Labor group opposes gov’t order for BPO workers to return to office

                                                        

Photo from The Guardian

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) supported the call of BPO workers against the government order for all of them to return to their offices by April 1.

 

“Dapat balik trabahong ligtas para sa BPO workers. Mandating the return to office of 1.4 million IT and BPO workers on the sole basis of economic and tax reasons disregards the issue of health and safety of employees. This is a recipe for disaster,” stated Bryan Nadua of PM. Nadua is also a BPO worker.

 

The groups BPO Employees for Leni-Kiko and IT&BPO Professionals for Leni and Kiko started a petition on Change.org opposing the return to officer order by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) of the Department of Finance. The FIRB cited the CREATE Law that provides that BPO as economic zones must “exclusively conducted or operated within the geographical boundaries of the zone or freeport.”

 

In contrast the BPO workers argue that “The occupational safety and health committees, with employee representation, are in the best position to evaluate safety in our workplaces and recommend a safe full RTO or to maintain the present hybrid setup - not a government that ignores real-life conditions.”

 

Nadua emphasized that the Philippines subscribes to the principle of tripartism and social dialogue and yet the return to office order was without the benefit of consultation and discussion with BPO workers.

 

Jodelle Villanueva, a former Customer Service Representative before becoming an HR Manager in a BPO in one of her previous engagements, argued that COVID-19 is very transmissible in the enclosed office setting of BPOs. “Even before the pandemic, if one BPO employee gets a cough or cold, in a day or two, someone else will show similar symptoms due to infection. Headsets too are sometimes shared among employees and are another way by which COVID-19 might be easily transmitted in a 100% fully operational scenario,” Villanueva described.

 

Both Villanueva and Nadua are suggesting that alternatives be considered such as 50 to 75% of BPO workers returning to the office and implementing a compressed work week while maintaining the work for home or anywhere for the rest of the week.

 

PM is calling on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to initiate a tripartite social dialogue, that must include representatives of BPO workers, to come up with an acceptable solution to the return to office in BPOs.

March 14, 2022

Bello asked to dialogue with labor groups on urgent demands

 

Photo from Asia Nikkei

The workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) welcomed the announcement of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello that labor inspections will resume for the year 2022 after being suspended last December. “Labor inspections are a key mechanism in ensuring compliance with labor standards and enforcement of occupational safety and health protocols, especially during the pandemic since pasaway employers have weaponized covid and abused workers,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

The group reiterated its call for Secretary Bello to heed the Nagkaisa labor coalition’s request for a dialogue on urgent demands confronting workers such as the no vaccination, no ride and no jab, no job. “A planned dialogue between Department of Labor and Employment officials and Nagkaisa labor coalition leaders has long been delayed. Instead of social dialogue, the government is exercising social distancing with labor groups,” Magtubo asserted.

 

Earlier Secretary Bello apologized for the chaos over the no vaccination, no ride policy to which the PM demanded that the controversial order be withdrawn immediately. “Confusion has arisen over these issues because of lack of social dialogue, among others,” Magtubo averred.

 

PM also welcomed the statements of Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros against the no vaccination, no ride policy. Magtubo said that “We call on Senators Kiko and Risa to open an investigation on the no vaccination, no ride, no jab, no job and similar discriminatory policies.”

 

“These policies are patent discrimination against workers and poor. In contrast, rich people—vaccinated or not—are free to move around since they have cars to use. These unfair and biased policies disproportionately impact people in the laylayan,” Magtubo insisted.

 

He stated that the Department of Transportation’s discriminatory ban on unvaccinated individuals taking public transport is a repeat of the railroading of the jeepney phaseout amid the pandemic lockdown in 2020. “The impromptu jeepney phaseout eliminated the livelihood of several hundred thousand jeepney drivers and operators at a time they needed it most,” Magtubo explained. 

January 24, 2022

 

Service contracting is a great program but the LTFRB bungled it

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Department of Transportation (DoTr) for bungling the service contracting program. “Service contracting is a great idea but the LTFRB and DoTr bungled its implementation. Similar to the Department of Health (DOH), bad governance, if not massive corruption, attended its execution,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

Yesterday the LTFRB released a statement belying the Commission on Audit report that only 1% of the funds for service contracting was released to beneficiary drivers of public utility vehicles (PUVs). The LTFRB declared that P1.5 billion out of the P5.56 billion service contracting budget under Bayanihan 2 was disbursed.

 

“If that is true then only 25% of service contracting funds reached 50,000 drivers nationwide. There are already 120,000 transport workers in NCR alone, a conservative estimate based on one worker per PUV. The rest of the funds has been returned to the treasury without benefiting hundreds of thousands of needy and hungry transport workers. This is no different from hospital workers who decried the DOH for not granting hazard pay and benefits to deserving health care workers,” Magtubo added.

 

Ross Natividad, president of the Yellow Bus Line Employees Union (YBLEU), called on the LTFRB to shape up and respond to the demands of transport workers. YBL plies the South Cotabato to Davao route Mindanao. “It pains us to hear there are billions in funds that have not reached transport workers who are needy and hungry. YBL drivers, conductors, dispatchers and mechanics are becoming desperate since most of them had no regular income for more than a year already,” Natividad said.

 

He explained that the LTFRB contracted YBL for only two months of “libreng sakay” for APORs and HCWs from May to June 2021. “This was for only 14 buses then 48 buses but YBL has 190 units in total. Thus a majority of YBL workers did not benefit. Still, many of those who were lucky to be onboarded have not received their payouts,” Natividad explained.

 

He demanded that “We call on the LTFRB and DoTr to exercise tripartism and social dialogue so that it hears the concerns of workers. Only drivers were considered beneficiaries while conductors and other bus workers were not. The union had to negotiate with the company so that conductors can also work under service contracting and receive pay.”

 

Magtubo averred that “Service contracting must be rebooted. It should go beyond ayuda and libreng sakay as is being implemented now. Service contracting under the PUV Modernization program is a mechanism to formalize and improve the transport industry so that we have sustainable and livable cities. Through service contracting, government ensures the delivery of safe, comfortable and efficient public transport by engaging jeepney cooperatives and bus companies on long-term contracts and mandating regular employment with social protection for transport workers.” 

August 19, 2021

 

Workers critique Duterte’s last SONA: Recycled anecdotes, absence of strategy

 

From the point of workers who have suffered through the failed covid response and were betrayed by the promise to end endo, there was really no high point to the 3-hour long SONA. There was nothing new he said about the most controversial and pressing issues like the drug war and the West Philippine Sea as he simply recycled his non-sequiturs. And there was deafening silence on a concrete strategy to combat covid and recession.

 

In the midst of a pandemic and a recession, the focus of the SONA should have been laying out an effective plan. These are also what the people are looking for in the SONA as revealed in the recent Pulse Asia survey. The people’s demands for a response on jobs, the economy, inflation, vaccine and even the West Philippine Sea are actually reflected in the labor coalition Nagkaisa’s call for TABAKK or Trabaho, Ayuda, Bakuna, Karapatan and Kasarinlan.

 

Duterte said that he really had no plans given the threat of the Delta variant except to impose another severe lockdown. In other words, Duterte will just be repeating the mistakes of the past year but coming from an even worse situation that last year. Walang pag-asa at inspirasyong makakatas sa huling SONA.

 

The alibi and excuses for the drug war was the lowest point of the SONA. Duterte spent so much time spinning his worn-out tales and anecdotes about drugs as an existential problem. As usual the numbers he mentioned about the drug war like 50,000 arrests per day and billions of drugs interdicted are fairy tales that are not backed up by evidence.

 

Nothing will happen in the last year of Duterte given the absence of a plan on recovering from the pandemic and the recession. In fact, in the next few months, the winds of the coming presidential elections will be blowing hard and Duterte the politician will surely be concerned about his fate after 2022—as he has admitted, he is apprehensive about being made accountable for the crimes during his regime.

July 26, 2021

PM holds “SOtaposNA” actions to highlight plight of workers at local level

 

Localized online and offline protest activities were conducted Saturday afternoon by chapters of Partido Manggagawa (PM) in different parts of the country, two days before President Duterte delivers his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

Areas that held local online protest activities include Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Bulacan, Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, and Tagum City.

According to Judy Miranda, PM Secretary-General, this is to highlight the plight of workers and poor communities who suffered the most under Duterte’s deficient and repressive style of governance.

“Ang ating mga komunidad ay hindi gaanong napapansin sa bangayan ng pulitika sa itaas, samantalang sila ang tunay na nakakaranas ng kahirapan at saksi sa nagaganap na karahasan at patayan sa buong bansa. Nasa komunidad ang totoong SONA,” declared Miranda.

One of the issues to highlight is the unresolved killings of PM organizers. Dennis Sequena, PM leader in Cavite, was shot dead by unknown assailants in June 2019 while giving a lecture on basic trade unionism among ecozone workers. PM organizer Orlando Abangan was killed in Talisay City, Cebu in September 2016, at the height of Duterte’s drug war. It is also in Cebu where a peaceful and legitimate protest of retrenched MEPZ workers was met by arrests and detention as in the case of the arrest of “Cebu 5” on November 30 last year.  

Other unresolved killings of PM organizers were that of Victoriano Embang (2012) and Rolando Pango (2014) in the island of Negros. These killings, the group said, though they happened during the past administration, remains an agenda of justice that the present administration has the duty to resolve.

Miranda said, “unresolved and unrelenting spate of killings and intensifying trade union repression is a marked failure of the Duterte administration, notwithstanding his epic fail on the issue of endo or contractualization, wage hike, and its poor pandemic response.”

On SONA day, PM members with their “ENDO30” props will be joining the “Despedida” rally led by the Movement against the Anti-Terrorism Act (MATA) at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) grounds.

PM will also be part of the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition Women’s Committee morning contingent who will submit their findings and recommendations to the CHR on the impact of COVID-19 protocols on human rights and labor rights.

24 July 2021

Reinstate fired Foodpanda riders--rights group

 

The motorcycle riders’ rights group Kapatiran ng Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong) called for the reinstatement of 43 riders based in Davao City who were suspended for 10 years by food delivery company Foodpanda. The app suspended about a hundred “accounts” attached to the riders for planning a protest concerning the diminution in their income per delivery. Some riders were later reinstated after they allegedly provided information about the scheduled protest.

 

Don Pangan, Kagulong secretary-general, said that “We are one with the members of Davao United Delivery Riders Association Inc. whose members are Foodpanda riders from Davao City in their struggle for just pay and against the suspension of 43 riders for 10 years because they are exercising their right to express their grievances.”

 

The group also welcomed the move by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to call Foodpanda and the 43 riders to a dialogue to thresh out the issue. “We are also calling on the DOLE to deliver its commitment to convene the Technical Working Group represented by rider’s groups, trade unions, worker’s organizations and concerned government agencies to start the research and investigation that would lead to creating policy standards to protect the gig workers,” Pangan insisted.

 

Food panda riders turned offline for two days and staged a 500-strong unity ride last July 16 to protest the app’s wage policy because they noticed they had been earning less lately from each delivery.

 

Grievances and protests by food delivery riders are increasing amidst their high profile as frontliners and essential workers amidst the pandemic. Last November 18, 2020 Kagulong led some 700 Foodpanda riders in Metro Manila in a protest motorcade that ended in the DOLE main office in Intramuros. The riders aired their grievances about reduced pay, imposed penalties and the lack of transparency in their working conditions.

 

Pangan averred that “What happened with our brothers and sisters in Davao City clearly manifested the need to probe the employment status of gig workers to ensure just pay, benefits and job security,” Pangan insisted.

 

In a global study (http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/16880.pdf), labor researchers found out that food delivery riders launched the greatest number of protests among app or platform workers. The most prominent grievance concerned pay although employment status also figured as a secondary issue. In Asian countries such as Indonesia and India, gig workers have formed associations or unions. Similar organizing and struggles by food delivery riders in Europe, Australia and Latin America was also revealed in the study. 

Kapatiran ng Dalawang Gulong (Kagulong)

July 20, 2021

 

Belittling new surge in COVID-19 is perpetuating ‘kapalpakan’ – labor group

President Duterte’s downplaying of the impact of the new surge in COVID-19 cases is unsettling rather than reassuring, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement Tuesday, as the rise in new cases of infection is happening in the face of vaccine shortage and persistent unemployment.

“Kung ang kalapit nating bansa ay nakaalpas na sa pandemya matapos ang isang taon, tapos tayo ay tumataas pa ang kaso, meron tayong problema: MALAKI, hindi maliit,” declared PM Chair Renato Magtubo on his social media post.

Magtubo, who is also a City Councilor of Marikina, said this is no time for leaders to understate a lingering problem especially if this leadership is facing a backlash over its mishandling of the crisis over the last twelve months.

The President’s statement came after the #DutertePalpak hashtag trended online on Monday, coinciding with the anniversary of the declaration of hard lockdown in the National Capital Region (NCR).

It can also be recalled that when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic, Duterte even poked fun at the virus, saying it will die a natural death even without a vaccine.  He also introduced using gasoline for sanitizing facemasks.

“Mahirap nang bolahing muli ang mamamayan ngayon, lalo na ang milyong manggagawa na matapos ma-lockdown at mawalan ng trabaho noong nakaraang taon ay naka-lockout pa rin ngayon at nagtitiis sa gutom,” said Magtubo.

According to PM, aside from the 4.5 million jobless workers in 2020, many remain on a ’floating status’ after losing their jobs last year. And because they are out of work yet not being terminated, their status remains ‘employed but not at work’. The group said employers resort to floating their workers indefinitely to avoid paying them separation benefits.

Magtubo said the re-imposition of curfew, or worse, a new hard lockdown would discourage more workers to find new jobs or for businesses to resume full operations.

“So, hindi ito maliit na problema, Mr. President. Ang totoong nakita kasi ng manggagawa sa nakalipas na taon ay ang maliit ninyong solusyon,” concluded Magtubo.

PM, together with Nagkaisa labor coalition, have been pushing for balik-trabahong ligtas and the rollout of income and employment guarantees to address unemployment problems and enhance the capacity of the state on health and climate response.

16 March 2021

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

Hit hardest by the pandemic, women workers call for 'ayuda', jobs, and protection of labor rights

Mass layoff and income losses continue to mount despite the easing of restrictions and the initial rollout of vaccination. Needless to say, the combination of health, economic, and education crises one year under the pandemic is hitting women the hardest when they assumed added burdens as confirmed in several studies.

It is for this reason that members of the Nagkaisa labor coalition were demanding another round of ‘ayuda’ or income support, public employment program, and the protection of labor rights as the group kicks off with its celebration of the women’s month with a rally Thursday at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

“Isang taon na ang pandemya pero two months lang ang ayuda sa manggagawa. At dahil walang dagdag na ayuda at bagong trabaho, parami pa ng parami ang nagugutom at ang ekonomiya ay hindi rin makabangon. Sa gitna ng kapabayaang ito ng gubyerno ay ang walang kaparis na sakripisyo ng kababaihan bilang breadwinner, caregiver, nanay, at titser,” said Judy Miranda, head of the coalition’s women’s committee and also the secretary general of Partido Manggagawa (PM).

Joining the DOLE action, Miranda said, were women workers who lost their jobs from the continuing company retrenchments, and those who have pending cases before the labor department over illegal dismissals, union-busting, unpaid wages, 13th month, and separation pay, among others.

A scheduled dialogue with the DOLE right after the rally may give workers from the export zones in Cavite, Laguna, Cebu, as well as the teaching and non-teaching personnel in private universities, a chance to seek immediate resolution of their cases and concerns pending before the department which they accuse of imposing social-distancing with the workers.

And as tensions rise between workers and employers due to this lingering crisis, workplace and domestic violence become common, further victimizing women in varying degrees, thus, the workers’ demand for the immediate ratification of ILO’s Convention 190.

“At a time when misogyny is now being normalized in various ways, ILO Convention 190 is precisely what we need today,” said Nice Coronacion, Deputy Secretary General of the Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro). Women workers were also demanding full protection of their rights as more employers resorted to imposing austerity and anti-union schemes, including union-busting.

"Using the pandemic as an excuse, Provision Gloves Apparel closed its factory in Batangas, only to find out that their main factory remains in operation, under a different name. Management is busting our union and avoiding collective bargaining. This should stop," said Jessica Guerrero, PGA Union-FFW president said.

For her part, Annie Geron, President of the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), argued that quality public service requires a healthy and well-protected workforce both in the frontlines and administrative functions.

“Quality evades public service when bosses at the top are also the ones who deny their workers’ the right to form unions and bargain for better working conditions,” said Geron, referring to how senior government officials suppress unionization efforts of their rank-and-file members.

NAGKAISA  Labor Coalition-Women’s Committee

4 March 2021

Workers to spend Christmas at Laguna picketline

 

 

Workers of a glass factory in Laguna are spending their holidays on the picketlines as their labor dispute continues unresolved. Some 200 employees, about a dozen of whom are women, were terminated as Arcya Glass Corporation in Calamba, Laguna filed for permanent closure in November 16. However, the Arcya Glass Employees Union is accusing the company of union busting as the factory continues to operate with a reduced workforce.

 

“We believe that Arcya Glass is feigning closure as a way to bust the union and replace regular workers with contractual employees who will work for less wages and benefits. Despite the alleged closure, a skeletal force is working and trucks from Pedraja Trucking are ferrying bottles from the factory for delivery to Arcya’s customers,” stated Joseph Legada, president of the Arcya Glass Employees Union.

 

“The mass layoffs in Laguna and elsewhere are symptomatic of the pandemic of job loss that is happening without effective intervention by the government. This ties in with news reports that 4.5 million are unemployed this year and 2.2 million are also out of work but are not officially jobless only because they stopped looking for work. The restricted definition of unemployment limits it only to the jobless who are actively looking for work in the last six months,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

He added that “Moreover, we are seeing that capitalists are exploiting the covid-19 crisis to bust unions and shift to contract work. This is shown by the experience of the Arcya Glass Employees Union and the First Glory labor union in the Mactan ecozone.”

 

Last November 27 the garment firm First Glory Apparel in the Mactan ecozone fired 300 workers, including all the union officers. The union has a pending petition for certification election. A rally of terminated First Glory workers last November 30 was broken up by police and led to the arrest of five union officers and labor organizers. The so-called MEPZ 5 were later released as their cases for “disobedience to person in authority” were dismissed.

 

Arcya Glass put workers on one-month forced leave in March 15 as the covid lockdown started. The company then filed for temporary closure until October 15. Finally the company declared permanent closure on November 16. The Arcya Glass Employees Union has a pending case for unpaid benefits at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board and a complaint for illegal closure and union busting at the National Labor Relations Commission.

 

Magtubo insisted that “We demand that Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello convene a dialogue with labor groups on the continued hemorrhage of jobs inside and outside of the ecozones. We also ask Secretary Bello to remind police that existing DOLE-PEZA-PNP rules on labor disputes prohibit security personnel from harassing workers’ concerted actions.”

 

Photos of the Arcya workers protest can be accessed at

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10158723479239323

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10158678405269323.

December 24, 2020

Partido Manggagawa Demands the Release of Five Unionists Arrested in Cebu

As workers commemorated Bonifacio Day in a nationally coordinated action, Partido Manggagawa (Labor Party) demanded the release of unionists Dennis Derige, Myra Opada, Joksan Branzuela, Jonel Labrador, and Cristito Pangan.

 

Opada is the union president at Philippine Light Leather, Pangan is the union president at First Glory Apparel while Derige, Branzuela and Labrador are union organizers.

 

The Mactan Economic Zone has been a site of struggle between local labor and foreign capital.  Last Friday, Nov. 27th, some 300 workers of the First Glory Apparel were fired -- the latest in the surge of mass layoffs at garment firms in the zone in the past three months.  The Sports City group of companies laid off 4,000 workers, Yuenthai fired 200 workers, FCO laid off 100 workers and Kor Landa retrenched 67 workers.

 

To mark Bonifacio Day, members of the Mactan Ecozone Workers Alliance, Partido Manggagawa, and Sentro assembled at Gate 3 and marched to Gate 2 where they held a program highlighting the Zone capitalists' attack on the right of workers to unionize, bargain collectively, seek redress of grievance and assemble peacefully. However, police broke up the rally and arrested the five unionists.

 

Rene Magtubo of PM called for an end to the repression of labor rights and the harassment of human rights defenders.  "Activism is not terrorism," said Magtubo.  "This is precisely the theme of today's national and global commemoration of Bonifacio Day."

 

The arrest of the PM Cebu labor organizers underscores the escalating attacks on workers' rights in the country, said Magtubo.  "It adds to the unsolved killings of unionists, busting of unions, and red-tagging of union activists." 

 

Last year, PM-Cavite labor organizer Dennis Sequena was brutally murdered while facilitating a labor seminar.  No one has been arrested, much less charged with his murder.

 

The impunity with which workers are fired in economic zones like Mactan, in the middle of a pandemic, graphically illustrates the inability of the government to ensure job security for native labor, and its puppetry toward foreign capital.  As employment shrinks steadily and dramatically in the country, the brunt of the double blow of a recession and a pandemic is felt most grievously by the Philippine working class.

Both business and govt must act to avert a social crisis—labor group

Photo by Patrick Adalin

The labor group Partido Manggagawa asserted that both business and government must act to avert the covid pandemic turning into a social crisis. This was the group’s reaction to the call by 32 business organizations for deficit spending by government for assistance to workers and the poor.

“Employers must bear temporary losses by paying wages to their workers during the lockdown. Businesses should go into deficit spending just like what they demand of government,” stated Rene Magtubo.

To illustate, he added that “We know of a parts supplier to car companies abroad that stopped operating this week without granting quarantine subsidy to more than 8,000 workforce and instead is applying for the P5,000 DOLE assistance to formal workers. This is a giant company that can very well afford to bear losses by paying wages during the lockdown.”

“Big businesses that employ more than 200 workers should be mandated to grant quarantine subsidy to its workers. These large establishments employ more than a third of all formal workers.”

According to PM, even micro, small and medium enterprises can shoulder temporary losses by paying quarantine subsidy to their workers. A microenterprise with 5 workers and P1.5 million in capitalization—the median numbers for the category—will incur P50,000 in quarantine subdidy for one month which translates to losses since there is no revenue. This P50,000 temporary loss is still just 3.3% of its total capitalization and should not lead to bankruptcy. These microenterprises number 850,000 and employ almost a third of all formal workers.

Magtubo explained that “For a median small enterprise with P7.5 million in capitalization and employing 50 workers, shouldering the quarantine subsidy of P10,000 in one month translates to a loss of 6.7% of their capital, which is still manageable.”

“But, assuming for the sake of argument that the SMSE sector is precisely what the government should assist, then the P5,000 DOLE assistance is wanting and must be raised to P10,000. This is what should be funded from the P280 billion in stimulus that business is proposing,” Magtubo insisted.

He furthered that “However this imply that large enterprises must take the cudgels for their own workers. But at present they are not doing that. So they must be compelled by a government order mandating that big firms pay quarantine subsidy to their workers. Employers have benefited from more than a decade of economic growth without sharing the bounty with their workers whose real wages have stagnated. Now that there is a crisis, employers are morally obliged not to pass on the burden to their hapless workers.”

March 21, 2020