PRESS RELEASE: When the lives of workers improve, the entire economy will also improve – Nagkaisa!

Photo from Manila Bulletin

In the ongoing hearing today regarding the legislated wage hike in the Lower House of Congress, members of the Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition urged lawmakers to prioritize the demands of workers for a P150 or higher wage increase, instead of yielding to the threats of employers that it will destroy the economy.

 

The group reminded lawmakers of the provision in the Constitution stating the "primacy of labor over capital" as a guiding principle in deciding on this contentious issue. They pointed out that for over three decades, employers have persistently opposed it, while the minimum wage of workers remained below the poverty line.

 

The group stated this position while staging a protest in front of the Batasan complex, along with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa (KAPATIRAN), Marikina Workers Alliance, National Federation of Labor (NFL), Partido Manggagawa (PM), TESEF, and Unified Filipino Service Workers (UFSW).

 

But before the protest could even start, the police dispersed them away from the Batasan gate and blocked their return, led by Precinct 6 commander, Col. Castillo. The labor groups condemned the actions of the police, stating that this was the second time they had done so, the first being against the youth just two weeks prior.

 

They called on the leadership of the PNP and Mayor Joy Belmonte to stop the police abuse at the Batasan, as it shows a lack of respect for freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

 

The group asserted further that their petition for wage increase is not anti-MSME or anti-business because any additional income in the pockets of workers is returned to the economy through consumption in small businesses, compared to the huge profits of businesses that only go towards extravagant expenses of capital owners.

 

NAGKAISA! also mentioned that the economy of workers relies solely on wages, so while most survive in the formal sector and self-reliance in the informal economy, a wage increase has a more positive impact on the entire economy compared to if the majority of workers remain impoverished.

 

They noted that the highest minimum wage of P610 here in NCR has a real value lower than the national poverty line of P13,797 in 2023.

 

Aside from the wage increase in the private sector, NAGKAISA! supports a separate proposal for a wage hike for public sector employees.

 

NAGKAISA! also seeks to reform the wage-setting system in the country through legislation because for the past 35 years under RA6727 and regional wage boards, the majority of workers in the country have remained poor, which goes against the Constitution's mandate for the right to a living wage and a rising standard of living for their families.

February 28, 2024

NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition

Labor group slams PEZA and PNP for JIPCO IRR

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the signing of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Joint Industrial Peace and Concern Office (JIPCO) between the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority last Monday.

 

“The signing of IRR of the JIPCO between the PNP and PEZA will mean further militarization of ecozones, harassment of labor unionists and escalation of the union busting. As far as workers are concerned, police presence in the ecozones has been to harass labor protests, disperse picketlines and arrest organizers,” stated Rene Magtubo, Partido Manggagawa (PM) national chair.

 

He added “The hugot line about forming JIPCO and sending police to the ecozones as mechanisms to promote industrial peace is just doublespeak. It is no different from the lie about police rescuing lumad children in the bakwit school in Cebu and police killing nanlaban suspected drug addicts.”

 

PM, a member of the country’s biggest labor coalition Nagkaisa!, had earlier demanded that the PNP and PEZA withdraw the program, and for DOLE to enforce labor laws in ecozones, educate officials of the bureaucracy and security forces on labor rights, and prosecute the violators whether they are state officials or owners of capital. In fact, almost exactly a year ago today, DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello already wrote to both the PNP Chief and the PEZA Director General to express concern about the formation of the JIPCO in Central Luzon.

 

Magtubo cited a series of PNP and PEZA collaboration in suppressing workers’ activities within the last year or so. First, the arrest by the Cebu PNP of five labor organizers and their dispersal of a rally of retrenched workers of First Glory at the gate of the Mactan ecozone last November 30. Second, the dispersal of the picketline of workers of Sejung Apparel in the First Cavite Industrial Estate by Dasmarinas police together with security guards and barangay tanods for allegedly violating quarantine rules. The dispersal happened in the dead of the night during Black Friday of 2020. Finally, soldiers and police harassed union leaders, sent threatening letters to labor organizers and held anti-union meetings with workers of the FCF Manufacturing Corp., a factory in the Freeport Area of Bataan that makes high-end leather bags.

 

He reminded the PNP and PEZA that under the law, even employers who own the businesses and exercise direct control over their workforce are considered as mere bystanders, meaning they cannot interfere in labor activities, particularly on the right of workers to form unions as provided under the Bill of Rights and the Social Justice provisions of the Constitution. “If employers are mere bystanders in workers’ exercise of their labor rights, more so the PNP and PEZA,” Magtubo insisted.

 

He concluded that “JIPCO is hiding under the cover of peace building efforts but in reality, it is a declaration of war against the trade union movement in the country. But we will not be cowed and we will continue to organize.” 

February 17, 2021

Labor group slam PNP for anti-union stations at ecozones, call on DOLE to enforce FOA

PNP, PEZA announce ecozone militarization. Photo by Rappler

The Philippine National Police (PNP), including its commander-in-chief, the President, cannot infringe on the right of workers to form unions. Doing so will be a clear violation of the Constitution, the Labor Code and international conventions that guarantee freedom of association (FOA), the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement sent to media.

The reaction came after the PNP regional office in Central Luzon on Friday launched the Joint Industrial Peace and Concern Office (JIPCO) in the Clark Freeport Zone that will serve, according to Central Luzon police chief Brigadier General Rhodel Sermonia, as “the first line of defense from radical labor infiltration of the labor force and the industrial zones.”

The launching had as guest speakers, presidential adviser on the peace process Secretary Carlito Galvez, newly installed Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Archie Francisco Gamboa, and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director Charito Plaza.

PM, a member of the country’s biggest labor coalition Nagkaisa!, demanded that the PNP, PEZA and OPA withdraw the program and for DOLE to enforce labor laws in ecozones, educate officials of the bureaucracy and security forces on labor rights, and prosecute the violators whether they are state officials or owners of capital.

“These officials were appointed to their offices to promote and defend the Constitution. But the launching of JIPCO is very clear on its purpose – to violate the Constitution. Therefore under the context of ecozones, it is clearly the first line of defense of foreign capital and not of the labor force,” lamented PM chair Renato Magtubo.

He added that “Even before the launching of JIPCO, ecozones in Central Luzon have been militarized. Soldiers and police harassed union leaders, sent threatening letters to labor organizers and held anti-union meeting with workers of the FCF Manufacturing Corp., a factory in the Freeport Area of Bataan that makes high-end leather bags.”

Magtubo reminded the PNP and PEZA that under the law, even employers who own the businesses and exercise direct control over their workforce are considered as mere bystanders, meaning they cannot interfere in labor activities, particularly on the right of workers to form unions as provided under the Bill of Rights and the Social Justice provisions of the Constitution.

“If these officials are ignorant of these basics on labor rights, then this Republic of Endos and cheap labor is really in a deep shit,” declared Magtubo who now sits as a city councilor of Marikina.

“In fact, Central Luzon in recent memory, is no longer a hotbed of insurgents but of ninja cops as shown during the Senate hearings. Contrary to the vicious propaganda peddled by security forces against trade unions, the Filipino workforce, especially in special economic zones or EPZAs, are defenseless not from insurgents but from intransigent anti-union foreign investors.  Indeed, the urgent need of workers inside ecozones are incorruptible labor offices or desks and not PNP detachments.” argued Magtubo.

“Militarization of ecozones is an escalation of the union busting efforts of PEZA. In other regions like Calabarzon and Cebu, PEZA has been conniving with foreign investors by temporarily closing down factories where workers have unionized. The most recent incident of this modus operandi is the closure of Sejung Apparel Inc. in the First Cavite Industrial Estate where workers are currently on protest,” Magtubo explained.

JIPCO, the group said, is hiding under the cover of peace building efforts but in reality it is a declaration of war against the trade union movement in the country. “We will not be cowed. We will continue to organize,” concluded Magtubo. 

24 January 2020

PM supports riders’ fight vs profiling, indiscriminate road use policies

PRESS RELEASE

26 January 2014

 

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed its support to motorcycle riders who were protesting against indiscriminate road and anti-crime programs, specifically the ‘no back-ride’ and the ‘vest with plate number’ policies being proposed by law enforcers and some local governments.

 

Hundreds of motorcycle riders under Arangkada and the Motorcycle Rights Organization (MRO) today held a motorcade-cum-rally from the Quezon City Elliptical Circle to the People Power Monument in Quezon City.

 

“The proposed ban on back-ride is not only unconstitutional but also anti-worker,” said PM spokesperson Wilson Fortaleza, adding that while many criminals use motorbikes in committing crimes, “not all riders are criminals and thus do not deserve a ‘person of interest’ kind of profiling.”

 

Fortaleza explained that using motorbike is now the popular choice among workers both in the formal and informal sector because it is the cheapest and fastest mode in getting to work or in delivering personal and community services. 

 

“In fact many in the PNP, MMDA, LGUs and other NGAs are also using motorcycles. And many of labor organizers, too,” he added.

 

According to the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB), motorcycles overtook the utility vehicles from 2005 onwards and close to half of the private vehicles roaming our streets are motorcycles or tricycles. 

 

The NSCB added that it could be a sign of progress or proof of a shrinking middle class.  There are some 3-4 million registered motorcycles, according to the MRO.

 

Fortaleza, however, clarified that the labor group will not oppose government’s campaign against criminality as long as it recognizes the limits of its power to impose unjust rules. 

 

“Solving street crimes must be a collective effort.  One way to do it is for law enforcers to be in close coordination with legitimate, organized riders’ clubs, not by intimidating them.  And also not by striking a modus vivendi with godfathers of criminal gangs,” concluded Fortaleza.

PALEA condemns PAL for dispersal of protest camp

Press Release

October 19, 2011

PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) condemned the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) for the attempt to disperse its protest camp despite the status quo order of Pasay Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Ma. Rosario Ragaza.

“We denounce in strongest terms PAL management for masterminding the demolition attempt. Sheriff Virgilio Villar and the goons which accompanied him will have to face responsibility for their illegal act today. The power and money of Lucio Tan has influenced the Labor Department, the Office of the President, the Supreme Court and now as clear as day even officers of the court,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa.

The sheriff and the goons were forced to retreat in the face of the resistance of some 500 PALEA members at who linked up in arms in defense of the protest camp. Tensions abated by 5:00 pm but scuffles ensued again when the sheriif returned by 6:00 pm. At least one PALEA officer was hurt, and a tent and some streamers were torn down.

A sheriff with police escort arrived at the PALEA campout at past 3:00 pm ostensibly to implement an order from Executive Judge Edwin Ramizo of the Pasay RTC. PALEA leaders confronted them with the status quo order from Judge Ragaza. At 4:15 pm, the sheriff together with scores of goons started tearing down streamers at the front of the protest area and then tried to enter the campout but were blocked by PALEA members. Unable to proceed with the dispersal, at 4:45 pm the sheriff finally started negotiations with PALEA leaders and legal counsel Atty. Marlon Manuel.

“In its insistence in dismantling PALEA’s campout, PAL is exposing its contradictory claims. PAL says that the 2,400 PALEA members cannot be accepted back to work since the airport services, in-flight catering and call center reservations departments have been closed and outsourced. So how come PAL alleges that the IFC which houses the catering department is essential to its operations. This raises the suspicions that it will allow Sky Kitchen, a supposed separate entity that at present provides substandard catering service according to reports reaching PALEA, access to the facilities of the IFC,” Rivera explained.

Meanwhile at the national sectoral assembly of the National Anti-Poverty Summit, the plenary unanimously approved a resolution “expressing deep concern on the harmful consequence of outsourcing/contractualization schemes to the exercise of labor rights; and urging President Aquino, with all his powers to intervene in the labor-management dispute which is vital to the national interest, to reinstate with full rights the 2,600 workers locked out by PAL on October 1, 2011.”

In the hearing today on the case filed by PAL against six PALEA members for obstructing the free ingress and egress at the In-Flight Center (IFC) along MIA Road, Judge Ragaza ruled for a status quo and warned any party against moving against the protest camp.

PALEA members forcibly evicted from check-in counters

At the Terminal 2 check-in counters, Centaur security guards and airport police have forcibly evicted PAL employees—many of them women—who have linked up in arms in defense of their ranks. PAL employees Kathleen Yumol, Rhonan Alonzo, Christian Concepcion hurt in the dispersal by combined private security guards and airport police led by Col. Dionalo Antallan

PNP personnel also padlocked the gates of the Our Lady of the Airways Parish grounds where more than 200 PALEA supporters from Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and other groups are holding a program. After PALEA’s legal counsels intervened, the gates were opened by police are still physically blocking the gates. OLAP's Monsignor has allowed the protesters to hold a mass and stay at the grounds.

Meanwhile PALEA and PM members in Cebu staged a rally at the Mactan International Airport in support of the protest action vs. layoff and contractualization.