Action on killing of unionist demanded as PH remains on list of worst countries for workers

 

The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the administration of President Bong Bong Marcos Jr. for action on the case of union organizer Dennis Sequeña who was killed five years ago as the Philippines remained on the list of the world’s worst countries for workers for eight straight years. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the peak global body of organized labor, released the list as part of its 2024 Global Rights Index.

 

“It has been five long years of seeking justice for our friend and comrade Dennis who was shot to death on June 2, 2019 while speaking at a labor rights seminar for Cavite export zone workers in Tanza. We demand that President Marcos Jr resolve the case as the ITUC list is a wake up call for government. Further, action is needed as part of his administration’s commitment to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) which conducted a probe last January 2023,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and a Marikina city councilor.

 

Sequeña’s fatal shooting days before the annual ILO conference in 2019 sparked outrage among delegates and led to the decision to send the HLTM to the country to investigate the series of labor-related killings and other violations of the right to unionize in the country. It however took more than four years since that ILO decision for the HLTM to actually conduct its probe. Still, the ILO HLTM concluded that the “presence of a ‘mindset linking’ unions to the insurgency without the benefit of due process, [which] has led to a climate of impunity and violations of workers’ rights” and recommended the formation of a presidential body to resolve the 72 unsolved cases of labor-related killings as of the end of 2023.

 

“The government’s submission to the Committee on the Application of Standards which reviewed the complaints against the Philippine state at the just concluded ILO annual conference states that concrete action has been undertaken by the concerned agencies. We know that there has been none regarding the case of Dennis. This despite the fact that the provincial tripartite monitoring body resolved that the killing of Dennis was labor-related and that the AO 35 Committee headed by the Department of Justice acquired jurisdiction of the case years ago,” Magtubo explained.

 

“The brutal murder of Dennis has become a cold case after five years because of inaction by the government despite the presence of leads and findings by bodies such as the provincial tripartite body and the AO 35 Committee. His case reveals the disconnect between words and actions by the government on the prevailing impunity against union leaders and activists,” Magtubo ended. 

June 16, 2024

 

Nagkaisa Welcomes ILO Review, Lambasts DOLE for Evasion and Misrepresentation

 

Manila – Nagkaisa, the largest coalition of labor organizations in the Philippines, welcomes the review of the country’s adherence to freedom of association by the ILO’s Committee on Applications and Standards (CAS) adopted last 7 June 2024 in Geneva.

 

Held on the occasion of the 124th session of the ILO International Labour Conference in Geneva, the coalition condemned the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for its blatant evasion and misrepresentation of the issues at hand.

 

During the CAS discussion, speakers from at least ten countries raised serious concerns about ongoing labor rights violations in the Philippines. These international criticisms highlight a stark reality: that the Philippine government has FAILED to implement the recommendations of the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM).

 

"DOLE’s leadership has failed the workers by masking the truth and allowing these violations to persist," said Nagkaisa spokesperson Renato Magtubo.

 

DOLE’s lack of action and apparent duplicity, he added, “blackened the government’s credibility” on the very day that the Philippines was elected as deputy member to the governing body of the ILO.

 

“Back home Sec. Laguesma needs to comply with the directive of the President to recite the pledge and Bagong Pilipinas hym, ‘Panahon na ng Pagbabago’, during flag ceremonies. But with his actions lacking the patriotic and collective spirit of ‘magtulong-tulong’ and ‘ayusin ang dapat ayusin’, change is far from becoming a reality in DOLE,” lamented Magtubo.

 

Nagkaisa insists that DOLE failed to deliver justice to all the 72 trade union leaders killed from 2016 to 2023. On top of that, DOLE apparently does not want to face the reality that red-tagging, abductions, surveillance and profiling and other forms of harassments persists because the Executive Order No. 70 that established the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) remain firmly in place.

 

“We’d like to remind Sec. Laguesma that his inability to address long-standing labor rights issues in the Philippines have serious implications for trade and investments that President Marcos has been working out with the international community since day one,” Magtubo said, adding that the responsibility for this crisis in the making lies squarely with the leadership of the DOLE.

 

The protection and promotion of labor rights are essential to fostering a fair and just society, which in turn, is crucial for sustainable economic growth and attracting international investments.

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition

10 June 2024

Don’t take Philippines off list of countries to be monitored for labor rights—workers group

The militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) is opposing the Philippine government’s request at the ongoing International Labour Organization (ILO) annual conference to be taken off the list of countries to be monitored for compliance with international labor rights standards. “Contrary to the assertion of the administration of President Bong Bong Marcos, Jr., no concrete action on labor-related killings has been done. One illustrative case is the five-year old killing of PM union organizer Dennis Sequeña,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and a Marikina city councilor.

 

“The government’s submission to the Committee on the Application of Standards which is reviewing the complaints against the Philippine government at the ongoing ILO annual conference states that concrete action has been undertaken by concerned agencies. We know that there has been none regarding the case of Dennis. This despite the fact that the provincial tripartite monitoring body resolved that the killing of Dennis was labor-related and that the AO 35 Committee headed by the Department of Justice acquired jurisdiction of the case years ago,” Magtubo explained. The ILO annual conference is currently in session in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

Sequeña’s fatal shooting days before the annual ILO conference in 2019 sparked outrage among delegates and led to the decision to send a High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) to the country to investigate the series of labor-related killings and other violations of the right to unionize in the country. It however took more than four years since that ILO decision for the HLTM to actually conduct its probe in January last year. The ILO HLTM concluded that the “presence of a ‘mindset linking’ unions to the insurgency without the benefit of due process, [which] has led to a climate of impunity and violations of workers’ rights” and recommended the formation of a presidential body to resolve the 72 unsolved cases of labor-related killings as of the end of 2023.

 

PM is calling on the ILO to reject the government’s request that the Philippines be taken off the list of countries that need to be examined by the Committee on the Application of Standards regarding compliance with international labor standards, including freedom of association and right to collective bargaining.

 

“It has been five long years of seeking justice for our friend and comrade Dennis who was shot to death on June 2, 2019 while speaking at a labor rights seminar for Cavite export zone workers in Tanza. The brutal murder of Dennis has become a cold case after five years because of inaction by the government despite the presence of leads and findings by bodies such as the provincial tripartite body and the AO 35 Committee. His case reveals the disconnect between words and actions by the government on the prevailing impunity against union leaders and activists.  We call on President Marcos Jr. to pursue the case as part of his administration’s commitment to the ILO HLTM,” stated Magtubo.

June 7, 2024

Government asked, “Where is the concrete action on labor-related killings”?

The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the administration of President Bong Bong Marcos Jr. for action on the case of union organizer Dennis Sequeña who was killed five years ago. “It has been five long years of seeking justice for our friend and comrade Dennis who was shot to death on June 2, 2019 while speaking at a labor rights seminar for Cavite export zone workers in Tanza. We call on President Marcos Jr. to pursue the case as part of his administration’s commitment to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) which conducted a probe last January 2023,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and a Marikina city councilor.

 

Sequeña’s fatal shooting days before the annual ILO conference in 2019 sparked outrage among delegates and led to the decision to send the HLTM to the country to investigate the series of labor-related killings and other violations of the right to unionize in the country. It however took more than four years since that ILO decision for the HLTM to actually conduct its probe. Still, the ILO HLTM concluded that the “presence of a ‘mindset linking’ unions to the insurgency without the benefit of due process, [which] has led to a climate of impunity and violations of workers’ rights” and recommended the formation of a presidential body to resolve the 72 unsolved cases of labor-related killings as of the end of 2023.

 

“The government’s submission to the Committee on the Application of Standards which is going to review the complaints against the Philippine state at the ongoing ILO annual conference states that concrete action has been undertaken by the concerned agencies. We know that there has been none regarding the case of Dennis. This despite the fact that the provincial tripartite monitoring body resolved that the killing of Dennis was labor-related and that the AO 35 Committee headed by the Department of Justice acquired jurisdiction of the case years ago,” Magtubo explained. The ILO annual conference is currently in session in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

PM is calling on the ILO to reject the government’s request that the Philippines be taken off the list of countries that need to be examined by the ILO Committee on the Application of Standards regarding compliance with international labor standards, including freedom of association and right to collective bargaining.

 

“The brutal murder of Dennis has become a cold case after five years because of inaction by the government despite the presence of leads and findings by bodies such as the provincial tripartite body and the AO 35 Committee. His case reveals the disconnect between words and actions by the government on the prevailing impunity against union leaders and activists,” Magtubo ended. 

June 4, 2024

Wage clustering is better than regionalization but one national minimum wage is best

 

According to Partido Manggagawa (PM), the proposal of Representative Joel R. Chua (3rd District of Manila) to replace the current wage regionalization scheme with a wage clustering system is welcome in the sense that it founded on a recognition of the failures of the existing wage fixing system and thus opens a window for a discussion of a better mechanism. “Wage clustering is better than regionalization but one national minimum wage is best,” Rene Magtubo, PM national chair, explained.

 

He added that “We agree, as Rep. Chua asserts, that wage regionalization has led a huge gap between wages of regions that are not substantiated by differences in cost of living, and also has led to complexity in implementation as the DOLE has to monitor almost 50 minimum wages across the country.”

 

For this reason, PM is pushing for a national minimum wage as a floor. Differences between actual wages should be based on seniority, skills and productivity, according to the group.

 

“Also, while we insist that a replacement to the wage regionalization mechanism is also overdue, let us not lose sight of the immediate demand for a P150 across-the-board legislated wage recovery,” Magtubo emphasized.

 

PM is advocating for an “Apat na Dapat” in regard to the wage issue at the moment:

 

1. Php 150 across the board wage increase to recover wage loss due to inflation (immediate);

 

2. Non-wage benefits to enhance take home pay (for example: suspension of Philhealth contributions, reduction in withholding taxes for fixed income earners, social security subsidies, etc.);

 

3. Review and amend RA 6727 with the end in view of having uniform wage rates and satisfying the constitutional mandate of granting workers a living wage;

 

4. Enhance wage and benefits setting through collective bargaining negotiations by implementing the recommendations of the International Labour Organization’s High-Level Tripartite Mission so that workers can exercise freedom of association without harassment and intimidations, and unwarranted regulations. 

 

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition Urges Gov't to Take Bold Steps to Address Workers' Issues

Photo from PhilStar

The largest labor coalition in the country is calling on the Marcos administration to take concrete actions to address the issues and concerns of workers, as the country is among the 24 shortlisted countries for examination during the upcoming International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva in June. This comes as the Philippines marks its 75th year of membership in the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition highlights that the Philippines is included in the long list of ILO Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) due to 69 reported killings of trade union leaders and organizers, and about 400 other violations of Convention 87.

Nagkaisa holds that the lack of representation from workers and employers in the current Executive Order 23 (EO23) signed by President Bongbong Marcos also contributed to the Philippines' inclusion in the list.

While it is a positive step forward, the current EO23 fails to address the significant problem that workers face in exercising their freedom to form unions or associations. To address this issue, the coalition proposes its amendments to transform it into a tripartite commission, consisting of representatives from the government and representatives from workers’ and employers’ groups in accordance with the principle of "tripartism and social dialogue" of ILO Convention 144 and the principles of "shared responsibility" and "participation in decision-making' under the Constitution and the Labor Code. This body would serve as the primary mechanism for addressing worker issues and seeking justice for the countless victims of violations of Freedom of Association (FOA) and Trade Union (TU) rights.

Trade unions heard Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma on his call to proposed solutions or positive actions. Thus, Nagkaisa urges him to schedule a meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for trade union leaders to present personally the proposed amendments to the EO and other suggestions in order to improve the situation of workers and hold those accountable for violations of FOA and TU rights.

The coalition emphasizes that unless the government takes substantial steps to demonstrate its intention to heed the recommendations of the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) beyond the issuance of  EO23, the country will undoubtedly face scrutiny by the ILO.

It is time for the government to act and demonstrate its dedication to upholding the principles of decent work and social justice for all. 

PRESS RELEASE
May 7, 2023
Nagkaisa

Laguesma wants the accused to be the judge

Photo from Pag-ibig

 

                                                                                                             

The militant labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma’s rationale for excluding workers’ representatives in the newly created Inter-Agency Committee for the Protection of the Freedom of Association and Right to Organize of Workers.

 

“Secretary Laguesma wants the accused to be the judge in labor rights cases. If we follow Laguesma’s faulty logic that complainants cannot be the judge then more so the accused. Laguesma’s logic betrays his class war framework that pays lip service to social dialogue principles. The demand that workers’ representatives sit in the Inter-Agency Committee is aligned with the normative tenet of tripartism in resolving labor cases and disputes,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

On the eve of Labor Day, an Executive Order signed by President Bongbong Marcos created the Inter-Agency Committee with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin as chair, Laguesma as vice chair and includes other government agencies but excludes trade unions and employers’ groups. The security sector, specifically the Department of National Defense, National Security Council and the Philippine National Police, sits in the Inter-Agency Committee.

 

“Security forces are the usual respondents, along with several employers, in the 380 cases involving killings, abductions, arrests, harassments and red-tagging of unionists detailed in the report of the workers to the International Labour Organization’s High-Level Tripartite Mission (ILO HLTM) last January,” Magtubo elaborated.

 

He added that “Laguesma’s slip is showing. What can workers expect from a Labor Secretary that makes lame excuses for banning trade unions? This behavior may be expected of the government’s security forces but cannot be the attitude of a Labor Secretary.”

 

The creation of the Inter-Agency Committee was the government response to the ILO HLTM recommendations. The annual ILO conference next month will consider if the Philippine government had adequately responded to the recommendations.

 

Magtubo insisted that “We ask the government to heed fully the ILO HLTM recommendations, especially for a Presidential Commission that includes workers’ representatives. The clock is ticking as the ILO annual conference is due to open in a month’s time.”

 

Some 10,000 workers in last Monday’s huge Labor Day rally in Manila and similar labor unity protests in other cities called for respect for the right to unionize along with demands for a wage hike and an end to contractualization. 

Press Release

May 4, 2023

“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

Labor coalition tells union allies to encourage Biden to remind BBM of need to respect workers’ rights in the Philippines

Photo from Twitter

Because President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has opted to visit US President Joe Biden rather than meet Philippine labor groups on Labor Day to discuss mounting economic and labor rights concerns, the Nagkaisa labor coalition sent appeals instead to its trade union allies in the US to encourage Biden to remind Marcos of the need to restore the free exercise of labor rights in the Philippines amid widespread violations during the Duterte administration as confirmed by the recent ILO High Level Tripartite Mission in its report.

 

Official advisory of the Marcos-Biden meeting on Labor Day stated security as well as trade and investment as main subjects of the bilateral talk.

 

The Biden administration, as explained by embassy officials during a meeting with Philippine trade unions early this month, is pushing for a “worker-centered” trade policy.

 

“But how can PH workers benefit from any trade talks with the US when all the coercive instruments instituted by the Duterte regime are kept intact by Marcos Jr.? For us, for trade to be worker-centered, it has to redound to the benefit of workers,” said Nagkaisa Chair Atty. Sonny Matula.

 

But anticipating a rather security-focused Marcos-Biden meeting, labor groups in Nagkaisa has requested their counterparts in the USA, the same groups that led the filing of a GSP complaint in December 2022, to urge Biden in their trade talks to encourage Marcos Jr to demonstrate seriousness in addressing the long-standing concerns of the labor movement, starting with taking concrete steps to realize the recommendations of the ILO HLTM.

 

“All it takes for President Marcos Jr. to show its seriousness on trade and labor is for him to issue an Executive Order establishing the Presidential Commission on Freedom of Association,” insisted Matula.

 

According to Matula, trade union leaders and organizers have faced lethal violence, with 68, or 69 now with the most recent case in Negros, who were killed since 2016.

 

“The situation seems to hark back to the 18th or 19th century, as if unionizing is still considered a crime. But with President Marcos opting to visit US President Biden rather than meet with Philippine unions to talk about this issue this coming Labor Day, we hope he learns from Biden’s Presidential Task Force on union organizing that supports union revitalization in the US, and hopes that upon his return a decision is made to establish a Presidential Commission on Freedom of Association in the Philippines, as recommended in the ILO-HTLM report.”

 

Aside from labor rights and the creation of a Presidential Commission on Freedom of Association, the Nagkaisa and the unified Labor Day action by All Philippine Trade Unions on Monday would also raise demands for immediate wage hike, an end to ‘endo’ or contractualization and creation of decent jobs, as well as provisions of quality public services, including those for women and the youth. 

PRESS RELEASE

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition

29 April 2023

Ref: Atty. Sonny Matula

Chairperson

09178079041