It takes decades for pro-women laws to get Congress’ nod compared to only 2 weeks for RBH 7

Haste doesn’t just make waste; it also bears a dubious agenda. This is according to women leaders in the labor movement who are celebrating International Women’s Day today.

 

Partido Manggagawa (PM) Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda, said they were referring to the Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 (RBH 7) that was swiftly approved by the House of Representatives’ Committee of the Whole with only six days of marathon hearing.

 

In an earlier statement, Miranda said the lightning approval of RBH 7 “is equivalent to a political hack which is unthinkable for a huge political body known for being laggard and protracted in its lawmaking process, especially when it comes to women and other social development agenda.”

 

Miranda cited as an example the lengthy years of enacting the reproductive health bill, which took 14 years, and now the proposed divorce law, as well as the right to safe and affordable abortion even for special cases, may even take longer.  The same is true, she added, when it comes to the proposed wage hike as the last act of Congress in legislating the wage hike was in 1989.

 

Photos of women’s rallies yesterday that includes demands against charter change and for public services can be accessed at PM FB: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/ 

08 March 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.

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MEDIA COVERAGE IS REQUESTED.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES AND INTERVIEWS WILL BE FACILITATED.#

Women riders hold unity ride for empowerment and fuel subsidy

 

As part of the buildup for the commemoration of International Women's Day, the riders’ group Kapatiran sa Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong) will hold a unity ride this afternoon from C. P. Garcia in UP Diliman to the People Power Monument. The event will highlight Kagulong's advocacy for women's empowerment and against gender discrimination. Also the group will reiterate its call for fuel subsidies for app riders.

 

“Women riders experience discrimination from police officers in checkpoints as well as from the public and fellow riders. Our ‘Women Can Ride, Women Can Lead’ advocacy aims to combat gender discrimination and promote women’s empowerment,” stated Yang Umali, Kagulong Women’s Collective spokesperson.

 

The group also insisted on its call for immediate release of fuel subsidies for jeepney drivers and app riders. “We are asking the Department of Transportation (DoTr) to meet with riders in order to clarify its plan to distribute fuel subsidies. Riders shoulder the weekly gasoline price increases and thus deserve ayuda,” Umali said.

 

She also added that the group is supporting the call of Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Francis Pangilinan for the temporary suspension of the excise taxes on oil products to reduce pump prices. The suspension is provided for under the TRAIN law but subject to certain conditions. “We believe that the extreme difficulties brought about by the weekly oil price increases for more than two months already are more than enough as supervening conditions for the suspension of excise taxes. This will benefit jeepney drivers and operators, app riders, farmers and fishers principally and the rest of the people too as oil prices impact the whole economy,” Umali explained.

 

Kagulong is actively supporting the tandem of Vice President Robredo and Senator Pangilinan for their commitment to the riders’ agenda and track record of participatory good governance. “Aangat ang buhay ng riders sa isang gobyernong tapat sa partisipasyon ng nasa laylayan sa pamamahala,” Umali averred.

 

She added that while it welcomes the DoTr announcement that people engaged in full-time ride-hailing and delivery services are entitled to the fuel subsidy, there is no transparency in the plan. “In the first place, the DoTr does not know if the registered motorcycle owner is using his or her vehicle for platform work. Not even the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is aware of this due to the informal nature of the freelancer or independent contractor relationship. Only the apps know who their riders are. A social dialogue should involve all stakeholders so riders would have voice and participation,” Umali concluded.

 

The group declared that if riders were treated as employees not freelancers then ayuda provision would be much easier, similar to how workers were granted ayuda under CAMP or SBWS. The employment status of riders has been the subject of controversy, even sparking protests amidst the pandemic and prompting the DOLE to issue an “advisory” on the issue. 

March 6, 2022

Kapatiran sa Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong)

Extreme sacrifice, endless struggles by women under the pandemic – Partido Manggagawa

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said women workers suffered the most difficult year under the pandemic as the government, unconscious and unprepared to deal with the gender dimension of this combined health and economic crises, endowed families with only two months of ayuda during the past twelve months and treated everyone, old and children alike, as 'pasaway' under a militarized pandemic response.

 

“Bago pa man ang COVID-19 na pandemya, nasa disbentaheng posisyon na ang kababaihang manggagawa kapwa sa lugar ng trabaho at sa loob ng tahanan. Lalo lang lumala ang kalagayang ito nang umabot sa matinding krisis pang-ekonomiya ang COVID-19 pandemic dahil sa kapalpakan ng gobyerno ni Duterte sa pagtugon dito,” declared PM Secretary-General Judy Miranda, Monday, as her group joined the World March of Women at Plaza Miranda for celebrating International Women’s Day.

 

Miranda said the unemployment problem also hit the women hardest, forcing women to leave their jobs and stopped looking for new ones as they have assumed more domestic responsibilities at home, including aiding their children on their online schooling.

 

“Noong 2019, ang joblessness ay 30% sa kababaihan, 12% naman sa kalalakihan. Sa panahon ng pandemya nitong 2020, naging 47% sa kababaihan at 29% sa kalalakihan, ayon sa sarbey ng SWS. Pero hindi ibig sabihin nito ay nawalan ng trabaho ang mga babae dahil sa halip, dumami pa ang kanyang responsibilidad sa tahanan,” explained Miranda.

 

And for those who remained at work in essential services and the manufacturing sector, women workers fought back against mass layoffs and non-payment of wages and separation pay as employers made the pandemic an alibi to cut the benefits or bust the unions.

 

“Kalakhan ng ating frontliners sa health sector, food services, wholesale and retail ay kababaihan. Araw-araw nilang kaharap ang panganib, kawalan ng transportasyon, at mataas na presyo ng mga bilihin katapat ng kakarampot na sweldo,” added Miranda.

 

The group said it is this higher level of sacrifice and the daily struggle of women that helped families survive a year under the pandemic, thus, their roles must be recognized and appreciated by the government by formulating short to medium-term programs for women.

 

These include income support, public employment, day-long daycares for working mothers; and also the most important political demand of women today - democratic spaces and a  violence-free environment – in contrast to the prevailing state of killings and authoritarianism under the Duterte regime.

08 March 2021

Women’s Day demands: Job security, social protection amid COVID-19 outbreak

As women workers marched today on the occasion of International Women’s Day, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asserted that workers are more secured when engaged in regular jobs instead of unemployed in times of crises. The group demanded job security and social protection in response to the threat of massive job loss and health hazards from the COVID-19 outbreak.

“The capitalist system imposes a ‘no work-no pay’ principle at work. So when women workers are fired from work or put on job rotation, they lose the means to protect their selves and their families. This is aggravated in third world countries where weak healthcare and social protection systems prevail,” explained PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda.

PM members joined protest actions in this morning at the Timog Ave. cor. Scout Tobias in Quezon City led by World March of Women and with several women groups in a march to Mendiola before noon.

Miranda, who also heads the party’s women committee, said that mass layoffs should be the last in the menu of actions that can be taken in confronting the virus outbreak, fearing this health crisis can also be used by employers to implement labor flexibilization schemes like endo and downsizing.

The Asian Development Bank on Friday said the Philippine economy could lose between $669 million and $1.94 billion as well as lose 87,000 to 252,000 jobs across five sectors due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We can’t just wait in grief for these things to happen as pro-active measures can be prepared. Thus we demand that the government flag down any plan by employers to implement flexibilization schemes and mass retrenchments without going through a process of negotiations with affected workers. And for those who need to face the inevitable, a stronger package of social protection must be put in place,” explained Miranda.

Tomorrow, the group will be airing these proposals in a tripartite dialogue to be convened by the DOLE on the employment impact of COVID-19.

The group proposes that the social protection package must include unemployment insurance, or in the absence of it, paid leaves for those who face temporary job loss; additional health package on top of Philhealth; and enrolment to public employment programs, among others.

PM also seeks protection for workers, especially our health workers in the frontline, who must be provided with personal protective equipment. They also asked that health and allied workers be paid while on quarantine days.

The group demands further that the cost of these mitigation measures be taken out of the pocket of state and employers, who, for the last two or three decades, have gained much from increased labor productivity while wages stagnated.

Photos of the IWD actions today can be accessed at: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/

March 8, 2020

Labor group urges MIAA employee, manager to sue Cam using PAL employee case as precedent

Sandra Cam’s impending appointment to the President’s cabinet should not only be reconsidered, the dignity of both the MIAA employee and her manager should likewise be restored, according to labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM).

Cam reportedly made a show by threatening people, dropping names and arrogating imminent power at the airport’s VIP lounge, particularly against a MIAA employee and his/her manager.

“If accounts in news reports were true, then the injured parties particularly the MIAA employee and the manager should file appropriate charges against this narcissistic whistle-blower,” said PM Secretary General, Judy Ann Miranda.

Miranda added: “Workers are trained to abide with established protocols in the workplace. They were not hired to suffer indignity from powers-that-be or worse, from a VIP wannabe.”

PM disclosed that last February, a member of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association, Ms. Sarah-Bonnin Ocampo won a favorable settlement of a case of slander and serious misconduct against former AVE Partylist Rep. Eulogio Magsaysay.  The ex-congressman was forced to make a formal apology as resolution of the case with Ocampo before a municipal trial court in Pasay.

  

The case stemmed from a 2011 incident where Ocampo, PAL’s customer representative during that time at the check-in counter, was berated and offensively called a ‘menopausal bitch’ by the congressman after she refused to grant the latter’s request based on company protocols.

PM welcomed the settlement as a victory for labor and women's rights and a cause for celebration during the obeservance of women's month. "Even more, this resolution sets a precendent and warning against erring government officials or abusive customers against verbally abusing workers who are just doing their job," Miranda explained.

For others the Magsaysay-Ocampo case was ‘too small a thing’ to warrant court action or public attention. But for women activists in the labor movement, any misuse or abuse of power which either arise from the use of brute force by the mighty or from the blind acceptance of the weak should be opposed.

“In the case of Sandra Cam, it is the exploitation of non-existent power against the lowly airport workers.  She can be more dangerous with an official ID from Malacanang,” concluded Miranda.

March 11, 2017

Nationwide actions on IWD to push “end endo,” protest death penalty

Fresh from back-to-back rallies to press the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on the demand to stop contractualization, women workers will again mobilize today for the multisectoral commemoration of International Women's Day (IWD).

“Around the world today, the call is for a global strike against the worsening oppression and exploitation of women. We heed that appeal of our fellow women by launching nationwide protests today in the Philippines,” averred Judy Ann Miranda, secretary general of the Partido Manggagawa (PM).

Women members of PM assembled at Plaza Moriones in Tondo this morning and then marched to Plaza Miranda in Quiapo for the multisectoral rally led by the World March of Women. “Bigas at Rosas, Hindi Dahas” was the theme of the IWD commemoration at Plaza Miranda.

Miranda explained that “The highlight of IWD in the Philippines is the call to end endo and protest the passage of the death penalty bill. Endo is an addition to the multiple burdens suffered by women. And the reimposition of the death penalty is a form of violence against women.”

As part of the nationwide IWD events by PM, earlier today a noise barrage was held by women workers and urban poor women at the main gate of the Cavite Economic Zone in the town of Rosario. Also this morning simultaneous noise barrages were conducted at urban poor communities in the cities of Talisay, Naga and Danao in Cebu. This afternoon, marches will be organized at the Bacolod downtown in Negros and at the Orcullo Park in Davao City.

“We are alarmed at the resurgence of violence against women in the war on drugs, the return of capital punishment and the proposed lowering of the age of criminal liability. We are distressed that endo continues to burden women workers who already have to bear the brunt of domestic labor together with their paid jobs,” Miranda insisted.

She added that back-to-back mass actions led by women workers yesterday and the day before had been able to put pressure on the DOLE which again deferred the planned release of a new order on contractualization. However despite intense lobbying and actions by advocacy groups including women organizations in the House of Representatives, a majority of solons voted yesterday to pass on the third reading the death penalty bill.

“The fight continues against endo at the DOLE and against death penalty at the Senate. Women will be at the forefront of these life and death struggles,” Miranda ended.

March 8, 2017

We are Women, We are the Agenda – Partido Manggagawa

Women workers and poor led by the labor partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) marched in Mall of Asia and Mendiola today together with other feminist organizations to commemorate International Women's Day.

The agonies of having to endure ages of physical and emotional violence and living under the pain of deprivation due to economic marginalization are problems unique to women and that these problems should have long been addressed by the past and present administrations. 

 

But for PM, the official theme for this year’s Women Day celebration,“Kapakanan ni Juana, Isama sa Agenda,” speaks for itself:  Women remain at the margins and the call to include their agenda in this coming elections is an admission of repeated neglect recited creatively in positive tones.

 

“Bakit isali lang sa agenda gayong ang kababaihan mismo ang dapat agenda?  Women in production and reproduction suffer the worst kind of injustice in this country.  Aside from violence women also assumed the burden of dealing with poverty and poor delivery of social services such as high prices of goods, taking care of their sick and sending their children to school  without or short of basic provisions, among others,” stated PM Secretary General and partylist nominee, Judy Ann Miranda.

 

Miranda led the PM contingent who joined the local women activities held at the seaside grounds of a mall in Pasay, organized by the Samahang Magkakapitbahay sa Lungsod ng Pasay.   In her speech after the marches and Zumba dancing in Pasay, Miranda called on women living in poor communities to collectively pursue demands for decent jobs, universal healthcare,  facilities for child care, and even for free public laundry systems.

 

Aside from the Pasay activity, PM members also joined other groups in separate marches to Mendiola organized by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and Women March.

 

PM, which is running under the partylist election this May, explained that half (50%) of the country’s women working population (compared to 20 percent among men) remain inactive member of the labor force because of lack of jobs and the traditional pull of domestic work. The unemployment rate for women is also higher (35.9% in SWS 2013 survey) compared to men (21.2%).   Accordingly, the informal economy is made up mostly of women working in underpaid, irregular jobs of different types. 

 

“Kung hindi magbabago ang ganitong sitwasyon, si Juana ay mananatiling tagasilbi lang sa bahay.  Or once semi-skilled or unskilled women are given the chance to land a job, they are relegated to meticulous but low paying, contractual jobs in the service sector, or brave serving as contractuals in risky domestic work abroad,” added Miranda.

 

The partylist group said it is under this condition that women workers should be accorded decent jobs in the country and to have access to a wide range of social services and social protection such as reproductive healthcare, childcare facilities, and other forms of social security insurance, including living pension for elderly women.

March 8, 2016

VAW victim calls for respect for women’s rights in BPO’s

Press Release

March 7, 2014

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW)

On the eve of International Women’s Day (IWD), a VAW (violence against women) victim is calling on the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry for respect for women’s rights. Cheryl Anne Francia, a call center agent, was dismissed from her previous job due to absence from work after suffering physical abuse from her husband. “BPO’s should be a modern workplace not because of the hi-tech gadgets but because of regard for working women’s dignity,” she said.

Francia was on her way to work last 24 August 2013 when she had an argument with her spouse and was beaten. After recovering from the abuse, she reported for work after five days but was unceremoniously retrenched despite her appeals. She has since then filed a case against her former BPO employer for illegal dismissal and moved on to another call center company.

“I commemorate women’s day by coming out to appeal to my sisters that we should not suffer in silence but stand up for our rights,” Francia averred. She is optimistic of a favorable decision in her illegal dismissal case at the National Labor Relations Commission. Francia also has a pending VAW case against her husband at the regional trial court level. At 30 years old, she has worked at four call center companies in the last four years.

Francia was assisted in her labor and criminal cases by the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW), an industry-wide organization for the rights and welfare of BPO employees. Rosie Hong, a Cebu-based call center agent and spokesperson for ICCAW, asserted that “If BPO’s are truly empowered workplaces then concern for labor and women’s welfare should be a priority. Sadly reality still falls short of the ideal as Francia’s case reveals.” Hong also has a pending illegal dismissal case against a call center company in Cebu.

A National Statistics Office census in 2010 found that females comprise 55% of BPO workers. Hong, a single mother, cites from experience that while sleep disorders are common in BPO workers in general, women workers are especially burdened because they have household and parenting duties during daytime.

ICCAW is celebrating IWD with a round table discussion on the afternoon of March 29 at the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP Solair). The UP Solair dean and a female professor will interact with a group of BPO workers. “I invite fellow BPO workers to join us at the UP Solair forum and let us inspire change in our workplaces, homes and society,” Francia stated as she echoed the theme of this year’s IWD.

Post-Women’s Day Action: Women workers lead caravan to Cavite vs. high prices, endo jobs

Press Release

March 10, 2012

PALEA

Women members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), Rosario Workers Association (RWA) and United Cavite Workers Association (UCWA) led a caravan today against high prices and contractual work.

The caravan vs. high prices and endo (end of contract) jobs is an extension of the observance of International Women’s Day and an anticipation of the Labor Day commemoration. “The high cost of living and the proliferation of contractual work is a double whammy on workers in general and women in particular,” asserted Arlene Ladimo of PALEA Women’s Committee.

PM is proposing that government end the policy of deregulation of the oil industry to control the runaway prices and renationalize Petron to promote competition among the big players.

The caravan left the PALEA protest camp at the In-Flight Center of Philippine Airlines (PAL) at noon and passed through the densely populated areas of Paranaque, Las Pinas, Bacoor and Noveleta before finishing at the industrial town of Rosario. A highlight of the caravan was the salubungan around 2:00 pm at the main gate of the Cavite Ecozone where Cavite workers organized by the RWA and UCWA met the contingent from Metro Manila.

“The three demands of women workers last Women’s Day and for Labor Day as well are the lowering of prices, an end to endo jobs and additional budget for social services. These measures will lighten the double burden of women workers who not only labor in their places of work but also slave in unpaid domestic work in their houses,” explained Judy Ann Miranda, PM Secretary-general.

Next week PALEA continues with mass actions in time for the 71^st anniversary of PAL on March 15. The union is planning rallies at PAL offices and the Allied Bank building in Ayala where Lucio Tan holds office.

“PNoy believed the spin that PAL is losing money and thus allowed the mass layoff and job outsourcing plan despite the flag carrier’s P3 billion profit in its latest fiscal year. Now it is as clear as day that Lucio Tan instead of becoming poorer has become even richer to the tune of $3.5 billion from last year’s $2.8 billion as per the Forbes list of billionaires. But Lucio Tan wants to catch up with Henry Sy, the richest Filipino and number one promoter of contractualization, by implementing the outsourcing scam at PAL,” insisted Ladino.

Women workers hold “Kalbaryo ng Kababaihan”

PALEA women power on the march

PRESS RELEASE

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM)

PALEA Women’s Committee

7 March 2012

Women members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) held a march dubbed “Kalbaryo ng Kababaihan” from Sta. Cruz Church to Recto to Morayta, Manila.  The march highlighted the “101 burdens of women on the 101^st anniversary of International Women’s Day.”

Among the burdens of women raised during the activity included the following: grave lack of job opportunities for women, outsourcing and contractualization being experienced by PALEA members and other women workers, high prices of basic commodities, non-passage of a reproductive health program after more than a decade and extreme lack of social services. 

“International Women’s Day will be 101 years tomorrow.  From continuously struggling for our rights and a better life, we have won victories.  However, the capitalist system in deep crisis has been little by little taking back what our forebears have won and sacrificed their lives for,” asserted PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda.

“Subalit hindi kami titigil sa paglaban – para sa trabaho, mas mababang presyo ng bilihin, kalidad na pampublikong serbisyo, programa sa reproduktibong kalusugan, at pagtutol sa kontraktwalisasyon, mababang sweldo, expanded value added taxes sa gasolina, tubig at kuryente, at marami pang iba.  Dahil itinuturo ng kasaysayan na hindi kusang ibinibigay ng gobyerno ang karapatan at mas kaaya-ayang buhay para sa kababaihan at mamamayan, ipinaglalaban ito!” Ms. Miranda added.

“Ang pagpunit ng pinalaking bills ng tubig at kuryente, payslip, reseta ng gamot, endong employment contract, at iba pa are symbols of our disappointment at the Aquino government’s lip service to our demands, and our expression that the fight for the reinstatement of PALEA workers, for jobs for women and a better life will continue,” explained Arlene Ladimo of PALEA Women’s Committee.

Afterwards, the Kalbaryo ng Kababaihan merged with the rally for economic justice of the Freedom from Debt Coalition-Women (FDC). The FDC mobilization bannered the call “Utang sa Kababaihan, Dapat Bayaran.”

Women workers launch kick-off march for International Women’s Day celebration

PRESS RELEASE

PALEA Women’s Committee

5 March 2012

Women members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) joined by Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) held a rally at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Intramuros, Manila to assail the agency’s connivance in the suppression of women workers rights. The protesters will bring female paper dolls with the necks in a noose to highlight the plight of women workers under the present government.

Among the rallyists will be breadwinners, single mothers and widows who are all facing extreme difficulties as PALEA enters its sixth month of a lockout by the Lucio Tan-owned Philippine Airlines (PAL).

“This is our kickoff activity to celebrate March 8, International Women’s Day (IWD),” said Arlene Ladimo of PALEA Women’s Committee.  “The DOLE twice affirmed the outsourcing plan of PAL despite its P3 billion profit belieing its claims of losses. After the mass layoff, now going on six months, we have been facing extreme difficulties i.e., sustaining the education of our children, food expenses, water and electricity bills, etc., etc.  This is especially tough for us, women, who are single mothers, widows and breadwinners,” Ms. Ladimo explained.

“But, of course, despite the hardship, we will not give up.  We will not give up our rights as workers and as women, we will never give up the future of our kids.  We are not alone in this fight.  We are well aware that we face the same situation together with millions of Filipino women–facing unemployment problems, high prices and lack of social services,” added Ms. Ladimo.

“Nakikiisa kami sa laban ng PALEA women gaya ng pakikiisa namin sa laban ng kababaihang manggagawa at maralita.  In this year’s celebration of Women’s Day, our demands are ‘Trabaho para sa Kababaihan!,’ ‘Ibaba presyo ng pangunahing bilihin!’ and ‘Dagdagan ang badyet sa pampublikong serbisyo!,’” explained PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda.

After the rally, several of the PALEA members attended the hearing at the DOLE regarding their illegal suspension by Philippine Airlines for supporting the union picketline.

On Wednesday women members of PALEA and PM will join a march for economic and labor justice that will proceed from UST to Mendiola in Manila. On March 8, PALEA and PM will have another mass action to commemorate International Women’s Day as part of the global activities by women’s groups.

PALEA rally at DOLE today for women's rights

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact Alnem Pretencio (PALEA VP) @ 09209543634

        Judy Ann Miranda (PM Sec-Gen) @ 09228677522

Women’s Week Commemoration

PALEA women rally at DOLE today

WHAT: PALEA women members to hold rally at start of Women’s Week commemoration

WHEN:  Today, March 5, 10:00 am

WHERE: Department of Labor and Employment, Intramuros

DETAILS: Women members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) will hold a rally at the DOLE to assail the agency’s connivance in the suppression of women workers rights. The protesters will bring female paper dolls with the necks in a noose to highlight the plight of women workers under the present government.

            Among the rallyists will be breadwinners, single mothers and widows who are all facing extreme difficulties as PALEA enters its sixth month of a lockout by the Lucio Tan-owned flag carrier. After the rally, several of the PALEA members will attend a hearing at the DOLE regarding their illegal suspension by Philippine Airlines for supporting the union picketline.

Wednesday (March 7): PALEA women join march for economic and labor justice, UST to Mendiola

Thursday: (March 8): PALEA and PM commemorates International Women’s Day

Reproductive health and wage hike pushed by women workers

Press Release
March 8, 2010

A wage hike and reproductive health were the main concerns raised by women members of the labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) in celebration of women’s day. More than a hundred women workers and urban poor held a picket at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) which was followed by a rally at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) offices to highlight the two demands.

“The demand for a wage hike and reproductive health set the context for this year’s commemoration of women’s day. The twin issues are appropriate since they frame the productive and reproductive roles of women in the family and society,” explained Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary-general.

In women’s day activities by PM chapters in the provinces, additional working women issues were brought to the fore. In Cebu, women urban poor trooped to the campout of Alta Mode garment workers in the Mactan Economic Zone for a women’s day program. In Bacolod, women agricultural workers marched to the provincial capitol for a dialogue on the demand for subsidy due to the effect of El Nino. High water and electricity rates and the failure of privatization were highlighted as heavy burden to working women in Davao. Meanwhile in Iligan, PM members joined the women’s day parade that called for the election of the first woman councilor ever in the city.

At the CBCP office in Intramuros, Manila, members of the labor party-list group asked the Catholic bishops to “bless” two baskets of condoms. They then marched to the DOLE where the protesters banged pots and pans to symbolize the call for a wage increase and a revamp of the wage fixing mechanism. From Intramuros the rally went straight to Mendiola via Ayala Bridge, blowing whistles and creating noise along the way to draw attention to the women’s challenge to the candidates in the coming elections.

“We humbly ask the bishops to bless the condoms as a conciliatory gesture to unite for reproductive health and women’s rights,” Miranda furthered. She added that aside from providing contraception, the government should embark on a nationwide education program through the barangays so that women and men learn the many facets of HIV-AIDS, teenage pregnancies, unwanted pregnancies, child spacing and family planning, among other reproductive health concerns.

Miranda also insisted that “A P75 wage hike is reasonable and not excessive but it will not prosper unless President Gloria Arroyo supports it. That unfortunately is the problem with the tripartite regional wage boards because if Malacañang does not give the go signal for a wage hike, the wage petition will be defeated by the combined votes of the employer and government representatives.”

PM wants to abolish the wage boards to give way to a National Wage Commission with the mandate to set a national minimum wage based solely on the cost of living. Miranda argued that “There must a national standard of living that should be matched by a national minimum wage. The wage is the price of the worker’s labor power and as every other commodity in the market its price must reflect its cost of production, which in the case of the worker is nothing else but the cost of living of his or her family.”

Women workers to raise reproductive health and wage hike issues on women’s day

Press Release
March 7, 2010

Women members of the labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) will raise the issues of a wage hike and reproductive health in the celebration of women’s day tomorrow. Some 200 women workers and urban poor will hold a picket at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to be followed by a rally at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) offices to highlight the two demands.

“The burning demand for a wage hike and reproductive health set the context for this year’s commemoration of women’s day. The twin issues are appropriate since they frame the productive and reproductive roles of women in the family and society,” explained Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary-general.

The members of the labor party-list group will assemble by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow at the Manila Cathedral and then move on to the CBCP by 7:30 a.m. to ask to the bishops to “bless” a set of condoms that the group will distribute. They will then march to the DOLE where the protesters will bang pots and pans to demand a wage increase and a revamp of the wage fixing mechanism.

By 9:00 a.m. they join other women’s groups at España for a 10:00 a.m. rally at Mendiola. While marching to España and Mendiola, there will be a continuous noise barrage and whistle blowing to draw attention to the women’s challenge to the candidates in the coming elections.

“We will humbly ask the Catholic bishops to bless the condoms as a conciliatory gesture to unite for reproductive health and women’s rights,” Miranda furthered. She added that aside from providing contraception, the government should embark on a nationwide education program through the barangays so that women and men learn the many facets of HIV-AIDS, teenage pregnancies, unwanted pregnancies, child spacing and family planning, among other reproductive health concerns.

Miranda also insisted that “A P75 wage hike is reasonable and not excessive but it will not prosper unless President Gloria Arroyo supports it. That unfortunately is the problem with the tripartite regional wage boards because if Malacañang does not give the go signal for a wage hike, the wage petition will be defeated by the combined votes of the employer and government representatives.”

PM wants to abolish the wage boards to give way to a National Wage Commission with the mandate to set a national minimum wage based solely on the cost of living. Miranda argued that “There must a national standard of living that should be matched by a national minimum wage. The wage is the price of the worker’s labor power and as every other commodity in the market its price must reflect its cost of production, which in the case of the worker is nothing else but the cost of living of his or her family.”

The minimum wage in the NCR has been stuck at P382 for almost two years but the cost of living already reaches P1,000 a day in Metro Manila for a family of six according to various studies.

Labor party-list supports wage hike call but demands wage fixing reform

Press Release
March 6, 2010

The labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) declared its support for the demand for a wage hike but also called for a reform of the wage fixing system. “A P75 wage hike is reasonable and not excessive. But we doubt it will be granted by the NCR wage board. That is why we are batting for the abolition of the wage boards and the establishment of a National Wage Commission instead,” argued Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

On Monday morning, Women’s Day, some 200 women PM members will have a rally at the Department of Labor of Employment office at Intramuros to push for the wage demand. The wage hike and reproductive health are the main calls of the labor group for this year’s women’s day.

“The P75 wage demand will not prosper unless President Gloria Arroyo supports it. That unfortunately is the problem with the tripartite regional wage board. If Malacanang does not give the go signal for a wage hike, the wage petition will be stymied at the wage board,” Magtubo explained.

PM is pushing for the abolition of the wage boards that decide on wage hike for the different regions. Instead the party-list group wants a National Wage Commission to be formed with the mandate to set a national minimum wage based solely on the cost of living.

Magtubo dared President Arroyo to declare her support or rejection of the P75 wage petition. He added “The hearings for the P75 wage hike are a moro-moro for in the end it is GMA’s body language that will determine its fate. Do the advocates for the P75 wage hike have GMA’s ear? Despite the pressure to be populist in an election year, our fearless forecast is that GMA will silently reject the wage increase petition.”

The labor group is criticizing the regional wage boards for cheapening the cost of labor and depressing wages by instituting a system of almost a hundred different wage levels in the country. PM also disapproves of the 10-point formula for determining wages and advocates that the single criterion of cost of living be used.

Magtubo insisted that “There must a national standard of living that must be matched by a national minimum wage. The wage is the price of the worker’s labor power and as every other commodity in the market its price must reflect its cost of production, which in the case of the worker is nothing else but the cost of living of his or her family.”

The minimum wage in the NCR has been stuck at P382 for almost two years but the cost of living already reaches P1,000 a day in Metro Manila for a family of six according to various studies.

Labor party-list group tells pro-life “thou shall not lie”

PRESS RELEASE
5 March 2010

After failure to gather support in its position against DOH’s condom distribution, a pro-life group and the Catholic Church tries to muddle the issue by broadcasting that condoms are ineffective against HIV-AIDS. Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) General Secretary Judy Ann Chan-Miranda belied the Catholic Church’s statements and said that “Thou shall not lie and deceive the people. According to Cochrane, the highest level of medical evidence, condoms are 80% effective with constant use. The 20% failure is due to human error such is incorrect use.”

On Monday, Women’s Day, PM will hold a picket at the CBCP to ask to the bishops to “bless” a set of condoms that the group will distribute. “Our appeal for the bishops to bless the condoms is a gesture of conciliation to unite on the issue of reproductive health in the interests of women and their families,” Miranda explained.

Some 200 members of the labor party-list group will assemble by 7:30 a.m. on March 8 at the Manila Cathedral and then move to the CBCP by 8:00 a.m. The activity will end with the women workers and poor protesting at the nearby Department and Labor and Employment to support the call for a wage increase and demand a revamp of the wage fixing mechanism.

The labor party-group said that 81% of Filipinos are Catholics and the remaining 19% are not. “Laws should respect the beliefs of others, religious beliefs, Catholic beliefs for that matter, should not be forced on people,” explained Ms. Miranda. She added “It is high time that the Catholic Church refrain from using its influence to legislate and enact religious-related practices and beliefs.”

At the same time, PM reproached the Catholic Church’s campaign for the banning of condom ads. “Beyond its anti-women stance, the Catholic Church is also showing its disregard for the Filipinos’ rights, including the right to correct information,” said Miranda. She added that, “The Catholic Church can continue to argue its beliefs, for as long as it wants to, but this should not be at the expense of allowing those who believe otherwise from doing what they also think are good for women and the Filipino people. The Catholic Church should accept the fact that it cannot and should impose their beliefs on people in the guise of eternal salvation.”