National interest served by return of PALEA members to regular jobs

Press Release

October 13, 2011

PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) today asserted that the interest of the nation will be best served by the return of some 2,400 retrenched employees of Philippine Airlines to their regular jobs. “The economy, tourism, the welfare of OFW’s, and passenger safety have all been put at risk because of the failed outsourcing plan of PAL which laid off its skilled and experienced manpower. Two weeks after the illegal lockout and termination of PALEA members, PAL’s flights have not normalized despite Jaime Bautista’s promise of a smooth transition starting on October 1,” declared Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa.

PALEA joined today’s rally by labor groups under the Koalisyon Kontra Kontraktwalisasyon (KONTRA) at Mendiola. The groups called on the government to resolve PAL labor dispute by ordering the return of the terminated PALEA members to their regular jobs. Next week PALEA has planned more protests to bring its message against contractualization to the workers and the people. Yesterday PALEA held a big protest at the

MIA Road

to denounce President Benigno Aquino’s insensitivity to the plight of the workers as revealed by his FOCAP speech.

Rivera disputed President Aquino position that national interest dictates government’s support for PAL’s outsourcing plan. “If PNoy wants to protect the national interest and the welfare of some 10 million OFW’s then he should order the return to work of PALEA members who are the only ones capable of making PAL fly and its operations normal. Without outsourcing, PAL was flying well and making P3 billion in profits. But when outsourcing came and PALEA members were retrenched, PAL’s flights went abnormal, and national interest put at risk,” he said.

“If tomorrow we need to repatriate thousands of OFW’s from abroad, only the skilled workers from PALEA can make PAL fly not the untrained and overworked scabs. National interest means regular jobs for workers not management prerogative to layoff,” Rivera insisted.

He added that “PNoy says that global economic realities dictate that outsourcing be implemented. For some reason he is out of touch with reality. Resistance to outsourcing is a global trend. From

Occupy Wall Street

protesters to strikers at Qantas in Australia to workers in Greece, all are saying enough of corporate greed and corruption.”

“What is PNoy doing with his economics diploma that he cannot analyze the economic reality of the world? Outsourcing and globalization has led to economic crisis and global recession. Wealth has been monopolized by the 1% per cent while the 99% of the people have been impoverished by layoffs and contractualization among others. Thus workers lack the money to buy the goods and services needed for their daily life and economic recession is the result,” Rivera explained.

Union busting is the real aim of outsourcing

Press Release

October 3, 2011

PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) today asserted that Philippine Airlines (PAL) President Jaime Bautista’s announcement that they no longer acknowledge Gerry Rivera and Bong Palad as union officers exposes union busting as the real aim of outsourcing. “Truly a fish is caught by its mouth. Actually PAL is not just refusing to recognize me and Palad as union officers but 62% of PALEA’s leadership and 70% of its membership who have been illegally lockout and terminated. Outsourcing thus is tantamount to union busting,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

Meanwhile Renato Magtubo, PM chair and co-chair of the Church-Labor Conference, an alliance of labor and church groups supporting PALEA, condemned threats from the Philippine National Police to disperse the campout at the PAL Inflight Center where thousands of employees continue their protest. “We warn government against using force to break the protest camp of PALEA. Labor and church groups will be one in strongly denouncing such a move,” he said.

The dispersal threat came as hundreds of PALEA members left the campout to attend the session of the House of Representatives this afternoon as Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello delivered a privilege speech defending the rights of PAL workers and assailing the outsourcing/contractualization scheme as a bankrupt model. What may be considered good for a corporation may be harmful not only to the workers but to the economic health of a country in general, PM said in a statement.

“Corporate downsizing, implemented through different forms including outsourcing or contractualization schemes, came from the most advanced capitalist economy of the world, the United States.  But look at the US now?  Corporate America and the US domestic market is practically dead, with temp workers receiving less wages than what workers were receiving in 1979, dominating the labor market,” said Magtubo.

In fact, Magtubo added, the main thrust of President Obama’s bailout package today to save and stimulate the US economy is to provide jobs and restore the purchasing power of the American people. The former partylist representative revealed that the main employer now in the United States is the Manpower, Inc., a service contractor employing more than 700,000 temp workers deployed to any kind of work on a daily, monthly, or semestral basis – similar to the proposed transfer of PAL workers to service providers on contractual arrangements.

The scheme, Magtubo said, is being opposed by the American people prompting the Democratic Party to adopt a platform of prohibiting offshore outsourcing, while American trade unions step up their campaign against coporate downsizing, the present expression of it is the ongoing campaign for the occupation of Wall St.

Rivera said they won’t mind if “Terminator JJB” doesn’t recognize them as a matter of personal grudge against the union, “But the law recognizes us as the sole representative of PAL workers pending the resolution of the case filed before the courts on the legality of the outsourcing scheme. We remain PALEA officers and we will officially represent our members in whatever forum, including with that of the management.”

Solidarity with Pakistani Workers

We congratulate the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) for the successful convening of its National Congress. The Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines) wishes you all the success and strength in carrying out your struggle for peace, democracy and social justice.

The global capitalist crisis, exacerbated by the global financial crisis that exploded in 2008, has brought enormous burden to the world's working people. While it is true that the deepening capitalist crisis brings with it the prospect of its imminent collapse and therefore the possibility of a system change, the process of building a strong working class movement may require new tactics and perhaps new organizational forms and struggles.This is because the capitalist crisis has also gave rise to de-industrialization which created sections of the working class outside of the formal economy.

In the Philippines, for instance, 70% of our labor force live on precarious conditions and remain unprotected as they are not employed in the formal economy. As in your case, child labor, contractual work arrangements, and worst, the existence of unpaid labor are prevalent in the Philippines.

On the other hand, the global crisis is also taking its heavy toll on workers in industries as corporations resort to downsizing, outsourcing and many forms of contractualization. In fact, we are now in the middle of an intense struggle against the policy of mass layoff and contractualization in the Philippine Airlines as well as in other big companies in the Philippines.

The capitalist crisis, no doubt, has denied the present and the next generation of workers opportunities to have decent jobs and better living conditions. We also live in a hostile environment where senseless wars and violence occur in many parts of the world. Pakistan, we are aware, has become an unwilling victim of America's "war on terror" brought into the "second front." These wars has even become more arbitrary and unilateral as superpowers move without the sanctions of international bodies.

What we have now, inded, is a period of acute capitalist crisis with wars and heigthening exploitation showing their ugly heads. The world's working class is thus faced with the challenge of building a force capable of reversing this historical course. This is the task only the working class can do.

Brothers and sisters, let us not allow this crisis lead the world toward barbarism. The Filipino working class will always be one with you and the world's working people in the struggle for peace, democracy and social justice.

Mabuhay! Long live!

In Solidarity,

Renato Magtubo
Chairperson
Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines)

Mass layoff sparks labor unrest in Cavite export zone

Press Release
April 21, 2010

A planned mass layoff of 450 workers, about half of the total workforce of a factory in the Cavite Economic Zone, has pushed its employees to form a union and file a case with the Labor Department. Workers of Dyna Image Corp. Phils., an electronics export firm owned by Chinese foreigners, trooped yesterday afternoon to the National Conciliation and Mediation Board-RAB IV in Imus, Cavite to file for preventive mediation of cases of illegal retrenchment and harassment.

Dyna Image will layoff the workers by May 10 and is offering them 13 days per year of service in separation pay. The company declared that the dismissal is to prevent losses due to the financial crisis. “But if the company is suffering difficulties, why is production in full blast and workers required to do overtime work,” questioned Virgielita Morite, president of the newly certified Samahan ng Manggagawa sa Dyna Image Corp. Phils.

Out of 933 total workers, 229 are already members of the union and more are signing up according to Morite. She alleges that management forced workers to sign papers giving consent to the termination. Morite added that “The fact that workers organized a union show that they do not agree to the layoff and we suspect that management will just replace regular workers with contractual agency workers.”

Raquel Monzon, president of the Rosario Workers Association, a DOLE-certified workers organization for mutual benefit and protection, argued that “The Dyna Image case is no different from the PAL spinoff that will lead to the layoff of 3,000 workers by May 31. By replacing regular with contractual workers, capitalists increase their profits by cutting labor costs. Why should workers be the first to bear the burden of the global crisis when we are the last to benefit during the period of boom?”

The labor party-list Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) chapter in Cavite is also supporting the Dyna Image workers. Dennis Sequena, a PM-Cavite leader, said that “It is ironic that on election day hundreds of Cavite workers will lose their jobs but all we hear from presidentiables are motherhood statements on poverty but no concrete jobs policy. Contractualization is a national issue that deserves attention. Thus among the ‘Apat na Dapat’ platform of PM is the protection and promotion of regular jobs.”

The Dyna Image union will participate in the coming Labor Day protest on May 1. Some 500 motorcycles will take part in a “Sakbayan Para sa Dagdag Sahod at Trabahong Regular” to be led by riders clubs whose membership are overwhelmingly workers.

The Dyna Image workers are still awaiting a date for the hearing of their preventive mediation case that is docketed as Case No. 04004-10. The factory produces parts for cellphone cameras.

Message of Solidarity to the Filipino Migrant Teachers Assembly

February 6, 2010

The Partido ng Manggagawa extends the long arm of workers solidarity to the Filipino Migrant Teachers Assembly in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As the independent working class party in the Philippines, we congratulate the valiant Filipino teachers who have waged the good fight to right what is wrong and defend the welfare of migrant workers in the US.

Now you stand on the threshold of taking the next big step in the fight for migrant rights and welfare. Forming a migrant teachers and workers organization is the necessary and logical level up in the continuing struggle. We wish you success in this initiative and endeavor.

Establishing an organization of Filipino migrant teachers and workers in the US consolidates the hard-fought and well-deserved gains and victories in the course of more than a year of struggle. It also prepares the courageous Filipino migrant teachers for the decisive battle to win the case against an oppressive illegal recruiter. And moreover it paves the road and points for way for the far bigger battle of gaining a voice and winning reforms for Filipino migrant workers in the US.

Forming an organization of Filipino migrant teachers and workers in the US comes at an opportune time. In the US, the Obama administration that came to power on a platform of hope and change is just a year old. In the Philippines, it is the eve of the national elections that will end the unpopular regime of Gloria Arroyo. A vibrant migrant organization in partnership with strong labor movements should challenge the promises of the present administration in the US and the coming regime in the Philippines.

As any migrant worker who has left the country in search not so much of greener pastures but simply of a better job, elections in the Philippines are more in the nature of an entertaining circus and noisy fiesta rather than springboards for real reform or even discussion of issues. Yet the crisis of the ruling system in the Philippines has opened up windows of opportunities however small, such as the party-list system, for determined labor advocates to gain voice and representation.

Also in the US, the economic recession is casting away illusions and opening up the eyes of the working people about the nature of capitalism, the excesses of globalization, the need for an alternative America and the possibility of a new world. Amidst the struggle for health care, immigration reform and pro-labor change, a revitalized American workers movement may be forged with the voice of migrant labor firmly embedded.

The prospects for expanding and consolidating a Filipino migrant teachers and workers organization are good. Under the new context, it will hopefully be immunized against the virus of disunity and fragmentation that has historically debilitated Filipino-American organizations. As long the principles of democratic processes and unity in action are practiced not just preached, as long as a long-term political vision for social change imbues the immediate fight for labor rights and welfare, then we believe the road less travelled by that you have taken as migrant workers will make all the difference.

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

PRESS RELEASE
24 September 2009

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

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

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

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

Another round of retrenchment in the offing

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

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

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

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

10-Year CBA Moratorium 1998

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spin-off 2001

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

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

Spin-off 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labor unrest brewing vs. PAL spinoff

PRESS RELEASE
September 13, 2009

Rank and file workers of the Philippine Airlines are flexing their muscles against imminent job loss after the management bared its plan to implement a major restructuring program before the end of this year.

Gerry Rivera, PAL Employees Association (PALEA) president and vice chairperson of the labor party-list group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) is leading a noontime protest tomorrow to be held at the PAL In Flight Center, Airport Road, Paranaque City against what the union bewails as Lucio Tan’s predilection of throwing the weight of his corporate problems to the workers.

A signature campaign against the spinoff is also ongoing and after the noontime protest tomorrow, a press conference followed by a motorcade rally is tentatively scheduled on Wednesday.

Last September 9, the PAL management informed its employees that a spinoff will be implemented beginning November 15. The planned spinoff will affect an estimated 2,000 workers —almost half of the total workforce in the airline’s catering, passenger handling, ramp handling and cargo handling operations.

PAL is currently reviewing its entire organizational set-up to make the workforce “lean and mean," after suffering heavy losses this year. A company statement said that as of end-March this year, the airline posted $301.4 million in losses. According to Flight's ACAS database, PAL had 7,751 employees in 2007.

PAL employees are resisting the planned spinoff as they believe that its main aim is to bust the union by outsourcing those work to companies that are also owned by Lucio Tan such as MacroAsia Corp. where workers are non-unionized, receive cheaper wages, less benefits and without security of tenure.

“More than 5,000 of our employees suffered this onslaught ten years ago and we see it coming again on the same pretext that the company used to justify massive outsourcing plan before,” explained Rivera.

Rivera pointed out that since catering, passenger, cargo and ramp handling operations cannot be replaced by modern machines, “the management can only think of replacing secured and trained workers with contractual ‘modern-day slaves’ to cut down on costs.”

“This is unacceptable,” Rivera declared, insisting that labor should not be made the usual sacrificial lamb in every corporate restructuring programs.

“Why put everything on our shoulders? Corporations worldwide had been bailed out many times over, why can’t the same be done to workers who are the very lifeblood of this dying system,” concludes Rivera.

Celestica agency workers hold protest to demand benefits

Press Release
July 30, 2009

Some 50 agency workers of Celestica, the big electronics firm at the Mactan Export Processing Zone I (MEPZ I) that is due to shutdown on August 31, today held a protest to demand termination pay similar to that will be received by regular employees. “Many of the less than 300 agency workers employed by Celestica have worked for several years doing the same work as regular employees, and under the control and direction of company management. By law and jurisprudence we are employees not of our agency, Cebu General Services, but of the principal, Celestica. Thus we deserve the same treatment and benefits as regular workers,” argued Romeo Moritcho, Jr., a leader of the protesting agency workers.

The agency workers did not report from work today and instead marched starting at 10 a.m. from Gate 1 to Gate 3 MEPZ I and then held a picket till noon. By 1 p.m. they trooped to the office of Cebu General Services at A. S. Fortuna, Mandaue City for another picket.

The contracts of the agency workers are to be terminated by Celestica on Friday and the Cebu General Services promises to redeploy them to new jobs at Pentax, which however is accepting only workers younger than 28 years while all the agency workers are above 30 years old. The agency workers are insisting that they receive the separation pay of 45 days per year of service to be given to regular Celestica workers.

The agency workers submitted a petition to Celestica management Thursday last week about their demands but the latter did not respond thus precipitating the protest today. Moritcho elaborated that “Filipino workers cannot be thrown out like rags by a giant multinational that generated almost US$8 billion in revenues last year after benefiting from our labor for many years on the superficial argument that we are the responsibility of our local agency. The ‘control test’ used in labor law jurisprudence makes us direct employees of Celestica not Cebu General Services which is in effect a labor-only contractor.”

Dennis Derige of Partido ng Manggagawa is appealing to Celestica to abide by its own “corporate social responsibility” and the Electronics Industry Code of Conduct (EICC). He added, “We are asking Celestica to follow its own statements. Craig Muhlhauser, Celestica President and Chief Executive Officer, said ‘Protecting and empowering people. Respecting the environment. Giving back to the community. Working with responsible partners. Our commitment to corporate social responsibility is pervasive in all we do.’ Also the EICC specifies that ‘Compensation paid to workers shall comply with all applicable wage laws, including those relating to minimum wages, overtime hours and legally mandated benefits.’ Agency workers deserve no more and no less than what are stipulated in these codes that Celestica bound itself to abide by.”

Export zone workers resume picket at MEPZ II gate

Press Release
July 2, 2009

Around 200 workers of Paul Yu, a Taiwanese-owned lamp shade factory, resumed their daily picket-protest outside the gates of the Mactan Export Processing Zone II in Lapu-Lapu City after more than a week of “fruitless negotiations” with management. “Tuloy ang laban! We are here to inform workers in the export zone that the fight continues. We are here to seek support from fellow Cebuanos,” stated Willy Dondoyano, head of the Paul Yu Workers Association (PYWA).

The moving picket started yesterday then resumed today at around 8:30 a.m. and will continue till the afternoon. Yesterday security guards at the export zone tried to cajole the picketers to disperse but the workers stood their ground and no untoward incident transpired as the peaceful protest continued.

Dondoyano explained that “In the face of management’s intransigence, we continue to demand that all workers be allowed to work without any retaliation from management. The suspension on the seven leaders and more than 300 workers must be lifted. We refuse management’s offer that we be retrenched and paid a separation rate of P3,000 per year of service. Such an offer is in fact below the criteria set by the Labor Code.”

Dennis Derige, spokesperson of Partido ng Manggagawa-Cebu, revealed that supporters of the Paul Yu workers from abroad have already contacted the major US customers of the company. “We are asking Pier 1 Imports and Home Center to investigate the violations of labor standards and the right to organize at Paul Yu. These are serious infractions of the vendor codes of conduct that such US companies must uphold,” he declared.

Since the suspension of more than 300 workers starting last June 22, hearings had been conducted at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board and the Department of Labor and Employment. Talks have ended in a deadlock as management has refused to face the workers demand for the lifting of the suspension and the start of negotiations on their grievances while workers reject management offer of separation.

Dondoyano declared that the picket today will continue in the following days until there is a breakthrough in the negotiations. “Militancy in struggle is workers’ answer to management’s hardline position. We call on fellow workers in the export zone to rise up in struggle for labor rights and welfare,” he added.

Workers push for unemployment subsidy as big garments firm to shutdown

Press Release
July 1, 2009

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) reiterated its call for a “workers bailout” in the face of the impending closure of the Taguig-based Triumph garments factory and its subsidiary Star Performance on August 28, and Cebu-based Celestica electronics firm on August 31. Triumph and Star Performance are both German-owned with 1600 workers while Celestica is a Canadian-owned factory producing various electronics products in the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) in Lapu-Lapu City with 900 employees.

“We call on the government to backtrack from charter revision and instead focus on the economic recession. The closure of Triumph, Star Performance and Celestica and the layoff of a total of more than 2,500 workers belie the claim of DOLE about a rebound in the garments and electronics industry. It is not a slow growth but a sluggish decline that best describes the economy. Unemployment insurance and a bailout of the workers and the poor will put money in the hands of the consumers and revive domestic demand and thus the local economy,” argued Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

PM has been pushing for a bailout package for workers in the light of continuous hemorrhage in jobs in export firms. The bailout includes an unemployment subsidy for displaced workers; tax refund for all wage earners; expansion and reform of the public employment program; extension of health care coverage for displaced workers; and moratorium on demolitions and evictions.

PM contends that the economy is practically in recession and thus urgent action must be taken. “Government cannot keep on whistling in the dark and being in denial about the recession. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs and many remain without work. An economic revival can only come about through a policy reversal and paradigm shift in the national development model. The policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization must be stopped. The local economy must be developed by strengthening industry and modernizing agriculture based on agrarian reform,” insisted Magtubo.

Magtubo furthered that “In the immediate period, the workers of Triumph, Star Performance and Celestica may be able to live off their separation pay. But if they cannot find another job in the next six months then their living standards will suffer in the medium to long-term period. Workers are being made to pay the price of a crisis that is not of their own making.”

“These foreign-owned multinational companies are throwing their Filipino workers like dirty rags after benefiting from their labor all these years,” argued Magtubo.

Labor unrest escalates as protests rock Keppel shipyard and Paul Yu factory

Press Release
June 18, 2009

The simmering discontent among Cebu workers escalated into open protests with Keppel workers barging into their shipyard after one month of forced leave, and Paul Yu workers picketing the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

“The Paul Yu workers are now on their fourth day of a work stoppage in support of seven suspended leaders while the Keppel labor dispute has been simmering for almost four months already. The government must act today with dispatch on the workers just demands or else it will have to face a full-blown workers rebellion tomorrow,” stated Dennis Derige, spokesperson of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) in Cebu.

Some 80 Keppel workers returned to work early morning today with the lapse of their one month forced leave yesterday. The guards tried to prevent them from entering the shipyard on the pretext that the forced leave has been extended for another month but the workers were able to force their way past the gates. The Keppel workers are holding a sitdown protest at the moment while awaiting a response from management on their demand that they be able to work again.

“One month is too long for our families to go hungry and sacrifice for management’s mistaken if not malicious decision to shift from ship repair to ship building. If Keppel will not open the shipyard for work then we ask the government to takeover the facilities and we will continue with the profitable ship repair work,” declared Roger Igot, president of Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Baradero (NMB) Keppel Shipyard-National Federation of Labor (NFL).

Meanwhile the Paul Yu workers picketed the PEZA offices while the seven suspended leaders and representatives of contractual workers held a dialogue at 9 a.m. with export zone officials and representatives of management. At 2 p.m. will troop to the DOLE office in Cebu City for a hearing on the complaint the workers filed against management.

Willy Dondoyano, head of the Paul Yu workers association, said that “The three-day workweek implemented since December lacks proper documentation and due notice. Also workdays were reduced for regular workers while 40% of production is outsourced to contractors.” The workers also found out that the AVI Amor Vil Inc., the biggest among three agencies that Paul Yu has contracted to supply workers for the factory, is not registered and thus illegal. They are also complaining of non-payment of holiday pay, non-remittance of SSS deductions for agency workers, non-implementation of paternity leave and non-payment of break time.

Workers picket export zone authority as work stoppage enters third day

Press Release
June 17, 2009

Workers of Paul Yu, a lamp shade factory inside the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) II producing for the export and local market, marked their third day of a work stoppage with a march from their factory to the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) office at the adjoining MEPZ I compound. The seven suspended leaders of the Paul Yu workers’ association were again prevented from entering the plant and more than 300 workers again refused to work in sympathy.

“We denounce the PEZA for being inutile in enforcing labor standards and protecting labor rights in the export zone. The MEPZ is a haven of criminals in suits while the export zone authority is a coddler of these crooked capitalists,” insisted Willy Dondoyano, head of the workers association and one of the seven suspended.

Some 30 workers from the nearby Altamode garments factory and members of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) marched in solidarity with the Paul Yu protesters. “The support of fellow workers is essential in gaining victory for the struggle of Paul Yu workers. We call on the workers of the export zone to join hands in solidarity in defense of our rights and welfare,” Renante Pelino, president of the newly-formed union at Altamode.

The work stoppage today paralyzed both the finishing section and the “black hand,” the main department of Paul Yu’s production where lamp shades are welded. The workers have however learned Paul Yu management is outsourcing the work at the black hand.

In the dialogue presided by the National Mediation and Conciliation Board (NCMB) yesterday, the representative of the Paul Yu management admitted that the preventive suspension of the seven leaders was faulty yet they will stand by their decision and threatened to slap absence without leave on the hundreds of workers who have refused to work. Today management sent a notice that they will terminate the contract of agency workers, many of which have participated in the protests.

“How can a foreign capitalist like the Taiwanese owner of Paul Yu stand above and ride roughshod over the Labor Code with the government powerless to lift a finger to protect the labor rights of Filipino workers? And then government wants to revise the Constitution to give more privileges for foreigners to control our economy and patrimony,” said Dennis Derige, PM spokesperson.

Tomorrow the Labor Department will hear the case filed by Paul Yu workers that three-day workweek implemented since December lacks proper documentation and due notice. The workers are also complaining that the workdays are reduced for regular workers while 40% of production is outsourced to contractors. They also found out that the AVI Amor Vil Inc., the biggest among three agencies that Paul Yu has contracted to supply workers for the factory, is not registered and thus illegal.

Among the protesting workers are agency employees who have worked for several years, some as long as five years, yet they remain irregulars whose contracts are renewed continuously every two months. Workers are also complaining of non-payment of holiday pay, non-remittance of SSS deductions for agency workers, non-implementation of paternity leave and non-payment of break time.

Work stoppage at export zone factory continues on its second day

Press Release
June 16, 2009

Workers at Paul Yu, a lamp shade factory inside the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) II producing for the export and local market, continued their work stoppage for the second straight day in protest at the suspension of seven leaders of their workers association. The seven were prevented from entering the factory premises at 8 a.m. today and around 400 workers refused to work in sympathy with the suspended workers.

“More workers compared to yesterday supported today’s mass action because they know that the suspension of the seven leaders is baseless and merely in retaliation for the protest action last May 8 and the filing of a case last May 21 against management’s numerous unfair labor practices. The MEPZ is a haven of criminals in suits while the export zone authority is a coddler of these crooked capitalists,” insisted Willy Dondoyano, head of the workers association and one of the seven suspended.

The work stoppage completely paralyzed the “black hand,” the main department of Paul Yu’s production where welding of lamp shades is done by regular workers. After massing at the factory gates, the 400 workers walked out of the MEPZ II compound and are holding a program at the export zone gates. A representative of Aboitiz Land, which owns the land on which MEPZ is located, has met the workers to mediate the dispute. The workers plan to march to the office of the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) at the adjoining MEPZ I compound to air their demands.

With the labor dispute in Paul Yu escalating, workers in other MEPZ factories are expressing solidarity. Renante Pelino, president of the newly-formed union at Altamode, a garments export factory in MEPZ II, said that “We support the fight of the Paul Yu workers against reduction in workdays even as management outsources production to contractors. Their struggle is our struggle. An injury to one is an injury to all.” Meanwhile Greg Janginon, chairperson of Partido ng Manggagawa in Cebu, declared that “The global recession is just an alibi for Paul Yu management to annihilate workers rights and weaken labor standards. Workers refuse to pay the price of a crisis that is not of their making.”

On Thursday the Labor Department will hear the case filed by Paul Yu workers that three-day workweek implemented since December lacks proper documentation and due notice. The workers are also complaining that the workdays are reduced for regular workers while 40% of production is outsourced to contractors. They also found out that the AVI Amor Vil Inc., the biggest among three agencies that Paul Yu has contracted to supply workers for the factory, is not registered and thus illegal.

Among the protesting workers are agency employees who have worked for several years, some as long as five years, yet they remain irregulars whose contracts are renewed continuously every two months. Workers are also complaining of non-payment of holiday pay, non-remittance of SSS deductions for agency workers, non-implementation of paternity leave and non-payment of break time.

Export zone workers stop work in support of suspended leaders

Press Release
June 15, 2009

Hundreds of workers of a big lamp shade factory in the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) in Lapu-Lapu City refused to work today in sympathy with seven leaders that were suspended due to a protest action last month. Some 300 workers of Paul Yu, a locator in MEPZ II producing lamp shades for the export and local market, massed up outside the plant gates in protest. The work stoppage almost paralyzed the plant operations as only a few employees were working inside the factory.

“The suspension of seven leaders of the Paul Yu workers are not just in retaliation for the protest action last May 8 but also for the filing of a case last May 21 against management’s numerous unfair labor practices,” stated Willy Dondoyano, a leader of the Paul Yu workers and one of the seven suspended.

The work stoppage started at 8 a.m. today when seven leaders of the Paul Yu workers association were prevented from entering the factory premises on the strength of a suspension order. The preventive suspension was slapped by management supposedly for an “illegal strike” conducted last May 8. Officials of the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) have met with the workers to convince them to return to work without their leaders but the protesters are adamant that all employees must be accepted back including those illegally suspending by management.

Dondoyano argued that “The May 8 protest cannot be considered an illegal strike for management agreed to face the workers in a dialogue together with PEZA officials. In the minutes of the dialogue that was duly signed by PEZA officials, it is stated that there will be no retaliatory action against workers involved in the protest.”

“Management is merely turning the tables on the workers. It is management that is guilty of illegal acts and unfair labor practice which we spelled out in the case we filed last May 21 at the Labor Department. Among these infractions is the three-day workweek implemented since December that lacks proper documentation and due notice with the Labor Department. Moreover, management is reducing the workdays for regular workers even as it continues to outsource 40% of its production to contractors,” he added.

The workers also found out that the AVI Amor Vil Inc., the biggest among three agencies that Paul Yu has contracted to supply workers for the factory, is not registered with the Labor Department and is thus another illegal act by management. A hearing has been scheduled on Thursday by the Labor Department to hear the complaints filed by the workers.

Among the protesting workers are agency employees who are up in arms at labor contractualization at Paul Yu. Many agency employees have worked for several years, some as long as five years, yet they remain irregulars whose contracts are renewed continuously every two months. Workers are also complaining of non-payment of holiday pay, non-remittance of SSS deductions for agency workers, non-implementation of paternity leave and non-payment of break time.

“Paul Yu is another case of a capitalist using the global crisis as an excuse to demolish workers rights and undercut labor standards. Workers are refusing to pay the price of a crisis that is not of their making. We salute the solidarity of the workers at Paul Yu, and their fight for labor rights,” stated Dennis Derige, spokesperson of Partido ng Manggagawa in Cebu.

Workers join farmers in rally vs chacha, call for CARPER and bailout

Press Release
May 25, 2009

Workers, urban poor and farmers will join forces today in a big rally against moves in Congress for charter change. The rallyists will also demand the passage of the CARP extension and reform bill, and call for a bailout for those affected by the global recession.

“Revising the Constitution to benefit GMA is a scandal worse than Hayden Kho violating his girlfriends. Instead of responding to the challenge of worsening poverty and unemployment, Congress is busy with chacha for the purpose of extending GMA’s term. We might wake up one morning with GMA returning to power as Prime Minister via con-ass or con-con,” argued Renato Magtubo, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) chair.

PM will lead a mobilization of 1,000 workers and poor that will merge with several thousand farmers and other rallyists at Ever Gotesco, Commonwealth by 1 p.m. today and then march to the Batasang Pambansa by 2 p.m. Catholic bishops led by Bishop Broderick Pabillo will hold a mass at the St. Peter Parish at noon and then link up with the workers and farmers rally.

The theme of the several thousand-strong joint mobilization is “No to GMA’s charter change, Yes to social change.” The rally will demand that the House of Representatives scrap Resolution 737 filed by Speaker Nograles and even proposed bills for a constitutional convention. Aside from calling for CARPER’s passage in the House, workers are also appealing that the Senate act on three resolutions filed proposing a bailout package for the displaced and unemployed.

Magtubo added that “After Villafuerte’s necrological service for Resolution 1109 that provides for a con-ass, it is high time to bury Nograles’ Resolution 737 and other charter change proposals that will only benefit foreigners and trapos. The workers and farmers movement will be the gravediggers of GMA’s chacha.”

Aside from PM, other groups to participate in the rally include the Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP), Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO), Rosario Workers Association (RWA), United Cavite Workers Association (UCWA) and Fortune Tobacco Labor Union (FTLU).

Workers urge Senate to act on bailout resolution

Press Release
May 16, 2009

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) urged the Senate to start hearings on proposed resolutions for a bailout of the working class before Congress ends its session on June 3. Three separate resolutions have been filed in the last several weeks pushing for a set of pro-labor demands. Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson, said that “A Senate resolution calling for a bailout of the workers is a belated but welcome gift. No matter that it is after May 1 as long as it is before June 3.”

The three resolutions were filed separately by Sen. Manny Villar, Sen. Chiz Escudero and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. Though slightly different, the resolutions are similar since they were all based on a proposal drafted by PM in consultation with other labor groups.

Magtubo revealed that representatives of labor groups are planning to lobby the Senate in the coming days to urge action on the proposals. The effort for a Senate resolution on a “workers bailout” is part of a campaign for immediate and medium-term response to the impact of the global economic crisis.

“A Senate resolution for a workers bailout is an urgent necessity despite the media spin being peddled by government about an economic recovery. The SWS survey about an unemployment rate of 34% has already exposed government’s lie about a mere 7.7% jobless figure. We challenge government to name names and identify the firms that have rehired their displaced workers for we know of no factory at the export zones that have taken back even a substantial portion of their retrenched employees,” explained Magtubo.

Senate Resolution No. 1064 was filed by Sen. Estrada last May 15. Meanwhile Senate Resolution No. 1029 was filed April 28 by Sen. Escudero. And Senate Resolution 919 was filed by Sen. Villar on March 3 and referred to the Labor Committee headed by Sen. Estrada.

The labor groups are also courting the support of the Catholic hierarchy with Archbishop Cardinal Rosales already committed to the workers bailout and a Church-backed Alyansa ng Manggagawa, Magsasaka at Maralita (AM3) launched last May 1.
The immediate demands being pushed by labor groups includes an unemployment subsidy, universal health care, tax refund, reform of the public employment program and a moratorium on demolitions and foreclosures. The middle-term reforms call for reversal of policies such as liberalization, deregulation and privatization.

Cebu workers picket agency for labor standards violations, contest claims of rehiring

Press Release
May 15, 2009

Around a hundred workers from Sauna World (Sawo) picketed their manpower agency this morning at Mandaue City in protest at violations of labor standards. The agency workers were joined by former regular employees of Sawo and other members of Partido ng Manggagawa in the picket.

The workers are also asking that the Department of Labor investigate Cebu General Services for its non-payment of separation pay and other violations of labor standards. Cebu General Services is a big manpower agency that supplies contractual workers to the Mactan Export Processing Zone and even to the giant Mitsumi electronics factory in Danao.

Dennis Derige, spokesperson for PM in Cebu, said that “Manpower agencies are exploiting and thereby benefiting from the economic crisis. They are used as an alibi by their principals not to pay separation pay to retrenched workers. We are calling on all agencies workers to organize so they could assert their rights and welfare.”

The agency workers filed a case yesterday against both Sawo and Cebu General Services at the National Labor Relations Commission for illegal dismissal and non-payment of separation pay. Both the agency and regular workers were dismissed from Sawo last April 13 in the wake of a corporate dispute.

The agency workers had demanded from Sawo the same separation pay they gave to regular workers but they were referred instead to the Cebu General Services. Cebu General Services however refuses to give them separation pay since they will allegedly be reassigned though they have remained jobless since their termination from Sawo.

The agency employees argue that there are no more jobs for skilled sauna workers since there is no other sauna factory in Cebu. Sawo is the biggest sauna equipment maker in the whole of Asia.

Derige also assailed the government for its pronouncements on economic recovery and job rehiring. He explained that “We are asking the government to identify which export firms that have retrenched workers have rehired and how workers have reclaimed their jobs. At the grassroots level, we know of no factory inside MEPZ that have rehired their retrenched workers.”

PM is claiming that job rehiring is “another myth from this government of lies.” Derige added that “News of rehiring is a lie no different from the fake low unemployment figures that have been exposed by the recent SWS survey that show joblessness at 34% instead of just 7.7%.”

MEPZ workers go on work stoppage in protest at grievances

Press Release
May 8, 2009

An overwhelming majority of workers at a lamp shade factory inside the Mactan Export Zone went on a work stoppage early this morning in protest at various grievances of regular and agency workers. Some 200 workers downed their tools and trooped to the office of the management of Paul Yu, a locator in MEPZ II producing lamp shades for the export and local market, to seek a dialogue for redress of their grievances.

At the moment, management has agreed to talk to the workers about their grievances and PEZA officials will oversee the dialogue. Willy Dondoyano, speaking on behalf of the protesting workers, said that “We will not return to work until management meets the demands of the workers.”

After punching in their time cards at 8 a.m. today, the Paul Yu workers assembled and went to the management office to negotiate the company’s response to their complaints. The main grievance of the workers is the work rotation that was implemented since December despite the fact that 40% of production is outsourced to contractors outside the factory. The workweek of regular and agency workers at Paul Yu has been reduced by half while job contracting has not stopped.

“Paul Yu is another case of a capitalist using the global crisis as an excuse to demolish workers rights and undercut labor standards. Workers are refusing to pay the price of a crisis that is not of their making. We salute the unity of regular and agency workers at Paul Yu, and their fight for labor rights,” stated Dennis Derige of Partido ng Manggagawa in Cebu.

Agency workers are also up in arms at the labor contractualization at Paul Yu. Many agency employees have worked for several years, some as long as five years, yet they remain irregulars whose contracts are renewed continuously every two months. Workers are also complaining of non-payment of holiday pay, non-remittance of SSS deductions for agency workers, non-implementation of paternity leave and non-payment of break time.

Management has plans to change the name of the company and relocate the factory to Carmen, a town in the far north of the Cebu. However workers are resisting the relocation since it will to their dislocation.

Militant workers slam shipyard management for “blackmail and sabotage”

Press Release
May 8, 2009

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today lambasted the management of Keppel Phils. for implementing a two-day workweek in order to force its workers to agree to its redundancy offer. A labor dispute has been festering in the Keppel shipyard since March with workers alleging management is out to bust the union Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Baradero (NMB) Keppel Shipyard-National Federation of Labor (NFL).

“In the one month since an agreement was forged last April 8 between management and the union, Keppel has consistently tried to sabotage the settlement by blackmailing the workers into submitting to the redundancy plan by shortening the workweek. At the height of the dispute in March, Keppel workers were working just three days in a week. Now it is just two days in a week thus workers’ take home pay has been reduced to a third,” explained Dennis Derige, spokesperson of PM in Cebu.

PM is arguing that Keppel’s reduction in workdays is tantamount to a violation of the April 8 agreement. Section 3 of the agreement stipulates that neither side will engage in actions that will exacerbate the situation.

Derige answered management’s alibi that theirs is no work to be done. “The ship repair business was strong but they shifted to ship building thus forcing former clients to smaller shipyards in Cebu. Why then did they go into ship building when there is no marker for it? It only makes business sense because management wants to bust the union and replace regular workers with cheap and docile contractual labor,” he insisted.

Derige added that “Keppel is trying to starve the workers so they will agree to surrender their rights. We warn management that their blackmail will not work. Keppel workers are not alone. The labor movement will support Keppel workers in their fight.”

PM also criticized the DOLE for lying about the real status of the labor situation. “For several weeks the DOLE has kept on repeating the marketing line that companies are rehiring and layoffs are ebbing. But the unresolved dispute at Keppel and other struggles at MEPZ belie the DOLE’s propaganda,” Derige stated.

The Keppel union still has a pending notice of strike that it has not withdrawn. Since a majority of the work force has voted for the strike, the union can go on strike at any moment.

Labor party opposes commission in lieu of wage hike proposal

Press Release
April 23, 2009

The labor party Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed its opposition to the proposal by the Makati Business Club that workers be given commissions instead of wage increases because of the economic difficulties. “This is wholesale theft of the working class that is little different but much worse than the syndicated estafa perpetrated by Legacy on its middle class planholders,” stated Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

He added that “This proposal is another illustration of the vicious attempt by capitalists to exploit the crisis in order to lower labor standards and demolish workers’ rights. Workers will not pay for the crisis sparked by the capitalists. At the root of the global recession is the problem of global underconsumption. There is a lack of demand for the commodities produced worldwide due to two decades of a global race to the bottom in wages and working conditions. Thus shortchanging the workers in the midst of the crisis will aggravate instead of mitigate the effects of the global recession.”
PM announced that the coming Labor Day mobilization will be “one big protest against capitalist schemes and scams against the workers.” The labor party will lead more than a thousand displaced workers and urban poor in a Lakbayan that will start on the eve of May 1 then merge the next day with the Labor Day rally by various groups.

For Labor Day, PM is pushing for a “bailout of the workers and the poor” that includes unemployment subsidy, tax refund, reform and expansion of public employment program, health insurance for the displaced, and moratorium on demolitions. The group is also demanding a reversal of the policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization.

“The capitalists reject a wage hike because it is a one-size-fits-all formula that favors workers yet a commission is no different though it benefits employers and disadvantages employees. If capitalists are willing to experiment in a win-win solution, we propose a mandatory unionization of all workers and collective bargaining negotiations on the basis of particular conditions of the different industries and enterprises,” explained Magtubo.

Magtubo asserted that “Through collective bargaining, labor and management can work out the wages and working conditions appropriate to the circumstances of their industries and firms. For example, the electronics industry is collapsing but in dollar-earning sunrise industries like BPO’s and call centers, capitalists can very well afford to give generous wage hikes to their workers via collective bargaining agreements with unions.”