Labor coalition worried over increasing dropout rate of women in the labor force

The women committee of Nagkaisa labor coalition is calling on the government to roll out a public employment program particularly designed to address the rising number of workers who are dropping out of the labor force, majority of them women.

 

“Women participation in the labor force has been chronically low and has even declined over the last few years, but this pandemic is forcing more women out of the labor force,” stated Nagkaisa women committee head Judy Miranda, citing the analysis made by economist JC Punongbayan.

 

In his article published in Rappler, Punongbayan explained that despite the unemployment rate dropping to 8.7% or 3.8 million from the highs of 10% in July and 17.7% in April, a significant number of employed persons – a whopping 2.23 million workers – also dropped out of the labor force from July to October when labor force participation rate fell to 58.7%. Employed persons in October are less by 1.47 million in October than in July.

 

Inactive members of the labor force are no longer included in the official count of unemployed Filipinos in a particular period. Majority of those who are not in the labor force from July to October are women, with 1.313 million or 153,000 higher than men (1.160 million). 

 

Nagkasia said the government’s recovery program, specifically on employment, must look into this feminization of the jobs crisis so that it can formulate appropriate measures in addressing this gender gap in employment.

 

“Not only is the pandemic forcing more women out of the labor force. Women’s unpaid work is also multiplied once economic activities in the formal sector of the services and the care economy are domesticated and made less visible,” said Miranda, who is also Secretary-General of Partido Manggagawa.

 

She added that still, unemployed women never run out of work as unpaid domestic labor simply replaces their lost hours of employment. A viable public employment program, including paid trainings, must be visible and accessible to women to avoid more dropouts in the labor force amid the lingering pandemic.

 

Nagkaisa is pushing for a public employment program as a strategy for economic recovery and sustainable development. Included in Nagkaisa’s Unemployment Support and Wage Assistance Guarantee (USWAG) proposal is the provision of wage subsidy for the micro and small enterprises, public employment for the unemployed, including paid trainings, and expansion in the public sector sector to take on social tasks such as upgrading the public health system, developing renewable energy and carrying out mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change (climate jobs).

NAGKAISA Labor Coalition

Women Committee

9 December 2020

Workers’ march at Ayala calls on pols to address wages & jobs

Press Release

October 7, 2015

Several hundred workers from labor groups under the coalition Nagkaisa are marching this afternoon along Ayala Ave. to dramatize the call for job security and a living wage as their way of commemorating World Decent Work Day. The marchers will assemble at the Makati Fire Station at 3:00 pm and then will march by 4:00 pm around the country’s premier business district.

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) is challenging politicians to spell out platforms addressing voters’ urgent concerns on the erosion of wages due to inflation and the generation of regular jobs.

“Everyday we see candidates declaring their intent to run but we hardly hear their platform for workers and the poor. Para lumawak ang tuwid na daan, manggagawa naman! Para walang maiiwan, manggagawa naman! Ang Makati, hindi lang dapat paraiso sa mga negosyante, manggagawa naman! We dare the national candidates to state what concrete steps they will do to resolve the problem of wages and jobs,” averred Rene Magtubo, PM chairperson.

 “Concretely, we are asking candidates to make a stand on the security of tenure bill meant to regulate the abusive practice of contractualization. And also their commitment to achieving a living wage through a combination of wage hikes, basic goods discounts, tax exemptions and social security subsidies,” Magtubo clarified.

For this year, the World Decent Work Day has a theme of “End Corporate Greed.” The call for decent work is given a local flavor by a recent survey that reveals the most pressing issues of Filipino voters are inflation, wages and employment.

“What is the use of economic growth if wages are frozen, and jobs are not enough and contractual in status? Para sa totoong pag-unlad, manggagawa naman! Handa ba ang mga kandidato na salubungin ang Apat na Dapat?,” Magtubo argued.

He listed the Apat na Dapat as “1. Mababang presyo, 2. Sapat na sweldo, 3. Regular na trabaho,  at 4. Matinong serbisyo publiko.”

“In PAL, more than 5,500 workers have been retrenched in a series of mass layoffs since 1998 and they were all replaced by agency contractuals in a brutal outsourcing scheme meant to bust unions. Yesterday contractuals, called talents, in GMA-7 won their regularization case. This followed a similar move in 2010 by ABS-CBN talents for recognition as regular workers. From malls to factories to offices, contractuals are supplanting regulars. So we ask the candidates, ok ba silang endo pa more?,” Magtubo ended.

Advisory: Workers to march along Ayala Ave

MEDIA ADVISORY

October 7, 2015

Contact: Wilson Fortaleza @ 09158625229, 09432843919

To observe Decent Work Day and dare pols on wages & jobs:

Workers to march along Ayala Ave

WHAT: March by hundreds of workers under the Nagkaisa labor coalition

WHEN: Today, October 7, 2015; Assembly 3 pm, March 4 pm

WHERE: Assembly @ Makati Fire Station, March along Ayala Ave.

DETAILS: Both to commemorate the global day of decent work and to challenge national candidates on the urgent issues of wage hikes and regular jobs, several hundred members of labor groups under the coalition Nagkaisa will march on Ayala Ave., the country’s leading business district.

Among those marching are contingents from Partido Manggagawa (PM) and PALEA which has launched renewed protests as a result of another mass layoff at Philippine Airlines.

Today's global day for decent work is organized annually by the International Trade Union Confederation and has a theme of “End Corporate Greed” for this year. The call for decent work is given a local flavour by recent survey that the most urgent concerns of Filipino voters are the erosion of wages due to inflation and the generation of regular jobs.

“Enough of motherhood statements and hollow slogans. We dare the presidential candidates to spell out concrete steps in their platforms on addressing the issue of wages and jobs,” insist Rene Magtubo, PM chairperson. ###

Workers to dare pols on wages & jobs issues with a march along Ayala Ave.

Press Release

October 6, 2015

With more candidates declaring their intention to run for national office, the militant labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) challenged politicians to spell out platforms addressing voters’ urgent concerns on the erosion of wages due to inflation and the generation of regular jobs. Several hundred workers from labor groups under the coalition Nagkaisa are marching tomorrow afternoon along Ayala Ave. to dramatize the call for job security and a living wage.

“Everyday we see candidates declaring their intent to run but we hardly hear their platform for workers and the poor. Enough of motherhood statements and hollow slogans. We dare the national candidates to state what concrete steps they will do to resolve the problem of wages and jobs,” insist Rene Magtubo, PM chairperson.

The march is also in observance of Global Decent Work Day, an annual event sponsored by the International Trade Union Confederation to highlight workers demands. Among those marching are contingents from PM and the union PALEA which has launched renewed protests as a result of another mass layoff at Philippine Airlines (PAL).

“Concretely, we are asking candidates to make a stand on the security of tenure bill meant to regulate the abusive practice of contractualization. And also their commitment to raising salaries through a combination of wage hikes, basic goods discounts, tax exemptions and social security subsidies,” Magtubo clarified.

The World Decent Work Day has a theme of “End Corporate Greed” for this year. The call for decent work is given a local flavour by a recent survey that reveals the most pressing issues of Filipino voters are inflation, wages and employment.

“What is the use of economic growth if wages are frozen, and jobs are not enough and contractual in status? Para sa totoong pag-unlad, manggagawa naman! Handa ba ang mga kandidato na salubungin ang Apat na Dapat?,” Magtubo argued.

He listed the Apat na Dapat as “1. Mababang presyo, 2. Sapat na sweldo, 3. Regular na trabaho,  at 4. Matinong serbisyo publiko.”

“In PAL, more than 5,500 workers have been retrenched in a series of mass layoffs since 1998 and they were all replaced by agency contractuals in a brutal outsourcing scheme meant to bust unions. Yesterday contractuals, called talents, in GMA-7 won their regularization case. This followed a similar move in 2010 by ABS-CBN talents for recognition as regular workers. From malls to factories to offices, contractuals are supplanting regulars. So we ask the candidates, ok ba silang endo pa more?,” Magtubo ended.

Bad policies behind rising unemployment -- PM

PRESS RELEASE

11 February 2012

It is not the bad weather but a combination of bad policies that is driving the country’s unemployment rate up, the workers’ group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement, in reaction to Malacanang’s “understandable” description of the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey on unemployment.

 

“It is really sad to see the unemployment numbers rising but we are more troubled with the fact that after more than three years in office, the Aquino administration has yet to understand the root cause of this chronic problem.  And it’s not about the weather,” declared PM chair Renato Magtubo.

 

The number of unemployed Filipinos, according to the SWS, swelled to more than 12.1 million in 2013. Malacanang, however, meekly "understood" it as an outcome of Yolanda, the Bohol earthquake and the Zamboanga siege. 

 

The group asserted that while climate change is now becoming the biggest threat especially to most vulnerable countries like the Philippines, bad policies remain the biggest obstacle to the country’s development, more so in the midst of worsening climate crisis. 

 

“Trade liberalization both in industry and agriculture, lack of industrial program, and the privatization-led growth model were to blame in this chronic problem of unemployment in the country,” said Magtubo, adding that since the country implemented those programs in the 80’s, “growth had not only been jobless but highly unequal.”

 

The group pointed out, based on its own review of the country’s development pattern during the past 30 years, it was every clear that growth years never translated into jobs while economic gains benefited only a few families. 

 

“Except for crises years of 1984-85, 1991, 1992 and 1998, the remaining 25 years between 1980 and 2013 were all 'growth years,' the highest rates during the last decade, including the 6.8% in 2012.  But the unemployment rate remained flat,”explained Magtubo.

 

The former partylist representative added that the only period where the unemployment rate in the country fell to single digit was when the government changed employment definitions in 2005, reducing in effect the number of unemployed persons by some 1.4 million. 

 

Magtubo said that unless the Aquino government and the ruling elite change course by reversing those bad policies, they will be punishing not only the present but even the future generation of workers.

 

More than half of the unemployed, both in the SWS and the NSO surveys, are those in age group 18-24.

 

He also warned that the unemployment problem is a “ticking time bomb”, a social problem that is due to explode unless addressed decisively by the present government.

Leyte groups: Engage people in Yolanda rehab

Press Release

January 10, 2014

Informal workers associations in Leyte are asking the government to engage with people’s organizations in the planning and implementation of the Yolanda rehabilitation in the face of allegations of overpriced and substandard bunkhouses.

“Aside from the opinions of experts, the participation of the people themselves is vital in the success of the Yolanda rehab plan. Yolanda survivors should not just be passive recipients of aid but active stakeholders in the reconstruction process. We demand transparency and people’s participation,” asserted Judy Torres, chair of the Tacloban City tricycle federation and coordinator of Partido ng Manggagawa in Region 8.

Last December 30, Torres’ group held a motorcade around Tacloban of a hundred tricycles which were garbed in tarp posters with the message “Make jobs a priority in Yolanda rehab.” The motorcade signalled the launch of the campaign for decent employment, social protection and people’s participation as pillars of Yolanda rehabilitation plan. A representative of the International Labor Organization (ILO) observed and documented the campaign launch.

Torres averred that “People’s organizations can also serve as watchdogs against graft and corruption in the rehab process. Even more than the problem of temporary shelter, the input of the people is crucial in the issue of permanent housing. We insist on in-city relocation and climate-resilient socialized housing program for informal settlers.”

Some of the controversial bunkhouses are being built near Torres’ home and he does not believe they can cost almost a million each. He also attests to the fact that the contractors are not locals and even the laborers came from Mindanao.

He added that “Every cent of the USD 8.17 billion Reconstruction Assistance of Yolanda must be spent to meet the immediate and long-term needs of survivors. We also ask that locals be employed as workers with decent jobs as a guideline.”

The Tacloban tricycle federation together with drivers associations in Hilongos and Baybay, Leyte have issued a manifesto calling for decent employment to be a priority in the rehab plan. The demand echoes an ILO report that stated that more need to be done to provide decent work in the Yolanda affected areas that includes ensuring minimum wages, sound occupational safety, skills development and social protection.

“Decent jobs are a necessity since it is a guarantee to a person’s long-term security and a life of dignity” Torres argued.

Ping asked to dialogue with groups calling for role in Yolanda rehab

Press Release

December 31, 2013

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called on Yolanda rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson, agencies involved in the reconstruction plan and international aid groups to dialogue with workers associations in Leyte demanding decent jobs and people’s participation.

Yesterday a motorcade of a hundred tricycles garbed in tarp posters with the message “Make jobs a priority in Yolanda rehab,” went around Tacloban City and were warmly received by typhoon survivors. The motorcade signaled the launch of the campaign for decent employment, social protection and people’s participation as bedrocks of Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction plan.

“Yolanda survivors should be treated as citizens not beggars. It behooves Ping, rehab agencies and donor countries to engage with the Leyte informal workers in the reconstruction plan. Inclusive growth is mere lip service, people empowerment is just a buzz word without the actual participation of organized groups at the grassroots,” insisted Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

Before the motorcade, the tricycle drivers attended a noon mass at the Sto. Nino Church. A gathering and small salu-salo followed the motorcade at the church’s social hall where family members and other Yolanda survivors gathered to hear the groups’ manifesto and affirm their commitment to the collective struggle of rebuilding their lives and their communities.

“In the rehabilitation and rebuilding process, we do not want to just revert back to where we were before Yolanda. We want a new community–a better community,” declared Judy Torres, PM-Region 8 coordinator and chair of the Tacloban Federation of MCH (Motor Cabs for Hire) Drivers and Operators Associations, Inc. (TAFEMDO).

The campaign came days after the government announced the US$8.17-billion or P361-B plan under the so-called Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) which will be completed in four years.

In a joint manifesto signed by TAFEMDO, Trisikad Operators and Drivers Organization of Hilongos, Leyte, Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa-Region 8 and PM, the groups explained that prior to the onslaught of Yolanda, they were already living miserable lives since transporting people around the city through motorized and non-motorized cabs for hire was their only source of income. 

“Our priority demand is decent jobs because it is a guarantee to a person’s long-term security and a life of dignity,” said Torres, adding that while everybody was devastated it is the poor that suffered most.

He added that “Today’s extreme weather systems are the awful outcome of climate change caused by unrestrained economic activities of industrial countries. Thus, we believe that more than the humanitarian aspect, developed countries have the historical, moral, and social responsibility to come to our aid.”

Workers in Region 8 demand employment, people’s participation in Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction plan

PRESS RELEASE

30 December 2013

Declaring they won’t beg and live on relief and aid forever, several associations of workers in the informal sector in Region 8 today launched a campaign demanding employment, social protection and people’s participation as bedrocks of Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction plan to address not just the immediate but also the long term needs of Pepe and Pilar.

The campaign came days after the government announced the US$8.17-billion or P361-B plan under the so-called Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) which will be completed in four years or by 2017.

Held in Tacloban City, the campaign launch was spearheaded by tricycle and trisikad drivers and operators (TODA’s) in Tacloban, Hilongos and Baybay, in coordination with the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM). 

After attending a twelve noon mass at the Sto. Nino Church, TODA members held a motorcade around Tacloban City with posters bearing the call, “Make jobs a priority in Yolanda rehab”, wrapped around their trikes.  A gathering and small salu-salo followed the motorcade at the Church’s Social Hall where family members and other Yolanda survivors gathered to hear the groups’ manifesto and affirm their commitment to the collective struggle of rebuilding their lives and their communities.

In a joint Manifesto signed by the Tacloban Federation of MCH Drivers and Operators Associations, Inc. (TAFEMDO), the Hilongos-based Trisikad Operators and Drivers Organization (TODO), and Partido ng Manggagawa-Region 8, the groups explained that prior to the onslaught of Yolanda (Haiyan), they already were living poor, miserable lives since transporting people around the city through motorized and non-motorized cabs for hire was their only source of income. 

The Rebolustonaryong Alyansang Makabansa (RAM) in Leyte also signed the manifesto in solidarity with the workers.

“Because income is irregular in this nature of work, we earn less than what we need.  This condition likewise explains why many of us, together with other poor people, live in urban poor communities where we face recurrent and extreme vulnerabilities from both man-made and natural calamities.  In other words, we are poor, defenceless and were unprepared to face the strongest typhoon in history,” read the manifesto.

Jobs as priority

According to Judy Torres, regional coordinator of Partido ng Manggagawa, this was the main reason why they were urging the government and donor agencies to make jobs a priority in Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction plans.  

“We want jobs because it is a guarantee to a person’s long-term security and a life of dignity,” said Torres, adding that while everybody was devastated it is the poor that suffered most.

“We want to rebuild our lives.  We want to rebuild our communities.  Hence, in the rehabilitation and rebuilding process, we do not want to just revert back to where we were before Yolanda.  We want a new community – a better community,” added the manifesto.

Torres, who also chairs TAFEMDO, added that aside from providing employment, “the State must also provide victims of Yolanda a broad range of social protection to enable them to live a more secure life in the face of the ‘new normal’ and the worsening climate crisis.”

The workers’ groups also called on the government, both national and local, to put their act together in formulating a new type of rehabilitation and rebuilding plan, saying people at this point in time are not interested in squabbles and personal plans among politicians.

“What you owe us is immediate, climate-resilient, inclusive, and empowering rehabilitation and rebuilding program,” said the groups, stressing further that in the rebuilding process, direct participation by the people is far more important than private consultants and contractors.

International responsibility

The groups likewise urged donor countries and international aid agencies that once the relief and life-saving stage is over, “we enjoin you to help us build a new model community out of the ruins of Yolanda.” 

They further stated: “While we clearly understand that it was Nature’s wrath that made our lives more miserable now, we are also aware that today’s extreme weather systems are the awful outcome of climate change caused by unrestrained economic activities of industrial countries. Thus, we believe that more than the humanitarian aspect, developed countries have the historical, moral, and social responsibility to come to our aid.”

Specific demands

The TODA groups in Tacloban have come up with specific demands addressed to concerned government agencies, international donors, as well as the Church and civic groups.  These include:

§        Jobs for displaced TODA members and for unemployed Taclobanons.

§        Moratorium on payment of fees, specifically the renewal of business permits for FY 2014.

§        Financial assistance for motor/cab repairs or for acquisition of new units.

§        Fuel subsidy for registered TODA members.

§        Mandatory SSS and Philhealth coverage for TODA members through national government or local government sponsorship programs.

§        In-city relocation and climate-resilient socialized housing program for informal settlers.

§        Participation in the rehabilitation and rebuilding process.

Except for some specific items, the same set of demands will be pursued by workers associations in Hilongos and Baybay. 

The groups said they are making this appeal not as mere victims of Yolanda but as Filipino citizens who are entitled to the broadest social protection possible from the State.

“Finally, we believe that everything is possible as long as everyone considers the task of rehabilitation and rebuilding a collective mission and the dream for a new community rising out of Yolanda ruins a common vision,”  concluded the manifesto.

Advisory: Launch of campaign for employment and people’s participation in Yolanda rehab

MEDIA ADVISORY

December 30, 2013

Contact: Judy Torres @ 09262389963; 09482495848

Launch of campaign for employment and people’s participation in Yolanda rehab

WHAT: Mass and motorcade to highlight launch of Yolanda rehab campaign  

WHEN: Today, December 30 (Monday), 12 noon

WHERE: Sto. Nino Church then motorcade around Tacloban City and finally a program at the church social hall

DETAILS: The campaign will demand that employment, social protection and people’s participation be bedrocks of the Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction plan in order to address not just the immediate but also the long term needs of Pepe and Pilar.
                The campaign is to be launched by tricycle and trisikad drivers and operators in Tacloban, Hilongos and Baybay, in coordination with the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

 The groups will attend a noon mass at the Sto. Nino Church after which they will hold a motorcade around Tacloban City with posters bearing the call, “Make jobs a priority in Yolanda rehab”, wrapped around their trikes.  The motorcade will end at the church for a gathering and small salu-salo at the social hall where family members and other Yolanda survivors will hear the groups’ manifesto.

Labor urges gov’t to make employment, building new communities a priority in post-Yolanda rehab

PRESS RELEASE

28 November 2013

Tacloban City and the rest of typhoon-ravaged places in Regions 8, 7 and 6 must be rehabilitated and rebuilt based on a framework of building the people’s capacity to survive calamities and live a secure and dignified life thereafter, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

“A new model of community must be built out of the ruins of Yolanda. Employment must be a top priority since it is regular income that gives people a sense of long-term security and a life of dignity,” said PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza. 

Fortaleza pointed out that since the private sector where the government completely relies on job generation is not capable, prior to and after Yolanda, of providing employment to the poor people of these particular regions, the rehabilitation plan must therefore include a medium to long-term public employment program where the State plays a key role. 

“Such program may include social service activities such as healthcare, climate-resilient mass housing projects, education and skills training, as well as building new, smart and renewable power and transport systems that would create green jobs, among others,” added Fortaleza. 

The labor group likewise stressed that if “Yolanda” is the “new normal” vis-à-vis climate change, then the government must not stay on a normal mode of asking, repacking, and delivering relief goods from northern countries in the face of 20 Yolandas in every semester of the whole year.

“There must be a shift – from relief operations to building prepared and secured communities,” said Fortaleza.

He added that northern countries whose high carbon emissions produce many Yolandas in the Pacific must be made to pay for a climate debt they owe to poor nations such as the Philippines – the compensation coming from them must be utilized for building new kind of communities.  

However, the labor group finds it very unfortunate that this country had been, up to this moment, is under the rule of the Ilustrado class whose vision of the country cannot go beyond the insular demand of their pockets. 

“It’s very clear that government’s failure in Yolanda, both national and local, is the failure of trapo politics,” said Fortaleza

On Saturday, November 30 and the 150^th birth anniversary of working class hero Andres Bonifacio, Partido ng Manggagawa will join the NAGKAISA! coalition march to Mendiola to raise the many working class issues that past and present governments failed to address, including climate crisis.

Workers hold counter SONA, challenge PNoy’s social transformation agenda

Press Release

July 25, 2011

Some 1,000 members from different workers groups comprising the anti-contractualization coalition KONTRA held a labor counter SONA at Mendiola this morning. Renato Magtubo, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) national chairperson, slammed PNoy for anti-labor policies in his first year in office.

“How can social transformation be real when groups calling for social change are blocked miles away from hearing distance of PNoy and Congress? Social transformation is impossible without political and economic reforms,” he said.

In the afternoon, PM, KONTRA, Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) joined the multisectoral groups Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and Kampanya para sa Makataong Pamumuhay (KAMP) in a march from Tandang Sora to Batasang Pambansa. Meanwhile youth groups such as PM-Kabataan and Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (SDK) assembled at Philcoa, Quezon City then merged with PM and the multisectoral groups in the march along

Commonwealth Ave.

Gerry Rivera, PM vice chair and PALEA president argued that “After one year of PNoy, there is no new program to generate jobs, no new mechanism to increase workers wages and no change in the no-union policy in the ecozones. PNoy has given the go signal for contractualization at Philippine Airlines (PAL). He has praised Hanjin’s investments but has been silent on the deaths and injuries of workers at the shipyard-cum-graveyard. PNoy has continued with sacrificing labor rights at the ecozones to attract foreign capital.”

Labor counter SONAs were also held in other cities. In Metro Cebu, PM and other groups under the coalition Kahugpungan sa Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Sugbo (KANAMASO) marched this morning from Sto. Rosario Church to downtown Colon. In Metro Davao, PM massed up at Magsaysay Park then marched along

Magsaysay Ave.

to Orcullo Park for the rally. In Iloilo, PM held a forum at UP-Iloilo and also a press conference to air its reaction to the SONA.

“Workers challenge PNoy to jumpstart his so-called social transformation agenda by reversing the Office of the President decision on PAL, declaring the security of tenure bill as a priority agenda and implementing a massive public employment program,” insisted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.

Absent major policy reforms, there will be no social transformation

PRESS STATEMENT

Church-Labor Conference (CLC)

Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktwalisasyon (KONTRA)

25 July 2011

President Aquino’s communication advisers said the President’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) will focus more on ‘social transformation’.  What would that mean in real sense, however, largely depend on how Filipinos would view their lives today and in the immediate future.  And for the masang Pinoy who have been used to hearing nice words from their leaders, this new buzzword assumes no meaning at all unless accompanied by major policy reforms. 

For unemployed workers, their ‘transformation’ would mean having stable and good paying jobs.  For contractual workers, that would mean regular and secured jobs.  For the homeless, that would mean decent homes for the family.  For the poor, sick, and old, that would mean universal healthcare and pension systems.  For the youth, that would mean free education and brighter future.  For migrant workers, that would mean a secured environment back home.  For women, that would mean more freedom and equal opportunity.

For the economy, that would mean a departure from the old system and the creation of a new roadmap for development.  In politics, that would mean an end to elite rule and the establishment of a truly democratic government.

Absent these policy changes, the much-hyped ‘social transformation’ would remain an empty phrase.  And unfortunately during Pnoy’s first year in office, the economic and labor policies that he upholds are more of the same.  He still clings to the free market economics of neoliberal globalization and upholds the policy of cheap labor and contractualization as manifested clearly in the case of Philippine Airlines and Hanjin. 

Thus, different labor groups gathered today in Mendiola and in Batasan to challenge the President that major steps must be done beyond his tuwid na daan battlecry.  So beyond the push for good governance, the manggagawang Pinoy are asking PNoy to: (1) put an end to contractualization; (2) push the passage of Security of Tenure bill; (3) implement a public guaranteed jobs program; (4) declare a moratorium on demolitions; and (5) formulate a social protection package for displaced workers in the form of unemployment insurance and the like to address the problems of the displaced workers.

SIGNED

Philippine Airline Employees Association (PALEA)

Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Hanjin (SAMAHAN)

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM)

Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN)

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)

National Union of Building and Construction Workers-National Confederation of Labor (NUBCW-NCL)

Urban Missionaries (UM)

Archdiocese of Manila Labor Center (AMLC)

P-Noy gets failing mark, make up assignment from labor

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PRESS RELEASE
30 June 2011

Greatly disappointed with President Aquino’s performance during his first year in office, the militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM)  gave P-Noy a failing mark, specifically for making the Philippine Airlines (PAL) the flag carrier of his labor contractualization policy and for perpetuating the country’s pro-capitalist economic policies.

PM joined other groups in a rally for social protection held at the Mendiola bridge today organized by the Kampanya para sa Makataong Pamumuhay (KAMP).  KAMP is calling on the government to install social protection policies to prevent the vulnerable sectors of Philippine society from further impoverishment. 

“P-Noy failed labor the very first day he assumed office and he continue to do so by making labor contractualization his major policy stand,” stated PM Chair Renato Magtubo. 

But more than just designating a failing mark, the labor group is giving P-Noy a load of assignments in order to make up and stay relevant, lest he squander the next five years doing things that have no impact on the lives of the working class.

Magtubo said his group is putting forward its “Apat Na Dapat” agenda for the government to consider.  These include:
1. Regular jobs, not contractual employment;
2. Public Employment Program for the unemployed;
3. Healthcare coverage for all; and
4. Moratorium on demolitions, evictions and foreclosures

Magtubo said this four-way test for P-Noy is not a mere menu of things to do as each item require a major reversal of current policies.  The Public Employment Program, for instance, would depart from the failed private sector led employment generation while healthcare for all would involve large amount of state subsidy – a policy renounced under privatization and market deregulation. 

Organized labor is also at odds with Malacanang since last year when Rosalinda Baldoz, President Aquino’s labor secretary, upheld Lucio Tan’s plan to layoff some 2,600 PAL employees and rehire them as contractual workers.  Although Malacanang has ruled in favour of Baldoz’ order, the outsourcing issue is still awaiting final resolution from the Office of the President. 

Contractualization, the labor group claims, depresses labor standards including income and job security. It exacerbates the unemployment and underemployment problems by transforming many jobs temporary in nature.

“Chronic unemployment and the proliferation of temporary and precarious jobs were the main reasons why many Pinoys suffer the life of indignity,” said Magtubo. A recent survey made by the Social Weather Station put the number of unemployed among adults to 11 million.

The labor leader and former partylist representative added that P-Noy made many bad things even worse by clinging onto the same economic policies imposed by previous administrations. 

“Unbridled liberalization prevented the growth of agriculture and local industry in the last three or four decades, thus, creating no solid base of employment for the growing labor force.  Deregulation and privatization on the other hand made Filipinos suffer more under the regime of high prices,” explained Magtubo.

PM calls for public employment program in response to unemployment

Press Release

May 26, 2011

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called on the government to create a public employment program in response to worsening unemployment under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. “Instead of flying off to Thailand to entice investors for PPP projects, PNoy should stay in the country and create an aggressive public employment program that will create millions of jobs. The PPP that workers want is not Public-Private Partnership but Programang Patrabaho para sa Pilipino,” asserted Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

The recent SWS survey showed that an additional one million Filipinos loss their jobs since November. This is in addition to more than a million more unemployed Filipinos since President Aquino took office. Unemployment was 20.5% when the Aquino administration started then jumped to 23.5% last November and further to 27.2% as of March.

“The public employment program should not be limited to street cleaning and whitewashing walls but must include restoring the environment and building housing for the poor aside from the usual public works projects. Given the sorry state of the environment and the backlog in public housing, just these two sectors are significant enough to provide millions of jobs for a start,” Magtubo stated. Aside from a public employment program, PM is calling on the government to discourage retrenchments and curb contractualization as immediate steps and then shift to a strategic policy of strengthening the local economy to generate jobs.

“The SWS survey showed that among the factors contributing to increased unemployment was contractualization and layoffs. The decision of the Labor Department and the Office of the President allowing Philippine Airlines to terminate and outsource some 3,000 jobs is sending the wrong signal to employers that it is ok for them to cut regular jobs then hire contractual workers,” Magtubo explained.

He added that “PNoy must end endo. He must stop contractualization. He must make a favorable decision on the motion for reconsideration of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association against the outsourcing scheme.” Endo is short for end of contract and a popular term for contractual workers losing their jobs before the maximum six-month probationary period before they are mandated to become regular employees.

“However the strategic solution to the unemployment and underemployment problem is to strengthen the local economy instead of weakening it by liberalization, privatization and deregulation. The worse controversy for the IMF is not the sex scandal of its former head but the collapse of domestic economies such as ours because of the bitter pill it has prescribed,” Magtubo argued.

He added that “Supporting the local economy means policies to promote domestic agriculture—among them agrarian reform—and national industrialization. Filipinos should have decent regular jobs in our country instead of being forced to seek greener pastures abroad.”

Workers group warn of unrest ala Tunisia and Egypt due to rising prices

Press Release
January 30, 2011

The labor party Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today warned of unrest in the country similar to the uprisings in the Arab countries due to the rising prices of food and oil combined with worsening unemployment and poverty. “PNoy must act boldly to address the food crisis, escalating inflation and deepening hardship of Filipinos. Nobody was able to predict the explosion in the Arab region and nobody can discount unrest in the Philippines due to similar conditions of widespread desperation especially among the youth,” claimed Gerry Rivera, PM vice chair.

“The prices of rice, sugar, oil, gas and fare among others are rising thus squeezing the stagnant wages and incomes of workers and the poor. If the government will not institute price control then it must subsidize the costs of basic goods and services together with increasing wages and providing jobs,” insisted Rivera.

PM also expressed its solidarity with the unraveling uprisings in the Arab. “Filipino workers welcome the Arab world’s own version of people power. Filipino migrant workers in Egypt and other Arab countries should not fear but be inspired by these expressions of people power. If anything they must learn the lessons of these rousing risings so that the fierce winds of change blowing in the Arab world can reach the shores of the Philippines,” Rivera stated.

PM warned that while the popular uprisings in the Arab countries are directed at the corrupt dictatorships, the underlying causes are the pervasive dissatisfaction at the lack of jobs and opportunities primarily among the youth but also among workers and even the middle class. “Globalization has ravaged the Arab region as much as the Philippines. Unemployment, contractualization, retrenchment, rising prices and stagnant wages are also the norm in Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan and Yemen. Everywhere the mass of the people have become poorer while only the elite have become richer under globalization,” Rivera explained.

He added “Today the unrest is expressed in the resistance of PAL workers against layoff and outsourcing. Tomorrow who knows if the struggle becomes generalized with high prices and food crisis making the lack of jobs and stagnant incomes unbearable?”

Rivera is also president of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) which is embroiled in a protracted fight with management over the planned termination of some 2,600 employees. “Like the PALEA dispute, PNoy should assume jurisdiction of the problem of prices, wages and jobs. And then his government must provide tactical solutions such as price control, government subsidies, public employment and regulation of contractualization together with strategic shifts in industrial, agricultural, economic and social policies,” Rivera insisted.

Labor party calls for reform of employment program for nurses

Press Release
January 18, 2011

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) welcomed but called for the reform of the employment program for nurses as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday started receiving applications for RN HEALS. The group also demanded that DOLE inspect hospitals for violations of labor standards including the charging of so-called on-the-job-training fees on registered nurses.

Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson, said that “Public employment programs are always a step in the right direction. Creating jobs for unemployed nurses and providing health care to rural areas is great. But RN HEALS leaves much to be desired because it fosters cheap white collar labor among less than 10% of the estimated number of unemployed registered nurses.”

PM is supporting the campaign of nursing groups for a stop to the practice of charging fees to trainee nurses. Magtubo added that “The exploitation of hundreds of thousands of young registered nurses must stop. Part of the DOLE’s mandate is the enforcement of labor laws and it must do its job in this respect. Instead of hospital owners challenging young nurses to file complaints, we demand that the DOLE make inspections of the health care facilities.”

He insists that paying nurses to be deployed in rural areas P8,000 in allowance is well below the Salary Grade 15 stipulated by law for entry-level public sector nurses. “Hazard pay, night differential and other allowances are also mandated for public sector nurses but DOLE is silent whether RN HEALS provides for such mandatory benefits,” Magtubo asserted.

“In Tunisia, a popular uprising was sparked by the desperate suicide of a 26-year old unemployed university graduate. That same hopelessness haunts the lives of more than a hundred thousand registered nurses who are unemployed and some 20,000 to 40,000 more that will be added when the next batch of nurses graduates in April. The problem of nurses who are unemployed, underemployed & abused is reaching crisis proportions and resulting in abuses like OJT fees. Meanwhile nurses who are employed are overworked but utterly underpaid,” Magtubo explained.

PM is pushing for nurses to be treated as probationary employees who are guaranteed minimum wages and other benefits plus the opportunity to become regular after the maximum of six months temporary status. “It is a triple whammy on young nurses to pay tuition fees while studying, then be denied a wage while working as a trainee and further be charged an exorbitant fee,” Magtubo declared.

“Young workers are in dire straits. Hotel and restaurant management students are being employed as trainees in the industry for no wages or below minimum labor standards. Dual tech student-workers are replacing regular workers in factories as another form of contractualization,” he clarified.