BPO workers group propose options to RTO

 

With two days to go before the April 8 deadline by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for BPO companies to apply for exemption from the Return-To-Office (RTO) order, an industry workers group proposed several alternatives to full on-site work. The Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) called on the Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to convene a social dialogue so that the options they are presenting can be discussed.

 

“BPO workers are appealing to the government that our voices be heard and that we be given a seat at the table since this concerns the safety and well-being of employees. BPO workers are the ones who will get sick in case of infections, will endure hours in traffic even as public transportation remains broken, and will have their lives disrupted as they relocate back to cities and business districts from the provinces,” stated Bryan Nadua, ICCAW spokesperson and works in a BPO in Metro Manila.

 

ICCAW also expressed its support for the groups BPO Employees for Leni and Kiko and the Coalition of IT-BPO for Leni-Kiko which are having a press conference tomorrow to air their grievances over the implementation of the RTO. The RTO order took effect last Friday, April 1, as the Department of Finance and the Fiscal Incentives Review Board insisted that BPOs as economic zones must be “exclusively conducted or operated within the geographical boundaries of the zone or freeport.” In a press conference attended by several BPO workers last March 27, ICCAW called the RTO an “April Fools’ prank on BPO workers.”

 

ICCAW is proposing the following alternatives to the RTO or full on-site work:

 

1. Hybrid setup where workers are 3 days on-site (workplace) and 2 days off-site (home)

2. 50/50 ratio: 50% of the workforce are on-site and 50% are working from home

3. Compressed work week: 4 days on-site on 11 hours shift (which includes 1-hour lunch and three 15-minute breaks)

4. Conversion of existing benefits like internet or electric allowance to transportation allowance once workers go on-site

5. 70/30 ratio as proposed by PEZA but the 70% of the workforce should be on hybrid set-up (3 days on-site at 2 days off-site)

 

Nadua emphasized that “Dialogue is key and workers participation is imperative. At the national level, BPO workers seek a meeting with Secretary Bello. At the sectoral level, the IT-BPO industry tripartite council must table options presented by workers. And at the firm level, management must hear the concerns of employees and their representatives.”

 

The Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) is a DOLE-registered workers’ association that was formed in 2012 out of the struggle of 667 employees of a call center in Cebu City which unceremoniously closed down. ICCAW has core groups in Metro Manila, Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo. ICCAW FB page: https://www.facebook.com/Inter-Call-Center-Association-of-Workers-ICCAW-649423938410656

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers

April 6, 2022

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

Transparent, tripartite probe asked of Cavite EPZA factory fire

With the massive factory fire at Cavite EPZA finally put out, the group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asked for a transparent probe and the participation of labor organizations as part of the tripartite system.

“Given the conflicting reports from government officials on the number of workers missing after the fire, it is imperative to conduct an investigation that is open and inclusive. It is also necessary to verify numerous eyewitness accounts of workers trapped inside the burning factory,” stated Dennis Sequena, PM-Cavite coordinator.

He noted the fact that yesterday Cavite Governor Crispin Remulla said six workers of House Technology Industries (HTI) were unaccounted for while Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Charito Plaza mentioned only one.

PM members trooped to the Cavite EPZA last Thursday morning to call for immediate aid to HTI workers and justice for the victims. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) later announced financial assistance for HTI workers.

“We call on DOLE and PEZA to form a Task Force Cavite EPZA that includes workers groups. The Task Force Valenzuela convened in the wake of the Kentex industrial tragedy is a good template to follow,” Sequena elaborated.

After the Kentex fire that killed 72 factory workers, the DOLE formed the Task Force Valenzuela to conduct unannounced inspections to ensure compliance with labor, occupational safety and other standards.

Sequena also took to task PEZA head Plaza for pre-empting the probe by announcing that she does not expect any fatality to be uncovered. He argued that “The PEZA head must be more circumspect in her statements given that it is her agency that has jurisdiction over economic zones. What happens if the police and fire personnel uncover facts contrary to Plaza’s declaration?”

PM is also asking for clarification on the compliance certification issued to HTI. “Is HTI’s compliance based on an inspection by DOLE or based on self-assessment by the company? If it was self-assessment, were workers involved and were they handpicked by management given that HTI is not unionized? Regulations allow self-assessment if the establishment has more than 200 workers. Self-assessment however means that the DOLE is allowing the wolf to guard the sheep and thus we should not be surprised that the sheep gets slaughtered,” insisted Sequena.

He averred that despite HTI’s compliance certification, there are apparent occupational health and safety issues since there was a previous fire at HTI in 2012. A 10-hour fire started at the boiler department of the HTI factory in October 19, 2012 and lasted up to early the next day.

February 4, 2017

Protests stop issuance of employer-backed DOLE Order on endo, workers seek Presidential audience

PRESS RELEASE

NAGKAISA

06 January 2017

Worker protest undertaken by NAGKAISA labor coalition during the holiday season derailed the passage of DOLE Department Order 168 spoiling premature employer celebrations that they would no longer have to regularize millions of contractuals. 

Under DO 168, “endo” and other contractuals would be regularized under the manpower supply agencies rather than in companies where they work. The suppose new arrangement follows the "win-win" solution proposed by DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez.

But in a dialogue with convenors of the NAGKAISA labor coalition last Thursday, DOLE senior officials led by Secretary Silvestre Bello announced to the group that no new Department Order was issued before the end of the year.  Said Order should have been issued as planned last December 28, according to Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say in a separate media interview Thursday.

NAGKAISA had launched mass actions and made appeals to President Duterte to reject the draft department orders circulated last month which apparently would allow an army of non-regular, contractor-deployed "seasonal" and "project" workers to supplant the despised "endo" system of contractualization.

President Duterte had made a campaign commitment to end contractualization within few weeks upon assumption to office.  He reiterated this commitment during a year-ender interview with media. NAGKAISA warned that the supposed DO would perpetuate the contractualization policy that the President promised would be stopped. 

Bello said he was willing to listen to the workers comments in crafting a fresh DO. The Secretary directed all his Undersecretaries to come out with separate drafts which will be consolidated by the DOLE into a new version on January 13.   Said version will then be referred to the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC) for consultations and will be issued as DO 1, series of 2017 when approved.

However, despite the suspended status of the new rules, NAGKAISA said workers face the same question on whether endo will be finally ended or the promise to ending endo is dead-ended by strong capitalist lobby or held hostage by economic managers.

During the dialogue NAGKAISA formally requested Sec. Bello to set up an audience with President Duterte where workers can air their appeal for the passage of an Executive Order that will serve as a stop-gap measure to proscribe contractualization until a new law amending the Labor Code is passed.

NAGKAISA further requested that the President certify as an urgent Administration measure House Bill No. 4444 (Rep. Raymond Mendoza, TUCP Partylist). HB 4444 seeks to prohibit all forms of short term employment contracts and the criminalization of such offense. 

Unacceptable!: Labor groups thumb down proposed new DO on endo

 

It’s dead on arrival (DA) for the proposed new Department Order (DO) on endo of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) as far as labor groups are concerned.

 

The draft DO, the country’s major labor groups under the labor coalition Nagkaisa declared, will not lead to the ultimate end but rather  to the further strengthening of the legal standing of contractualization in the country.

 

“DOLE intends to adopt what all labor groups unanimously rejected during the labor summit – the ‘win-win solution’ of DTI.  This could signal the end of President Duterte’s campaign promise to end endo,” declared Danny Edralin, Vice-Chair for the Private Sector of the Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa or SENTRO. 

 

For Partido Manggagawa (PM):  “The draft new DO may seem to restrict labor contracting to seasonal and project employment but these employment schemes may however be extended to cover jobs, work or services which are directly related to the business operations of a company. As such, contractualization of labor would still proliferate in the guise of describing the job, work or service as seasonal or project employment,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

 

The working draft of the new DO was presented during the Tripartite Executive Committee (TEC) of the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) last week.  Said DO recognizes trilateral employment relationship which has long been opposed by organized labor as it undermines workers’ rights to security of tenure, to organize and collectively bargain.

 

For TUCP, the proposed DO is unacceptable.  “It is a mere rehash of what current laws already provide. It gives nothing new to workers. Change requires a DO that further restricts contractualization while a new law is needed to end contractualization,” said Luis Corral, Executive Director of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

 

‘Win-win’, for Nagkaisa, is DTI doublespeak roundly rejected as ‘lose-lose’ by workers. Thus, it is pushing for the passage of HB 4444 (Rep. Raymond Mendoza. TUCP Partylist) which prohibits contractualization and calls on Sec. Bello to endorse it for certification by President Duterte as an urgent Presidential measure.  HB 4444 prohibits all fixed term contracts and criminalizes violations.

 

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) on the other hand wanted to directly challenge President Duterte to completely prohibit endo by means of an executive order.

 

“The new draft DO is a mere attempt to rehash DO 18-A with sophisticated words to continue justifying contractualization under the Duterte regime. Thus, BMP now directly challenges President Duterte to immediately issue an Executive Order to strictly prohibit all forms of contractualization by urgently signing a draft EO which BMP crafted and submitted to the Office of the President last November 10, 2016 for instant Presidential executive action,” said its President Leody De Guzman.

 

Even public sector unions are disappointed on the way the end endo agenda of the Duterte administration regresses.

 

“The proposed DO officialises contractualization and bastardizes Duterte’s campaign platform to end contractualization,” said Annie Geron, President of the Public Services Independent Labor Confederation (PSLINK).

 

The government is being accused by labor groups as the single biggest practitioner of contractualization in the forms of job order (JO) and contracts of service (CS).

December 19, 2016

Group slams P13 wage hike in Metro Cebu as starvation wage

Press Release

September 16, 2015

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) slammed the P13 wage hike for workers in Metro Cebu and called it “starvation wage.” Last week the Region 7 Regional Tripartite and Productivity Board announced the salary increase that excluded workers in the region outside of Metro Cebu.

“The wage board must be joking if it thinks it can dupe workers with an exclusionary and measly pay increase. It is an insult to the groups ALU and Living Wage Coalition which petitioned for P92 and P145 wage increases respectively,” insisted Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

PM is calling on ALU and the Living Wage Coalition to jointly campaign in protest at the wage board decision and rejection of their wage petitions. The campaign should pressure the National Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board which has to approve the Region 7 wage board decision.

Derige argued that “Did the workers in the rest of Cebu province and Bohol not also suffer from erosion of purchasing power? Don’t they have the same difficulties as workers in Metro Cebu in feeding their families and sending their children to school due to inflation? The wage board’s reason for granting a salary increase in Metro Cebu also holds for all workers in the region.”

“PM’s own study shows that the cost of living in Metro Cebu is around P1,000 for a family of five and yet the new minimum wage adds up to only P353, which will not even buy half of the basket of goods and services,” Derige said.

PM proposes the abolition of the wage boards and their replacement by a Wage Commission. “The mandate of the National Wage Commission will be to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. This is different from the wage boards which are bogged down by convoluted and contradictory 10-point criteria in fixing wages. The Wage Commission should raise the minimum wage to the level of the living wage by a mix of mechanisms such as direct pay increases, tax exemptions, price discounts and social security subsidies for workers,” Derige stated.

He assailed the argument of the wage board that wages outside of Metro Cebu are already too high in comparison to other cities and regions. “Wages in Region 7 are not too high but salaries in other areas are too low. The solution is not to freeze wages outside of Metro Cebu but to provide generous salary hikes to workers in other regions,” he averred.

Derige continued that “This is the ugly reality of inequality in our country. The Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia yet only a few, the capitalist class, is benefiting from the increased wealth created by the working people. The assets of the ten richest Filipinos amount to some US$50 billion, which is equivalent to the yearly wages of 20 million minimum wage earners.”

As cabinet meets to deal with traffic problem: Labor group demands that DOLE relax rules on tardy workers

Press Release

September 1, 2015

With the cabinet meeting today to deal with the grave traffic problem in Metro Manila, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) demanded that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issue rules to protect workers who are late for work due to traffic.

“With employers seemingly cool to our proposal not to penalize tardy workers stuck in traffic, we petition the DOLE to mandate new rules so that employees are not punished for a problem that they have no control over and the government has no solution yet,” insisted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Last week PM proposed the following steps:

1. Grace period of 30 minutes
2. No warning or infraction if three or more workers are late due to traffic
3. No pay cut, offset through additional time worked
4. Shuttle buses for establishments with 200 or more workers

Magtubo averred that “It is well within the powers of the DOLE to issue rules on tardiness due to traffic as it also makes industrial regulations in times of power or economic crisis. Traffic is no less a pressing concern for workers as it impacts on their work-life balance and also employers as it affect their productivity.”

He added that “At the very least DOLE should call a tripartite conference of representatives of workers, employers and government so that the parties can agree on concrete steps to deal with the industrial implications of traffic congestion, including protection for workers who are late due to traffic.”

Media reported that officials of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines were opposed to the proposals of PM. “Since employers are unwilling to meet our sensible proposals, we encourage unions to negotiate with management for such measures in their collective bargaining agreements or table them in grievance procedures. We also call on employees without unions to directly petition their management. Until traffic congestion is substantially reduced, such remedial steps must remain in place to protect workers,” Magtubo argued.

PM is proposing that government provide for green, cheap, public mass transport system in Metro Manila and major cities as a long-term solution to the issue of traffic. Among other strategic solutions, the group insists that government invest and subsidize in efficient electric rail networks that must remain in public hands.

Government, employers urged to heed demand for workers bailout

Press Release
January 25, 2009

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) urged government and employers to heed the demand for a bailout and stimulus package for workers as the specter of labor unrest looms over the massive job losses. The group also criticized the present assistance program of DOLE called Workers’ Income Augmentation Program (WINAP) as inadequate.

“It takes three months for a union or group applying for assistance under WINAP until the proposal is approved. And then it takes some more time until the funds are released. While for individuals filing for WINAP, the P5,000 assistance is too small and is consumed in just a month’s time for the family’ basic necessities,” explained Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

The group spelled out in details its proposed bailout scheme. First, government must subsidize all workers who will be retrenched because of the ongoing crisis. The Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Authority (OWWA) must use its funds to subsidize private sector workers, government employees and overseas contract workers respectively until they can find work up to a maximum of six months. The subsidy can be set at a certain percentage of their former pay and complements the retraining program for displaced workers akin to the Danish model.

Second, the stimulus package can take the form of a tax refund for all workers equivalent to two months of their salary. This effectively means giving workers a 14th and 15th month wage. The last thing that industries need is to be squeezed by the tightening of commercial credit on the one hand and on the other by a contraction in consumer spending.

And third, it is imperative to give jobs to the millions who were unemployed even before the crisis struck. “In form, this program can be similar to the present ‘Patrabaho ni Gloria.’ Although of course the name must be changed to ‘Patrabaho ng Gobyerno’ right away. But more than this cosmetic change, the state employment program must be radically reformed. The patronage system must be exorcised from it by putting the employment program under the co-ownership if not control of people’s organizations. Also minimum labor standards at the very least must be guaranteed instead of the present setup where the ‘kamineros’ and ‘oysters’ are hired on a contractual basis for below minimum wages. No matter that it is a dirty job as long as it is decent work,” Magtubo explained.

He added “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.”

“As to the billion peso question, where will the government get the money to spend on this bailout and stimulus package for the workers and the poor, the state must realign the budget that is automatically appropriated for debt payment—interest alone is equivalent to 30% of the national appropriations and together with the principal amounts to 70%—and instead use it to finance this vastly expanded social program. Not paying the banks for the debt, legitimate or otherwise, that we ostensibly owe them is a light punishment for the high crimes that they have done,” argued Magtubo.

Militants call for tripartite conference to design “road map to recovery”

Press Release
January 24, 2009

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called for the convening of a tripartite conference between government, capital and labor on the impact of the economic crisis on the country. “The express aim of such a tripartite meeting would be to design a road map for economic recovery. Labor will push for a bailout package for workers as the cornerstone of a recovery plan,” stated Renato Magtubo, chairperson of PM.

He further explained “The bailout and stimulus package must aim to put money in the hands of the workers and the poor as a part of a set of solutions to counter-act the economic downturn. The consumers, the overwhelming majority of whom are the workers and the poor, should be able to continue buying their necessities and thereby keep the wheels of production rolling. Industry will collapse if it is squeezed by a tightening of commercial credit on the one hand and on the other by a contraction in consumer spending.”

PM also called for a reform of the DOLE’s retraining program. “We agree with the opinion of Prof. Rene Ofreneo that previous retraining programs have failed since displaced workers are distracted by concern over their families’ daily survival to concentrate on learning new skills for their future work. We have to adopt the Danish model, the most successful such program in the world, in which workers receive an unemployment subsidy while undergoing retraining. The P9.7 billion in pork barrel inserted by solons in the 2009 national budget, if it were instead allocated for workers assistance, would have been enough to fund the subsidy to complement retraining,” argued Magtubo.

The bailout package for workers being pushed by the PM includes a subsidy for displaced workers, tax refund for workers as an economic stimulus, and a reformed and expanded state employment program for the millions of unemployed Filipinos. “Workers are the last to benefit during an economic boom and will not agree to be sacrificed first amidst a global crisis. No retreat on labor standards, no surrender on workers rights,” Magtubo declared as labor’s bottomline position in a tripartite conference.

“The bailout and stimulus package in the Philippines must be different from that implemented in the US by Bush which was a rescue of the high rollers in Wall Street who engineered the crisis in the first place. It thereby rewarded the criminals and punished the innocent. The lessons from the present crisis are clear—expand the real economy and downsize the casino economy. Moreover it is time to put the Philippine economy on a rehabilitation program to cut its decades-long addiction on export orientation and overseas employment. The strategic solution to the crisis is to strengthen the domestic economy by promoting local industrialization and agricultural modernization anchored on agrarian reform,” Magtubo expounded.