnNY7PiMHoy_2-VP-YWBmbjkOtXuIa1pFmXdt0Yw3WYE83v8GlevF5-NhxMk2bH9gEPwu5N8iu1j1RWOGdtfYU-Fi_GMc6kjWZ0-9RimVMyleMiuP8CPSPwdha2NGQLHhmxWv2FwaHLSvZK9xGTfCvDubeyxmLB9jlxs0N_dR_SmsBQ_xOF6GDQXk_Cw2Ez8BZn3uQNhY_VHY7zekIUWgFxswAVNH-vPnSGRmzO1aBk0TN4wvkvZBBeY_Mhp8o2NThrhWJKD6mWssgw_nEr8ZdafeDYG75pUSbc2JdJorCIXAW2tqNysGy8uYCP669p6Jc&__tn__=-R 

June 10, 2019

Group calls on Bello to act on killings of labor leaders

The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello for action on the continued killings of labor leaders a day after the fatal shooting of a union organizer in Cavite during a meeting of workers.

“We demand action from Secretary Bello to stop the series of extra-judicial killings of labor activists and trade unionists. As Labor Secretary, he must raise a voice against these killings. And we ask him to immediately convene the National Tripartite Monitoring Body (NTMB) which has the mandate to probe labor-related EJK’s,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The labor coalition Nagkaisa has likewise called on the Department of Labor and Employment for urgent response on the death of Sequena. The NTMB was formed in response to the recommendation of the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) in 2009 to investigate violations of the freedom of association and killings of trade unionists.

“The shooting of Dennis while he was conducting a labor rights seminar is a particular blatant act of violence against workers exercising their freedom of association. This should not be happening 10 years after the ILO HLM,” Magtubo insisted.

Sequena is a National Council member of PM and vice chair of its provincial chapter in Cavite. He is the second PM labor activist killed since 2016. Orlando Abangan, PM-Cebu leader and informal worker organizer of the labor center Sentro, was shot and killed in September 2016.

Earlier, Victoriano Embang, president of the sugar workers association of Hacienda Maria Cecilia, Isabela in Negros Occidental was shot and killed in December 2012. Rolando Pango, a farm worker leader in Binalbagan, Negros Occidental was ambushed in November 2014. Both Embang and Pango were PM leaders involved in helping workers embroiled in labor and agrarian disputes.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) named the Philippines as one among the worst countries in 2018 for trade unionists due to systematic violations of labor rights and the continued killings of worker leaders.

June 3, 2019

Months-long Cavite EPZA labor dispute settled

After more than three months, the labor dispute surrounding the closure of the biggest garments factory at the Cavite economic zone was finally settled. As the massive fire at the factory of the House Technology Industries burned last week, the management and union of Faremo International Inc. signed an agreement at the Cavite ecozone administration office to end the labor row.

“The deal provides for the rehiring of the workers if the factory reopens, a substantial financial assistance on top of the separation pay and the grant of several sewing machines for a livelihood project of the displaced employees. It was a resounding win for the workers,” declared Rene Magtubo, chairperson of Partido Manggagawa (PM).

PM assisted the Faremo workers in their months-long picketline inside the Cavite ecozone. Last October 26, some 1,000 workers of Faremo, majority of them women, were laid off when the factory closed down allegedly due to lack of orders. However, one of its customers, a major global garments brand, admitted that orders were increased not cancelled. This disclosure emboldened the resistance of the workers and bolstered the accusation of the union that the closure was illegal and meant to bust the union and break the collective bargaining agreement.

“Illegal closure is a weapon of last resort by employers in their union busting bag of tricks. Faremo is not the first and probably not the last. Last May, the Cavite ecozone electronics firm Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. filed for shutdown when its workers unionized but is still operating under a new name. The same modus operandi was done by the Mactan ecozone factory Blaze Manufacturing Corp. in 2011 to bust the two unions of its regular and contractual workers. We have reported these violations to the International Labor Organization Direct Contact Mission (DCM) that is in the Philippines at the moment,” Magtubo clarified.

The ILO DCM is a follow up to the High Level Mission conducted in 2009 to investigate the Philippine government’s violations of Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. The ILO DCM is holding a briefing this afternoon in Manila.

Jessel Autida, president of the Faremo labor union, said that “We owe this victory to the determination to fight of our members, and the solidarity of fellow trade unions and international labor rights advocates. We also thank our management for granting the demands of the union and even Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglungsod whose office patiently mediated the dispute until it was resolved.”

Autida revealed that the union will continue to exist as an organization for mutual aid and protection and to manage the garments production that they will undertake as a livelihood project. “We are asking the Department of Labor and Employment to help us in our garments making project. This is one way to sustain the livelihood of former Faremo employees and other displaced garments workers in the Cavite ecozone,” he explained.

The union has dismantled its picketline outside the Faremo factory and also withdrawn its pending cases at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board and the National Labor Relations Commission as part of the settlement agreement.

February 10. 2017

Unionists harassed at big Cavite garments factory

Press Release

July 10, 2015

Workers who are building a labor union at the biggest garments factory at the Cavite economic zone in the town of Rosario are complaining of harassment and interference by management. One worker of Faremo International Inc. has already filed a formal complaint for harassment, unfair labor practice and illegal suspension.

“Despite alleged reforms initiated by the Department of Labor and Employment in the wake of the International Labor Organization High Level Mission in 2009 to investigate extra judicial killings of unionists and violations of the freedom of association, union busting and management interference in the workers right to organize is a reality in the Cavite ecozone and beyond,” asserted Rene Magtubo, Partido Manggagawa (PM) national chair.

PM organizers are assisting the Faremo workers in the exercise of their right to unionize. The workers started forming a union in May this year and by late June management had reacted by harassing active unionists and intimidating other workers against joining. More than a dozen workers were interrogated individually in management offices, asked to stop the unionization effort and offered money in return for “voluntary resignation.” Some four workers were forced in this way to resign.

Faremo worker Edwin Semeca was subjected three times to this “modus operandi” by management and after his third interrogation—in which he was virtually detained about eight hours in the company showroom and later in the human resource office—he decided to file a complaint last July 2. After the complaint reached management, he was then suspended for seven days for absence without leave. His complaint is due to be heard on Monday, July 13, at the DOLE office in Imus.

Faremo, with some 1,500 workers, mostly female and of which 800 are regular, is the largest garments manufacturer at the Cavite ecozone. It is a subsidiary of the Korean multinational Hansoll Textile Ltd. which operates other factories in Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Faremo produces apparel for famous American brands Gap, JC Penney and Kohl’s.

Apart from harassing active unionists, Semeca also stated that “Since June regular workers and contractual workers who are being regularized, are asked not to join the union and sign papers pledging to refuse unionization. This intimidation continues to this day. Also we also have reliable information that management is preparing to offer separation to a big number of workers to stop the unionization dead in its tracks.”

Magtubo challenged the DOLE to act immediately on union busting case at Faremo and called on the labor movement for solidarity. “The union at Faremo—and the dream of better life for workers—is a David fighting a Korean multinational Goliath. The Faremo workers want to form a union so as to improve their low pay and have a voice in the workplace but the greed for profit conflicts with labor’s inherent rights,” he insisted.

Cebu export zone workers picket DOLE, assail collusion with employers

Press Release
October 6, 2009

Workers of a garments factory in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) today picketed the DOLE office in Cebu a day after a summary decision by labor officials on a controversial certification election. Around 100 workers from Alta Mode Inc. slammed the DOLE for colluding with employers in derailing workers rights to organize.

“Hardly one week has passed since the investigation by the International Labor Organization (ILO) into government’s enforcement of Convention 87 on the freedom of association but the DOLE is back to business as usual in conspiring with employers in hindering unionization. The med-arbiter’s summary decision without benefit of a hearing to canvass 27 disputed votes in the certification election completes management’s scheme to deny our labor rights,” stated Renante Pelino, president of the Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU).

The protesting workers brought placards assailing “DOLE-capitalist conspiracy vs. workers rights.” Some placards also appealed to the multinational garments firm A&F which owns the brands Abercrombie and Fitch, and Hollister to respect labor rights in its supplier companies, among them Alta Mode Inc. Since the start of the year up to the Alta Mode shutdown last September 11, the workers were producing orders for A&F products.

AMWU representatives and its lawyer walked out of the canvassing yesterday after the med-arbiter Atty. Theresa Casino and the DOLE election officer Eliza Mojana dismissed the workers’ motion for reconsideration and pushed through with the counting of the 27 segregated ballots. AMWU criticized the decision to count the 27 segregated votes without hearing the side of the workers on why the disputed ballots should not be counted. “These 27 ballots were cast by supervisors and others that should be excluded since we filed a petition for elections with only regular rank-and-file workers as the bargaining unit. We do not oppose unionization, and in fact we will support it, by supervisors but by law they should organize unions separate from the rank-and-file,” Pelino explained.

In the hearing conducted by ILO more than a week ago, Renato Magtubo, chairperson of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), presented Alta Mode as “a graphic case of the violation of Convention 87” and proof of the “no union policy” in the export zones. According to Magtubo, AMWU’s experience reflects why not a single union has survived and gained status as a bargaining agent in the 30 years of the MEZ.

AMWU and PM, which is supporting the workers, vowed that the picket today is just the start of a series of protests against employer interference and DOLE’s collusion in workers freedom to organize. The workers chanted “Babalik kami, mas marami” as the picketed ended.

Case file of Cebu union submitted to ILO as workers end campout in export zone

Press Release
September 24, 2009

The Partido ng Manggagawa formally submitted to the ILO High Level Mission (HLM) a case file on a Cebu export zone union detailing incidents that violate Convention 87 on the right to self-organization. Judy Ann Miranda, Partido ng Manggagawa secretary general, stated that “Even as the ILO HLM conducts its investigation on the government’s implementation and enforcement of Convention 87, in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ), a union is fighting for its life.”

The laid off workers of Alta Mode, a garments export firm in MEZ II that subcontracts for Abercrombie & Fitch among other multinational corporations, lifted today their picketline outside the company gates since their employer has agreed to a meeting tomorrow. Renante Pelino, president of Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU), declared that “We end our campout in good faith to remove any obstacle to a dialogue with top management on our demands for recognition of the union, work rotation, financial assistance to laid off workers and union access to the factory during the temporary shutdown.”

Pelino said that “We call the attention of the ILO mission to the de facto ‘no union, no strike’ policy in the export zones. Yesterday it took hours of haggling just to allow food and water to be brought to hungry and thirsty workers in the campout. Criminals get better treatment in jails compared to protesting workers inside the export zones.”

At 2:00 pm this afternoon, around 100 AMWU members marched some 400 meters from the Alta Mode factory to the MEZ II main gate and were met by dozens of their families, other union members, and supporters from the Partido ng Manggagawa and other unions. The AMWU members chanted “Makibaka, Wag Matakot” as export zone workers watched the march proceed.

In a meeting last night with representatives of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, Philippine Export Zone Authority and Aboitiz Land which owns MEZ II, AMWU agreed to lift the picketline in return for a dialogue with management. Since the declaring a temporary shutdown last September 11, Alta Mode has refused to negotiate with AMWU.

Among the recommendations forwarded in the AMWU case file are the following:

1. For the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) to form tripartite councils within all export zones with the mandate to discuss workers grievances and employers concerns within the export zone, and recommend actions to resolve the issues.
2. For the PEZA to setup billboards at every single gate of export zones with the message that (a) it is state policy to guarantee labor rights, (b) the law encourages trade unionism and collective bargaining, and (c) management interference in the right to organize is unfair labor practice.
3. For employers within the export zone to put up notices at company gates that it is company policy to the respect labor laws and specifically that it will not interfere in the workers exercise of freedom to organize.
4. For the PEZA to draft, in consultation with workers, an education seminar on labor rights, standards and welfare based on provisions of the labor code for all export zones workers, including managerial and supervisory employees, to be attended within their first six months of their employment.
5. For the Executive to draft a course on labor rights, standards and welfare to be included in the mandatory curriculum for secondary and tertiary education.
6. For the PEZA and employers to allow representatives of labor organizations, specifically union organizers, access to the export zones and to company premises for the purpose of union organizing and other union activities, including workers concerted actions.
7. For the PEZA to allow representatives of media access to the export zones for the purpose of reporting on workers’ concerted activities, including strikes, conducted inside the zone.
8. For the PEZA to guarantee the exercise of the workers right to engage in concerted activities, including strikes without harassment or intimidation by PEZA police, company guards or any agent of state authorities.

PAL union brings case vs. contractualization and labor rights violation to ILO

PRESS RELEASE
24 September 2009

Rampant violation of labor rights in the country is most probably the cause why the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) High Level Mission to the Philippines is swamped by many complaints that go beyond the mission’s specific mandate of looking into the eight particular cases brought before the body in 2007.

Once such additional complaint is from Philippine Airline employees who face a second wave of mass retrenchment due to the management’s planned spin-off of its ground handling operations and other functions beginning November 15, 2009.

Philippine Airlines Employees Association of the Philippines (PALEA) president, Gerry Rivera, said the ILO forum yesterday was very memorable for them since it was also on September 23, 1998 that PAL ceased its operations and sent termination notices to its employees. This was after employees rejected Lucio Tan’s proposal to offer stocks options to its employees and three seats in the Board of Directors, on the condition that all the existing Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with its employees would be suspended for 10 years.

Upon intervention from Malacanang, however, employees were forced to accept the CBA suspension. Rivera, who is also the Vice President of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), said “the continuing saga of contractualization and labor rights violation all began from here.”

Another round of retrenchment in the offing

The PALEA leader disclosed that on September 9, 2009, Philippine Airlines President & Chief Operating Officer, Jaime J. Bautista, in a memorandum, informed the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) of the management’s plan to outsource/spin-off some operational units. The memorandum is but a formalization of the company’s earlier verbal notices to the Union.

Citing heavy losses and to prevent further bleeding, PAL is planning to outsource/spin-off the Catering, Passenger Handling, Ramp Handling and Cargo Handling operations. The management is also studying the possibility of doing the same to other functions such as the Information Technology, Revenue Accounting, Reservations and Call Centers, Medical and other Human Resources Operations.

“Once implemented, this second wave of outsourcing/spin-off will affect the job security of some 2,000 – 4,000 PAL employees currently assigned in those departments. And expected to be done under the same scheme that the management had employed in 2001, the remaining 7,000 PAL employees are therefore in for another round of mass retrenchment,” said Rivera.

Worse, adds Rivera, the plan may cast the proverbial last nail on the coffin for the PAL union which, for the last ten years, has been weakened and undermined by previous spin-offs and outsourcing, notwithstanding the effects of the state-sanctioned 10-Year CBA moratorium implemented since 1998.

10-Year CBA Moratorium 1998

The 10-Year suspension of PAL-PALEA CBA in 1998 was first in Philippine history, and perhaps one of the most blatant violations of ILO Conventions in the country on the right to organize and collectively bargain.

The management, with full blessings from the government, used the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the crippling pilot strike in 1998 against union-busting as pretext to force the issue of a moratorium despite strong opposition from PAL employees and the Philippine labor movement as a whole.

“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court came out with a surprisingly controversial decision affirming the validity of the CBA suspension,” Rivera said.

The decision created the jurisprudence that a CBA contract can be suspended even beyond its mandated lifetime. The decision also put PAL workers in limbo on how to exercise their Constitutionally-mandated right to organize, collectively bargain, and to strike.

As a consequence, internal conflict arose in the union afterwards as the management refused to recognize the new set of officers that won the union elections in April 2002, in clear violation of Conventions 87 and 98. The case remains pending before the Supreme Court.

On June 1998, PAL workers were rendered defenseless against the first wave of retrenchment which affected some 5,000 employees out of the approximately 14,000 employees before the 1998 strike. Included from those retrenched were some 1,400 flight attendants who were members of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP), who, just recently won a Supreme Court decision against illegal dismissal.

Spin-off 2001

On 2001, the Maintenance and Engineering Department was spun-off to a joint venture of Lufthansa Technik Philippines and MacroAsia Airport Services where PAL owner Lucio Tan Sr. also holds interests. MacroAsia’s Chairman of the Board is Lucio Tan, Jr., its President and CEO is Joseph Chua, the son-in law, while PAL President Jaime Bautista is the Treasurer. As a result, former PAL employees and PALEA members were terminated from PAL and rehired as contractual employees for Lufthansa Technik, and MacroAsia, of course, without the rights and benefits they previously enjoyed as PAL and unionized employees.

“The move was a classic example of how the PAL management has managed to implement contractualization scheme in the airline business effectively undercutting labor rights and undermining the Union existence,” lamented Rivera.

Spin-off 2009

PAL employees fear that the same spin-off and outsourcing scheme is going to happen now. This time, however, there is only a world recession to blame but no crippling strike the management can condemn. “Yet, there is a contractualization scheme to impose to once again to make labor assume the burden of flawed management decisions since the time PAL was privatized in the early 90s,” said Rivera.

In a Labor Management Council Meeting held last September 8, 2009, the PAL President & COO told the Union that the management has already invited prospective bidders for those departments targeted for spin-off. Again, as expected, one interested bidder is Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Airport Services.

“It seems 10 years of labor sacrifice were not yet enough. Again, to save PAL from its current financial mess, the management is asking PAL employees to bleed some more,” explained Rivera.

Today, the PAL union has put forward the following recommendations as the ILO High level mission is set to meet with concerned government bodies and employers’ representatives.

1. For the Malacanang to certify as priority bill the passage of the proposed Security of Tenure bill and for Congress to pass the same in order to align the Labor Code to the letter and spirit of Convention 87 and 98. The security of tenure bill seeks to amend the pertinent provisions of the Labor Code to strictly regulate the practice of labor contracting and plug the loopholes in the law.

2. For the Labor Department to review Department Order No 18 specifying allowable and illegal forms of labor contracting. The Department Order has significantly liberalized the scope of legal contracting, thus giving legal blanket to outsourcing such as the PAL spinoff even if it weakens unions.

3. For the PAL management to suspend the planned outsourcing/spin-off.

4. For the Supreme Court to decide with dispatch on GR 155097 on the local election dispute within PALEA considering the inordinately long time of 7 years.

5. For the Congress and the Supreme Court to consider forming a special court or special division to handle purely labor cases to expedite the disposition of mounting cases at the NLRC, Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.

Case of laid off garments workers in Cebu presented to ILO mission

Press Release
September 23, 2009

In a meeting today with the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) at the RCBC Plaza in Makati, Renato Magtubo, chairperson of the Partido ng Manggagawa, presented the case of laid off garments workers in Cebu as a “graphic example of violation of Convention 87 on the freedom of self-organization.”

The laid off workers were from Alta Mode, a garments export firm that subcontracts for Abercrombie & Fitch and Adidas among other multinational corporations. In a press conference today in Mactan City, members of the Alta Mode Workers Union (AMWU) called on the ILO HLM to investigate the “unwritten no union, no strike policy” in export zones.

According to Renante Pelino, AMWU president, “Our experience is just one among many similar cases of employer interference with government connivance in the workers exercise of the freedom of self-organization. No single union represents the tens of thousands of workers in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ). In the 30 years of MEZ, no union has been able to survive and gain status as bargaining representative of workers.”

Yesterday AMWU members barged into the MEZ compound and started a campout at the gates of the Alta Mode factory as a form of protest and to guard against any attempt at runaway shop. They are now on their second day of a “Campout for Union Rights.”

Magtubo cited the following as Convention 87 issues regarding Alta Mode:

1. Two days before the certification election last September 7, a meeting was held of Alta Mode workers under the guise of an assembly of cooperative members. The meeting’s agenda was not cooperative matters but the certification elections and the need to defeat the AMWU in the vote.

2. On the day of the certification election, all the union members were put on forced leave. Article 248 (e) of the Labor Code states that it is unfair labor practice to discriminate in regard to wages, hours of work, and other terms and conditions of employment in order to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization.

3. AMWU members were the first batch of workers to vote in the certification election but since they were on forced leave they were not allowed into the production area. Supervisors and managers were free to make a last-minute campaign among the workers since no union members were in the shop floor.

4. AMWU won 107 votes, “no union” got 88 votes but the certification election remains unresolved since 27 challenged ballots are not yet counted. These ballots were cast by supervisory employees, line leaders and contractual workers who AMWU alleges are not part of the bargaining unit.

5. Four days after the certification elections, Alta Mode went on a six-month temporary shutdown. AMWU filed a notice of strike on the basis of union busting and members unanimously voted to go on strike. But due to the restrictions of the Labor Code, AMWU could not immediately go on strike despite union busting by the employer. Further, if AMWU did go on strike, workers cannot setup a picket at the factory gates since they will not be allowed inside the MEZ compound since there are temporarily out of work.

PAL employees hold motorcade vs. spinoff, call attention of ILO

Press Release
September 22, 2009
PAL Employees Association

Philippines Airlines (PAL) employees held a motorcade today in a protest against the spinoff to be implemented on November 15. An estimated 2,000 employees, about half of the total PAL workforce, will be retrenched due to the spinoff of the catering, passenger handling, ramp handling and cargo handling operations.

The “Motorcade Kontra Spinoff” of some 40 cars and motorcycles started assembling at 10:30 am in the Coastal Mall in the intersection Coastal Road and Airport Road. By noon the motorcade then proceeded along the Diosdado Macapagal Ave. in Pasay City to the PAL Center located at the PNB Compound. It then moved on to Nichols airport terminal and finally ended at the PAL In Flight Center (IFC) along Airport Road in Paranaque.

Gerry Rivera, president of the PAL Employees Association (PALEA), said that “Spinoff aims to outsource work to companies also owned by Lucio Tan where workers will be non-union and thus receive cheaper wages, fewer benefits and have no security of tenure. Regular workers will be retired and then rehired as contractuals. This has happened before when work was spun off to Lufthansa Technik and Macro Asia, in which Lucio Tan both had major interests. Employees retrenched from PAL because of the spinoff were employed by Macro Asia and Lufthansa Technik on new contracts.”

Last week a Rivera and the PALEA led a noise barrage at the PAL IFC to jumpstart the campaign against the spinoff. Rivera also revealed that they have organized a signature campaign versus the spinoff among PAL employees. He insisted that “Spinoff is not a solution to company losses but a scheme to contractualize labor and raise more profit not from better efficiency of work but from greater exploitation of workers.”

Meanwhile Rivera appealed to the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) to investigate the case of PAL since management’s suspension of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and spinoff of operations has weakened one of the erstwhile strongest unions in the country. The ILO HLM is tasked to hear complaints of government’s violations of Convention 87 on the freedom to unionize and Convention 98 on right of collective bargaining.

According to Rivera, in 1998 PAL with the connivance of a government formed Inter-Agency Task Force pressured the PALEA into suspending the CBA for 10 years. Rivera, then PALEA vice-president, questioned the CBA suspension on grounds that the right to self-organization and collective bargaining, being founded on public policy, cannot be waived. But the Supreme Court in a precedent-setting decision affirmed the 10-year CBA suspension despite clear provisions of the labor code that 5 years is the maximum statutory life of a CBA and 5 years is the maximum period for a sole and exclusive bargaining agent after which its representation status can be contested by another union.

Rivera is also calling the attention of the ILO HLM on the results of the elections for union officers of PALEA that has remained in limbo for 7 years since 2002. The case has remained unresolved by the Supreme Court effectively paralyzing the operations of the union and giving management an alibi to deny representation status to PALEA.

Labor groups cry “Wakasan ang Batas Militar sa Paggawa” as ILO mission due to arrive

Press Statement
KONTRA

Labor groups under the umbrella of Kowalisyon Kontra Kontraktwalisasyon (KONTRA), the broadest trade union coalition against massive contractualization, denounced the suppression of the workers right to organize as a High Level Mission (HLM) from the International Labor Organization (ILO) is due to arrive next week.

“The Philippines is the most dangerous country for trade unionists next to Columbia,” according to a statement from the group. The ILO HLM will investigate the government’s implementation of the ILO Convention 87 on the right to self-organization on the basis of complaints of extrajudicial killings of labor rights advocates and anti-union campaigns by the military and the state.

“Martial law is alive and well in the labor front two decades after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship. Systematic violations of the right to unionize stem from the fact that the labor relations in the country is governed by a Labor Code that was designed by the Marcos dictatorship not so much to guarantee workers’ rights but to suppress them to attract and maintain investments. Ironically the ramparts of the dictatorship in were dismantled 1986 except the chains bearing down on workers,” KONTRA argued in a statement.

The groups announced that a mobilization is planned on September 21 with the theme “Wakasan ang Batas Militar sa Paggawa.” The rally will start at 9 am in Morayta, Manila. KONTRA also appealed to the ILO HLM to call the government to task for “systematic violations” of the right to organize.

The groups presented a 10-point list of issues relating to breach of Convention 87:
1. The government’s counter-insurgency program and the policies of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that brands some trade unions as fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines;
2. The constraints to organizing in the Export Processing Zones that has a de facto “no-union, no-strike policy”;
3. The use and abuse of the Assumption of Jurisdiction statute for its scope, which is well beyond essential services, and for its arbitrary implementation;
4. The use of libel, sedition and other criminal charges against unionists;
5. The implementation of RA 9481 that sought to strengthen workers' right to self-organization but was negated by the implementing rules issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE);
6. The government’s definition of what encompasses a strike and how workers’ freedom of expression was effectively curtailed;
7. The rampant use of contractual labor as union avoidance and union busting techniques;
8. The restrictions imposed by EO 180 on public sector workers’ right to organize;
9. The Public Sector Labor Management Council Resolution No. 1, which redefined the bargaining unit in the public sector, thus further constraining the exercise of collective bargaining;
10. The continuing absence of codified set of laws or work standards governing all public sector workers.

KONTRA is made up of the groups APL, CIU, KPMP, MALABAYAN, PM, PSLINK among others.

Labor party calls for changes to martial law-era labor code

Press Release
September 21, 2009

On the anniversary of the declaration of martial law, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called for major changes in the labor code in the interest of advancing workers rights and welfare. “It is ironic that even as we vow never again to repeat the tragedy of martial law, the 1974 labor code remains in force as an enduring legacy of the dictatorship and a tight chain on the hands of the workers. The 1986 Edsa revolution dismantled many ramparts of the Marcos dictatorship and revived the trappings of elite democracy but it retained the labor code in order to restrict the freedoms of workers,” argued Renato Magtubo, chairperson of PM.

PM together with other labor groups under the KONTRA coalition formed to campaign against contractualization mobilized today several hundreds of workers. Theme of the workers rally was “Wakasan ang Batas Militar sa Paggawa.” The KONTRA mobilization assembled around 9 am at Morayta in Manila before proceeding to Mendiola by 10 am.

“The urgency of revising the martial law-era labor code comes to stark relief as the International Labor Organization starts its High Level Mission on the government’s enforcement of the Convention 87 and 98 on the right to organize of workers and bargain collectively,” Magtubo explained. The ILO High Level Mission (HLM) arrives today and starts if investigation officially tomorrow.

Magtubo also issued a challenge to the presidentiables to make put in their platforms the labor issues. “For the coming election to truly be a fight between good and evil, the presidentiables must specifically commit to changes in the labor code and jurisprudence on labor in the interest of promoting workers rights and welfare. Any presidentiable who claims to be fighting for good instead of evil must be an advocate of labor,” Magtubo insisted.

PM also appealed to the ILO HLM to investigate the “no union, no strike” policy in the export zones and the contractualization of labor both of which the group claims as a hindrance to the exercise of the right to unionize and bargain. “For example, Philippine Airlines will spinoff by November 15 its catering, passenger and cargo handling operations thus affecting an estimated 2,000 workers, about half its workforce. But this is just a retire-rehire tactic to weaken the PAL union. Lucio Tan owns the companies which will continue the spun off operations but with workers who are non-union with cheaper wages, less benefits and no security of tenure,” Magtubo described.

He also clarified that in the Mactan Export Processing Zone in Cebu workers are complaining of unfair labor practices by management designed to interfere in the workers exercise of the freedom to organize. “A clear case in point is Alta Mode, a garments factory producing world famous brands like Abercrobie and Fitch and Hollister, that put on forced leave all of the union members on the day of the election for workers to decide on having a union. And several days after the union won a majority of the votes, the management put the factory on temporary shutdown in order to intimidate the workers,” Magtubo added.