Labor group slams firing of unvaccinated workers

 

Press Release

October 22, 2021

Partido Manggagawa

Contact Rene Magtubo @ 09178532905

 

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the opinion of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello that unvaccinated workers can be fired and their salaries withheld on the basis of an IATF resolution.

 

“While refusing unvaccinated workers to work in facilities prohibited by alert levels is a practical health measure that employers may impose, terminating them from work is a cure worse than the disease. We demand that Secretary Bello withdraw this statement,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM chair.

 

The group declared that the call to defend the jobs and wages of unvaccinated workers will be included in the demands to be raised in the motorcade tomorrow of the Alliance of Labor Leaders for Leni (ALL4Leni). The ALL4Leni contingent of the “Unang Arangkada ng TROPA” will assemble by 8:00 am in the vicinity of the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City. The motorcade will start by 9:00 am and wind its way around Quezon City before turning to EDSA and converge with other groups at the People Power Monument by 11:00 am.

 

Magtubo added that “We do not agree with the interpretation of Sec. Bello that the IATF resolution on alert levels can form the legal basis for terminating employees. Said resolution on vaccination is never and should never be part of just and authorized causes for terminating employment contracts. What can be done is place our workers in the order of priority in reporting for work based on alert levels, but never that their unvaccinated status be a ground for their termination.”

 

Following their expression of full support for the candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo, ALL4Leni called on their members and workers all over the country to join the “Unang Arangkada ng TROPA” this tomorrow, a nationally coordinated action calling for all sectors of society to unite and support the Team Robredo-Pangilinan (TROPA) in the May 2022 elections.

 

“TROPA will end the regime of killings and repression, and provide space for the labor movement to campaign for workers’ demands. That space is key since it is the movement that will win change,” Magtubo insisted. ###

After citing the Philippines as one of worst: Global union body asked to probe recent cases of workers repression

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asked the global union body, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), to investigate recent cases of violent dispersals of strikes and harassment of striking workers. The ITUC had listed the Philippines as among the worst countries for workers in its 2018 Global Rights Index.

“If the ITUC report had noted very recent developments like the violent dispersal of the strike at NutriAsia and the harassment of picketlines at Lakepower Converter and Dong Seung in the Cavite export processing zone, the Philippines might even rise from being number 8 to number 1 in the list of worst countries,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Magtubo was referring to the police dispersal last week of the picketline at the condiments giant NutriAsia that led to the arrest of a dozen workers and the wounding of several more. While in the strike at the electronics factory Lakepower Converter, two women workers were hurt when company and ecozone security guards repeatedly attacked the picketline in the dead of the night last December 2017. In the strike at the garments factory Dong Seung last month, ecozone guards tore down placards in the picketline and prevented striking workers from entering the Cavite export processing zone.

“All these incidents of impunity against labor rights at NutriAsia, Lakepower and Dong Seung are in blatant violation of the DOLE-PEZA-PNP Guidelines in the Conduct of Security Personnel During Labor Disputes. The guidelines was a reform enacted in response to findings by the International Labor Organization High Level Mission in 2009. Unfortunately the guidelines remain a piece of paper,” insisted Gerry Rivera, head of the newly established Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa.

Last Monday, some 200 members of PM and Kapatiran marched to the NutriAsia factory in solidarity with the striking workers. The groups are calling for a boycott of NutriAsia products such as Datu Puti, Silver Swan, UFC and Mang Tomas.

Tomorrow mediations meetings are to be held to resolve the pending disputes at Dong Seung and Lakepower. The DOLE National Office is calling the company and union of Lakepower to a meeting due to the termination of all seven union officers this month despite an agreement forged last April to reinstate all striking workers. Also the National Conciliation and Mediation Board in Cavite is meeting the management and union of Dong Seung because of the dismissal of 16 union officers.

“The mass termination of union officers at Lakepower and Dong Seung are black-and-white examples of union busting by companies. Workers in NutriAsia, Dong Seung, Lakepower and others are organizing in order to improve wages and working conditions but the response of employers is to suppress freedom of association,” concluded Rivera.

June 20, 2018

SLEX workers protest mass termination

Scores of toll employees of SLEX together and their supporters are holding a protest this afternoon in Laguna. The National Mediation and Conciliation Board regional office in Laguna is convening a hearing today due to workers of complaint of illegal dismissal.

Some 90 employees of the San Miguel Corp.-owned Manila Toll Expressway System, Inc. (MATES) are to be terminated en masse this month but are to be transferred to an outsourcing agency called PITC. Workers are alleging that the the scheme is a union busting and job contractualization manuever.

Randy Tuason, a leader of the MATES workers, declared that "We are demanding that workers be absorbed as regular employees in PITC and that the union also be recognized. It is utterly unfair to be demoted as probationary employees in an agency when we have worked as toll employees for years already."

The affected employees work the tolls from Alabang to Calamba, Laguna and onto Sto. Tomas, Batangas. A union was formed and certified as a bargaining agent just a few months ago.

In the first mediation hearing last week, no agreement was reached. MATES-SLEX said that they will consider the demand of the workers for absorption as regular employees. Workers also picketed the mediation hearing.

Rene Magtubo, chair of the militant group Partido Manggagawa, which is assisting the MATES workers, said that “Ending endo was supposed to be a policy shift of this administration. President Duterte kept repeating in dialogues with labor leaders that he wants to stop the prevalent practice of workers being transferred to agencies instead being hired as regular workers in principal companies. So why is this being allowed at SLEX?”

“If this is allowed at MATES-SLEX then it will be followed in other toll roads. Instead of toll payment interconnection as announced a few days ago, we will have rampant contractualization in the expressways. We call on the DOLE to intervene in this issue,” he added.

Photos of SLEX workers picket last week can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10155612446129323

September 20, 2017

KEPCO workers protest low pay, union repression

Photo by Allan DEfensor of Sun Star Cebu

Press Release

April 16, 2015

Workers of KEPCO-Salcon Power Corporation today held a noisy but peaceful protest action at its Naga City plant. In a show of force and expression of solidarity, members of both the rank-and-file and supervisory unions jointly participated in the protest.

“We call on the management KEPCO-Cebu to heed their workers just demands. We say enough of low wages that do not keep up with the rising costs of living. We say enough to harassment and intimidation of workers exercising their right to join unions,” asserted Alex Ponce, President of the rank and file union Kepco Cebu Employees Association - Workers Solidarity Network (KCEA - WSN) .

As workers protested in Naga, the National Conciliation and Mediation Board conducted another mediation hearing between union and management. The two KEPCO unions both filed notices of strike for union busting and unfair labor practice last April 8.

“There is an anomalous disconnect between pay and productivity in our industry. According to a survey on labor productivity, every worker in the energy sector generates P4.1 million in earnings annually but in comparison we are paid a meager about 5% yearly. Is this inclusive growth?” explained Lowell Sanchez, President of supervisory union Kepco Cebu Supervisors Association - Workers Solidarity Network (KCSA - WSN).

The two KEPCO unions, both affiliated to Workers Solidarity Network-SENTRO, are also demanding a stop to the harassment of union members and the reinstatement of two supervisory union officers who were fired for union activities.

The unions denounced management for “being intransigent” and even refusing to attend the mediation hearing with the supervisors union. “Apparently KEPCO’s tactic is be hardline in negotiations as it expects the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to prevent a strike through its assumption of jurisdiction powers. We appeal to the good sense of DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz against falling prey to KEPCO’s dirty play. We hope she stands true to her declaration that government intervention in labor disputes is now a thing of the past,” Sanchez declared.

The International Labor Organization along with local labor groups have previously criticized the abuse of the government’s power to assume jurisdiction as a suppression of the right to strike.

“KEPCO employees call on our fellow Filipinos for understanding and our fellow workers for solidarity. Our fight for fair wages is also the fight of Filipino workers who suffer low pay. Our fight for labor rights is also the fight of all workers who deserve a voice in the workplace. Ang laban ng KEPCO workers ay laban ng lahat,” explained Ponce.