Workers picket CB in protest of $1B loan to IMF

Press Release

June 27, 2012

PALEA

Members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) and the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) picketed this morning the Central Bank headquarters and office of the Department of Finance at

Roxas Boulevard

in Manila in a protest against the controversial $1 billion loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). More than a hundred workers chanted “Help the needy not the greedy! Support Europeans thru solidarity not austerity!”

“How can Malacanang justify the loan as helping the Europeans when the supposed beneficiaries have rejected the IMF bailout and its conditionalities? By protests and through the polls, the workers and people of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and France have all rejected IMF austerity,” averred Gerry Rivera, PALEA president.

Renato Magtubo, PM national chair, insisted that “The $1B—which is the blood and sweat of our OFW’s—will harm our own migrant workers in Europe since the IMF’s austerity schemes dictate cuts in wages, reduction in social programs and liberalization of labor contractualization. By extending the loan to the IMF, our OFW’s and Europeans workers will earn less, lose public services and be easier to fire.”

The rally today also coincides with the 9^th month anniversary of PALEA’s fight against outsourcing. Last year, on September 27 PALEA launched a protest action at the airport against contractualization and up to now it maintains a picketline outside the PAL In-Flight Center. PALEA called on the new management of Philippine Airlines led by Ramon Ang to revive the flag carrier by reinstating its regular workers. “After nine months of protest, PALEA continues to labor for justice,” declared Rivera.

In reply to Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda’s assertion that the loan to the IMF will be help global stability, Rivera asserted that “It will just be used to bailout the bankers even as ordinary Europeans and migrant workers suffer the pains of austerity. In opposing the loan to the IMF, we are extending the hand of solidarity to our brothers and sisters in Europe. It is amazing that PNoy readily comes to the aid of European bankers but he is blind and deaf to the cries of the Filipino workers for wage increase and regular jobs.”

Magtubo added that “Instead of stabilizing, the IMF is destabilizing the economies of Europe. Despite receiving several bailouts from the IMF, Greece is in recession for five years running with unemployment at more than 20% in general but more than 50% for the youth. This year Spain fell into a double-dip recession with unemployment rates similar to Greece which will be aggravated by austerity measures dictated in the recent bailout scheme.”

“Just like Europe, the Philippines too is a victim to the anti-labor and anti-people policies of the IMF. Liberalization has led to the collapse of Philippine industry and agriculture resulting to job losses and rural unemployment. Privatization and deregulation has led to price hikes and worsening poverty. It is time for a paradigm shift. Uphold growth and hope instead of recession and injustice in Europe and the Philippines. Shift to a new paradigm of living wages, regular jobs, taxes on the rich, social services, national industrialization and agrarian reform,” Rivera explained.

Protesta laban sa $1B pautang sa IMF: Grupo ng manggagawa susugod sa Central Bank bukas

Press Release

June 26, 2012

Ang mga manggagawang myembro ng Partido ng Manggagawa ay susugod bukas ng umaga sa opisina ng Central Bank at Department of Finance sa Roxas Boulevard sa Maynila upang batikusin ang planong $1 bilyong pautang ng Pilipinas sa International Monetary Fund (IMF). Ang pautang ay para diumano sa Euro crisis pero nag-aaakusa ang Partido ng Manggagawa na gagamitin ito ng IMF para magpataw ng kontra-manggagawang austerity schemes sa Europa.

“VIP treatment kay PNoy ang mga bankero sa Europa na makikinabang sa $1 bilyong pinagpawisan ng ating OFW’s. Samantala deadma lang si PNoy sa hinaing ng manggagawang Pilipino noong Mayo Uno para sa dagdag sahod at trabahong regular,” giit ni Renato Magtubo, tagapangulo ng Partido ng Manggagawa.

Paliwanag ni Gerry Rivera, pangulo ng unyong Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), “Ang mismong pagtutol sa utang ang paraan para tumulong sa mga taga-Europa sapagkat magiging biktima lang sila ng mga dikta ng IMF gaya ng pagkaltas sa sweldo, pagbabaklas sa proteksyon sa paggawa, pagsasapribado ng mga kompanya at pagtitipid sa mga serbisyo publiko. Ang IMF ay manunuba di manunubos.”

Sasama sa rali bukas ang mga miyembro ng PALEA na nasa ika-10 buwan ng kanilang laban kontra kontraktwalisasyon sa PAL. Nananawagan ang PALEA sa bagong management ng PAL sa pangunguna ni Ramon Ang ng San Miguel Corp. na ibalik ang mga regular na manggagawa upang makalipad muli ng maayos ang flag carrier ng bansa.

Dagdag ni Magtubo, “Pakikiisa hindi pautang ang tamang pagtulong sa mamamayan ng Europa. Sinusuportahan namin ang sigaw ng mga manggagawa ng Europa para sa growth sa halip na austerity, ibig sabihin, umento sa sahod, regular na trabaho, serbisyong panlipunan at pagbubuwis sa mayayaman upang ibangon ang ekonomiya ng mga bansang sadlak sa krisis gaya ng Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy at Cyprus. Sa katunayan ganitong patakaran din ang dapat ipatupad ni PNoy sa Pilipinas.”

Workers slam PNoy’s $1B loan to IMF

Press Release

June 26, 2012

The labor party Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today slammed the government’s decision to loan $1 billion of the country’s foreign reserves to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The fund is intended for the Eurozone crisis but PM avers that it will be used by the IMF to impose anti-workers austerity schemes in Europe.

“We call on PNoy to reconsider his decision. $1 billion is better used for social protection at home than social devastation abroad. The workers and people of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and even France have rejected austerity through the polls and by protests,” insisted Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

Tomorrow PM together with the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will stage a rally at the Central Bank headquarters and office of the Department of Finance in Manila in protest of the loan to the IMF. The rally also coincides with the 9^th month anniversary of PALEA’s fight against outsourcing. Last year, on September 27 PALEA launched a protest action at the airport against contractualization which was forcibly suppressed by airport police and security guards. PALEA is calling on the new management of Philippine Airlines led by Ramon Ang to revive the flag carrier by reinstating its regular workers.

Gerry Rivera, PALEA president, said that “PNoy readily comes to the aid of European bankers but he is blind and deaf to the cries of the Filipino workers for wage increase and regular jobs. In opposing the loan to the IMF, we are extending the hand of solidarity to our brothers and sisters in Europe. Let us help the needy not the greedy. The IMF will use our $1B—which is the blood and sweat of our OFW’s—to bail out the bankers of Europe and squeeze money from the workers through cuts in wages, pension, subsidies and social programs.”

Magtubo added that “The IMF wants the workers to pay for the crisis of the capitalists. The Eurozone crisis is a result of European governments’ bailing out their bankers which were saddled by failed speculative investments in the subprime housing market in the US that collapsed in 2008. As a result of austerity tied to loans, Greece is in recession for five years running with unemployment at more than 20% in general but more than 50% for the youth. This year Spain fell into a double-dip recession with unemployment rates similar to Greece which will be aggravated by austerity measures dictated in the recent bailout scheme.”

“Just like Europe, the Philippines too is a victim to the anti-labor and anti-people policies of the IMF. Liberalization has led to the collapse of Philippine industry and agriculture resulting to job losses and rural unemployment. Privatization and deregulation has led to price hikes and worsening poverty. It is time for a paradigm shift. International solidarity instead of IMF austerity. Uphold growth and hope instead of recession and injustice in Europe and the Philippines. Shift to a new paradigm of living wages, regular jobs, taxes on the rich, social services, national industrialization and agrarian reform,” Rivera explained.

Groups say ADB harms workers in the Philippines

Press Release

May 4, 2012      

More than a hundred members of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) joined the newly-formed Nagkaisa labor coalition in a rally workers rally against the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting this morning as President Benigno Aquino II was due to give as speech.

“PNoy should not cover up the number of poor in the Philippines and the ADB should not wash its hands off the worsening poverty in the country. The ADB is an instrument of corporate greed that has aggravated the destitution of the 99% in Asia,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair. “ADB’s privatization intensifies poverty,” the workers chanted as they assembled in Harrison Plaza and then tried to make their way to the PICC, the venue of the meeting.

Magtubo explained that “The ADB meeting’s theme of inclusive growth is mere doubles-speak for its policies of privatization are tailor-fit to facilitate the fire sale of state-owned assets to giant multinationals and big capitalists. As a result of ADB-funded privatization, the costs of electricity and water in the Philippines have skyrocketed and as a result workers real wages have fallen despite yearly increase in nominal wages.”

The ADB pushed for the passage and provided loans for the implementation of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). In 2000, Magtubo exposed a P500,000 payola for members of the House of Representatives to ensure the legislation of the controversial EPIRA.

The Nagkaisa-led rally of several hundred workers today follows the coalition’s historic 20,000-strong May Day mobilization which brought together the country’s main labor groups for the first time since the 1980’s. “The unity of labor last May 1 has made government listen to our concerns. The rally today is part of the next step—the struggle of workers to make government grant our demands,” Magtubo insisted. Among the list of demands that Nagkaisa submitted to Malacanang last Labor Day is the repeal of EPIRA and the lowering of power costs to consumers.

Magtubo expressed fear that the ADB also has a hand in the proposed privatization of the Agus-Polangi hydroelectric plant in Mindanao as a purported solution to the power crisis in the island. The proposal has been temporarily shelved due to widespread opposition in Mindanao.

He added that “The ADB’s shadow can also be seen in the scheme to sell off to private interests the provision of water services in municipalities. The ADB is Asia’s mini-IMF and mini-WB, and its public relations pitch is a result of the discrediting of the policies of privatization, deregulation and liberalization worldwide.”

Militant labor slams PNoy’s rejection of wage hike

Press Release

May 2, 2012

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) slammed President Benigno Aquino III’s rejection of the wage hike demanded by the workers groups on Labor Day. “PNoy is parroting the blackmail and black propaganda of capitalists in arguing that a wage increase will lead to inflation and layoffs. It is time for capitalists to sacrifice for a change, that is for them to absorb the salary hike through less profit instead of passing it on as price increases,” explained Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

He also clarified that DO 18-A falls short of workers’ demand to regulate the widespread practice of contractualization. “The loopholes provided by DO 18-A and the Labor Code plus lax enforcement by the Labor Department are the reasons why despite the prohibitions, the ‘5 months endo’ work is a raging epidemic. We call on PNoy to certify as urgent the proposed Security of Tenure bill and deputize labor leaders as labor inspectors in the enforcement of labor standards,” Magtubo averred.

He added that “PNoy is echoing the usual capitalist horror stories. Why should we be afraid of additional money circulating in the economy due to a wage hike when billions of dollars in remittances entering the country is always applauded? If the stronger purchasing power of OFW families is a positive factor in the economy then should not the same thing hold for more money in the hands of workers which we will use to buy the necessities of life? A wage hike will be good for the workers and will also be beneficial to the economy because it will spur the production of more goods and provision of more services.”

He called on the newly formed Nagkaisa, which led the historic 20,000-strong rally at Mendiola yesterday, to plan for the next stage of the fight for a wage hike, end of contractualization, repeal of the oil deregulation and electricity privatization, and a moratorium on demolitions. “The unity of labor has made government listen to our concerns. The next step is the struggle of workers to make government grant our demands,” Magtubo insisted.

“Why is it that the prices of the goods and services bought by workers are not tempered by the capacity to pay of the consumers? The answer is that prices take into account the cost of production with a margin included for the profit of capitalists. If that is how prices are fixed in this society called capitalism, then the price of the only thing sold by workers—their labor power—should also be computed in the same way. Meaning, it must be based on the cost of production of labor power. And this is precisely the cost of living of workers and their families, which in Metro Manila is now more than PhP 1,000 daily,” Magtubo argued.