Nagkaisa calls on workers to up the pressure on pending wage hike bills in Congress

 

The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition on Wednesday urged workers to keep up the pressure on both the Labor Committee and their respective district representatives, demanding swift action on the long-pending P150 wage hike bill before Congress adjourns sine die next week in preparation for the 2025 national and local elections.

 

The group issued the call as it welcomes the commitment made by House Speaker Martin Romualdez in a meeting with labor leaders to act on the pending wage hike bills.

 

Affirmatively the labor committee has calendared a public hearing on Thursday, January 30, to wrap up its deliberations on the wage hike proposals.

 

Nagkaisa said the P150 wage hike bill has been stalled in the Labor Committee since March 2024, while wage orders from regional boards remain insufficient against the ever-increasing cost of living.

 

The coalition stressed the urgency of the situation, urging Congress and Malacañang not to delay further action. “We cannot afford to wait any longer. With every passing day, the value of our wages continues to diminish as inflation continues to rise,” the statement said.

 

With less than a week left in the 19th Congress’ session before the long election break, labor groups remain hopeful that the wage hike bill may still beat the red light.

PRESS RELEASE

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition

29 January 2025

 

At congressional inquiry yesterday: PALEA demands recall of mass layoff

At congressional inquiry yesterday: PALEA demands recall of mass layoff

At a congressional inquiry by the House of Representatives Labor Committee yesterday, the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) demanded that Philippine Airlines (PAL) recall the latest mass layoff and reinstatement the 117 fired employees. PAL responded by announcing that the termination of the affected workers is being delayed from November 9 to November 30, giving them three more weeks of work.

“Since PAL has not conceded to our demand for the recall of the illegal dismissals, PALEA’s notice of strike stays. So the work stoppage that will impact PAL flights and operations may happen later this month,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and a Partido Manggagawa bet for the party-list elections.

PALEA did not push through with the planned strike during the undas holidays in deference to conciliation proceedings called by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Another conciliation meeting is scheduled on November 10.

The congressional hearing was held in Davao City and presided by Rep. Karlo Nogrles. In response to queries on the status of the duly elected PALEA officers led by Rivera, DOLE Undersecretary Rebecca Chato testified in the hearing that pending final resolution of the intra-union cases, the status quo remains and thus current union officials are the legitimate representatives and bargaining agents of PAL ground employees.

“USec Chato’s clarification of labor law and jurisprudence should be a wakeup call to management to stop its unfair labor practice of disregarding PALEA and talking directly to union members, such as what happened in the termination of the 117 employees,” Rivera explained.

Representatives of factions that contested the leadership of PALEA also attended the hearing. Leaders of these factions lost in the PALEA union elections last February that was won by the slate of led by Rivera. Two petitions were filed at the DOLE by the losing candidates after the elections. Last month, some of the petitioners filed another case asking the DOLE to disregard the pending notice of strike by PALEA.

Rivera averred that “All these PAL employees who are noisily attacking PALEA’s fight against contractualization but who are suspiciously silent on the mass firings by PAL are being exposed as lackeys of management.”

“Since 1998, more than 8,000 PAL regular employees and union members have been fired and replaced by contractual workers who labor for longer hours but are paid less in wages and benefits, and work without a voice in the workplace. Thus even during times when PAL says that it is losing money, airline service providers owned by Lucio Tan and his family remain extremely profitable,” Rivera revealed.

Aside from the propriety of the latest round of retrenchments at the national flag carrier, the congressional inquiry also discussed PAL’s refusal to open collective bargaining negotiations for the last 17 years and to implement the terms of the settlement agreement to end the outsourcing dispute of 2011. PALEA had repeatedly asked PAL to start CBA talks and fulfill the re-employment provision of the settlement deal to no avail.

November 5, 2015

PALEA

Smear job targets bet—party-list group

Smear job targets bet—party-list group

The workers party-list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today claimed that one of its nominees for the coming elections is the target of a “smear job” by Philippine Airlines (PAL) due to a pending labor dispute over the layoff of 117 employees. Gerry Rivera, president of the union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), vice chair of PM and one of its party-list bets, has been charged with estafa as reported in the Inquirer today (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/736662/party-list-bet-faces-estafa-raps).

“Since PAL is unable to justify the latest retrenchment, the non-implementation of the terms of a Settlement Agreement and the lack of collective bargaining negotiations for the last 17 years, it is instead discrediting the leaders of PALEA and PM, which are steadfastly fighting contractualization at the national flag carrier,” argued Rene Magtubo, PM chair and another of its party-list nominees.

He added that “The estafa case against our nominee will not hinder PM in its party-list bid. PM fights for the welfare of workers thus we make enemies of capitalists and their minions.”

“The estafa complainant is barking at the wrong tree because he is in fact an attack dog of PAL. Unlike the complainant, the rest of the 600 PALEA members who are subject to the Settlement Agreement are protesting and demanding that PAL implement the re-employment provision of the deal,” Magtubo averred.

The labor row over the new round of firings at PAL is now the subject of a notice of strike filed by PALEA. A planned strike by PALEA over the undas holidays was deferred due to the ongoing conciliation meetings called by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Today a congressional inquiry by the House of Representatives Labor Committee headed by Rep. Karlo Nograles is being held in Davao City. Rivera and other PALEA officers are attending the hearing this afternoon together with PAL employees in the Davao airport who were affected by the mass layoff.

PALEA is demanding the recall of the latest retrenchment and the reinstatement of the 117 employees fired. Absent a resolution to the dispute over the mass layoff, PALEA is planning a strike later this month.

Magtubo recalled that the estafa complaint was preceded by the filing of a petition at the DOLE by six PAL employees to dismiss the PALEA notice of strike. “Those who filed the DOLE petition were sore losers in the union elections early this year that was handily won by Rivera and the current PALEA officers. Further, they are scabs willing to do management’s bidding. All of these intra-union cases are upon the orders of management. PAL through a board resolution appointed an attorney-in-fact to represent the company in the intra-union disputes well before these cases were actually filed,” he explained.

He insisted that “All these PAL employees who are attacking PALEA are mere pawns and their puppet master is management. PAL want to muddle the issue and divide the union in order to sabotage fight against mass layoff and labor contractualization.”

November 4, 2015

PM calls on PNoy to certify Kasambahay bill as urgent

Press Release

June 18, 2011

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today called on President Benigno Aquino III to certify as urgent legislation the Kasambahay bill pending at the House of Representatives. “PNoy should led the housekeeping chore and push decisively for the passage of the Kasambahay bill so that the Philippines can ratify the Domestic Workers Convention. If PNoy will give the marching orders to the House majority, there is no reason for the Kasambahay bill not to be passed,” argued Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “Domestic workers at home and aboard deserve to be treated as workers not slaves that should enjoy the mantle of protection of core labor standards. For too long, domestic workers have labored without the rights, benefits and protection enjoyed by other workers.”

PM welcomed the International Labor Organization’s adoption of the Domestic Workers convention as a “beachhead in the battle to win protection for domestic workers.” PM has been pushing for multilateral and bilateral labor agreements to safeguard the rights and welfare of Filipino migrant workers.

Magtubo also appealed to the House Labor Committee to fast track the hearing for the Kasambahay bill. “We expect the members of the House LaborCom who were labor’s allies in shepherding the Security of Tenure bill to show the same political will to push the Kasambahay bill,” Magtubo asserted. The security of tenure bill that provides stricter regulation of contractual employment has been reported out by the House LaborCom but has yet to be scheduled for plenary debate.

The group however insisted that despite the landmark ILO treaty, Filipino domestic workers abroad will still face numerous threats. PM is calling for an end to the deregulation of the labor export industry and for greater government regulation of labor migration.

“The case of the Filipino migrant teacher in Louisiana shows that even professionals not just unskilled domestic workers can fall victim to illegal recruiters because of sheer desperation and the gaping cracks in government regulation of labor export,” Magtubo explained. PM is assisting a group of Filipino migrant teachers in Louisiana in the USA to win justice against their illegal recruiters based in the Philippine and America.