PM women push for RH bill, job security and wage increase on women’s day of suffrage

PRESS RELEASE

April 30, 2011

Around fifty (50) members of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) gathered at the gates of the Commission on Elections this morning to commemorate Filipino women’s 74^th year of exercising the right of suffrage. PM is pushing for the passage of the RH and job security bills, and a legislated wage increase.

They brought with them a ballot box for a symbolic casting of their votes for the RH bill, job security and wage increase. 

April 30 was declared as Women Suffrage Day through a proclamation issued by then President Marcos in March 29, 1984. It was in April 30, 1937 when Filipino women cast their votes in favor of women’s suffrage.

“If women would be allowed to vote on these measures, it would definitely be a 100% vote of support.  The RH bill will guarantee women’s right to their own bodies, while measures ensuring their employment, job security, and a living wage will guarantee their right to live a decent life,” asserted PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda. 

The right to suffrage then, Miranda added, merely granted women the right to choose their political leaders, “now we assert that it is high time that women’s right to decide on their own bodies be recognized and guaranteed by the state, including their right to a decent life.”

Miranda pointed out that historically, when women were first granted the right to vote, women workers continued their struggle for 8-hour work, better working conditions and decent wages which culminated into a powerful movement for labor rights – leading to the commemoration of the International Labor Day which started in 1886.

The passage of the right to a living wage, and passage of the security of tenure and RH bills are some of the demands to be raised by PM in the coming Labor Day celebration.

Aside from the Mendiola rally at noon, PM will also lead Labor Day protests in Cebu City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Iligan City and Dipolog City. Thousands of workers are expected to participate in the Labor Day protest.

Workers hold caravan for wage hike, regular jobs

Press Release

April 29, 2011

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) together with the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) held today a “workers caravan” to press for a wage hike and campaign against labor contractualization. The motorcade of vehicles and motorcycles started early in the morning, passed through many industrial estates in Cavite and ended by the late afternoon at the country’s biggest economic zone in the town of Rosario.

“We want to bring the good news of the campaign against contractualization to the export zone workers, many of whom are themselves contractual employees rather than regular workers,” explained Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair added that “The workers caravan is also part of our initiative to seek the support of the public on the planned strike at PAL to force management to accede to our demands.”

At 8:30 a.m. the initial groups of vehicles assembled at the

Diosdado Macapagal Highway

near the Uniwide Coastal Mall. It then proceeded along

Quirino Avenue

to SM Bacoor where they met the contingent of the United Cavite Workers Association.

From there they passed by the Yazaki-EMI factory in Imus and then the First Cavite Industrial Estate in Dasmarinas before stopping for lunch at the Freedom Island workers community in General Trias. At 2:00 p.m. the caravan went to the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario for a program that lasted until 4:00 p.m.

The workers caravan is a buildup activity for the May 1 rally. On Labor Day, PM will assemble at Mehan Garden in Manila then march to Mendiola for a labor unity rally and mass to be officiated by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo. Labor Day protests will also be held also in Cebu City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Iligan City and Dipolog City.

“There will be no good news for the workers on May 1, just a consuelo de bobo. Non-wage benefits should complement not replace a wage hike,” declared Magtubo. PM claimed that the cost of living in Metro Manila for a family of six is already PhP 1010 as of March. PM based its estimate on its own cost of living study last year and the inflation rate over the past year.

Meanwhile Rivera insisted that “The good news that we wish on May 1 is PNoy announcing that he is against outsourcing. With our motion for reconsideration pending at the Office of the President, it is timely for PNoy to declare if he favors the straight road of regular jobs or the crooked path of contractualization.”

PAL union, labor party press for inclusion of Baldoz in plunder case

PRESS RELEASE

29 April 2011

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) find it utterly necessary to include Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and other officials in the plunder case filed by former Solicitor General Frank Chavez against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The use of OWWA money to buy votes in 2004 had long been discussed in many fora.  Now is the time to make the guilty parties accountable for squandering millions of OFW funds,” said PM chair Renato Magtubo.

Meanwhile, PALEA President Gerry Rivera called anew on Secretary Baldoz to resign from her post immediately amid the raging controversy.

According to Magtubo, Baldoz together with other members of the OWWA Board cannot dissociate themselves from this crime of Gloria since they facilitated the conversion of OFW funds into election dole outs in 2004. 

“In fact workers here and abroad have very strong doubt that Malacanang and labor and officials are only interested in the funds rather than in protecting the welfare of OFWs,” added Magtubo.

Some P530 million of OWWA funds were transferred to Philhealth in 2003.  These were allegedly used to finance the distribution of Philhealth cards during the 2004 election campaigns. Chavez said the fund transfer is illegal.

“During her time, all that’s coming out of the labor department are bad news,” said Rivera, stating as an example the ruling she made on the PAL-PALEA case where she abused her discretion in allowing Lucio Tan to layoff and contract out 2,600 regular jobs in violation of the existing collective bargaining agreement, the Constitution, the Labor Code and International Labor Organization’s conventions.

“And now that she is being associated to Gloria’s misuse of OWWA funds, all the more we suspect that her recent decisions on labor cases do not come from a clean hand,” concluded Rivera.

Labor group says cost of living has breached P1,000/day

Press Release

April 28, 2011

The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) estimates that the cost of living for a family of six in Metro Manila has breached PhP 1,000 a day as of March this year. PM based its estimate on its own cost of living study last year and the inflation rate over the past year. Thus the group criticized the declaration of Malacanang and the Labor Department that no wage hike is forthcoming on Labor Day.

“There will be no good news for the workers on May 1, just a consuelo de bobo. Non-wage benefits should complement not supplant a wage hike. But even if NCR wage board later grants the PhP 75 petition, it will not be enough to bridge the yawning gap between the minimum wage and the cost of living,” declared Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

PM announced that their conservative estimate of the cost of living is PhP 1010. They arrived at the figure using PM’s PhP 984 April 2010 survey of the daily cost of living and the National Statistics Office’s 2.6% estimate of the inflation rate from April 2010 to March 2011 [1010 = 984 + (984 X 2.6%)].

Magtubo also slammed employers for threatening layoffs and closures in the response to the demand for a wage hike. “This is just the usual capitalist black propaganda and blackmail. Employers will not go bankrupt with a wage hike but they will lose some of their profit,” he explained.

Tomorrow, PM together with the Phillipine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will lead a “Workers Caravan for Regular Jobs and Living Wage” that will go around the economic zones of Cavite. The workers caravan is a buildup to the nationwide May 1 protests. On Labor Day, PM together with PALEA will assemble at 9:00 am at Mehan Garden in Manila then proceed to Mendiola for a labor unity rally at Mendiola and mass to be officiated by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo. PM will also lead Labor Day protests in Cebu City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Iligan City and Dipolog City.

“The gap between the PhP 404 minimum wage in the NCR and the cost of living is PhP 606 or 150% of the ordinary wage. Even if two members work—which is the buy one, take one policy of the government—then their combined income will not be enough to feed the entire family,” stated Magtubo.

The group is pushing for the establishment of a National Wage Commission. “The National Wage Commission will be different from the wage boards in that its mandate is to fix wages based on the single criterion of cost of living. And despite the huge difference between the minimum wage and the cost of living, the National Wage Commission can bridge the gap by a host of mechanisms among which are direct wage increases, tax exemptions, price discounts and social security subsidies for workers,” Magtubo explained.

He added that “The National Wages and Productivity Council's (NWPC) cost of living estimate of PhP 917 in September 2008 has to be updated in the light of this study and in the face of continuing inflation. We wonder if the NWPC stopped releasing cost of living estimates because it unwittingly exposes the cheap labor policy of the government.”

PM’s cost of living study did not provide for savings and social security which in the government’s basket of goods and services constitutes 10% of the cost of living. Furthermore, PM's study did not include items such as leisure and recreation, and the family budget for health excluded medical expenses. Magtubo said that “If we include such items, and we must in a more accurate survey, then the cost of living will even be bigger.”

He also argued that “Since we should not impose the burden of household chores and child rearing to the female parent, then the basket of goods should provide for a house-help. That is not anymore a luxury especially in the light of the insistence of the state that both parents must work instead of having just a single breadwinner.”

Women workers are caring mothers not terrorists

PRESS RELEASE

April 27, 2011

In response to Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ Vice-President Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma statement that RH bill advocates are no better than terrorists, PM Secretary General Judy Ann Chan-Miranda explained that, “On the contrary, women workers are caring mothers not terrorists.  The analogy is erroneous just as insisting that condoms are abortifacients.  Women workers support the passage of the RH bill because they care that much for the future of their children and would-be children.”

Women workers through PM are strong supporters of the controversial RH bill. They cite the pro-worker provisions of the bill such as providing paid leaves for pre-natal consultations; PhilHealth coverage of family planning services and commodities, and also life-threatening RH-conditions like HIV AIDS, breast, ovarian and prostate cancers, and obstetric complications; and finally information to employees and even applicants of the RH benefits and services provided by companies.

Miranda further argues that, “With meagre salaries to spend for food and education, among others – in the midst of a crisis and rising prices – the RH bill’s provisions for reproductive health services is similar to ‘mana falling from the heaven.’  That after waiting for what seemed to be a lifetime women workers will have the chance now to provide for and take care of their families without sacrificing their health.”

“Beyond the illusion that artificial family planning methods are abortifacients, on the contrary, the absence of reproductive health care services has caused thousands of deaths among women, especially poor women.  And the unmet need for family planning services of women has caused also them to resort to backyard abortions which we all do not want to continue happening,” insisted Miranda in reply to Archbishop Palma.

She insisted that “Through the RH bill, minimum wage earners will be able to have access to complete accurate and relevant information, and affordable and accessible family planning and reproductive health care services and commodities.”

The passage of the RH bill is one of the demands to be raised by PM in the coming Labor Day celebration. Aside from the Mendiola rally at noon, PM will also lead Labor Day protests in Cebu City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Iligan City and Dipolog City. Thousands of workers are expected to participate in the Labor Day protest.

PALEA wants PNoy to declare policy on outsourcing on May 1

Press Release

April 27, 2011

PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) mobilized hundreds of its members in a rally today to coincide with the first arbitration hearing at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). PALEA’s planned strike against Philippines Airlines for its alleged refusal to bargain had been stopped by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and the dispute certified to the NLRC.

Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice chair, said that “The good news that we want to hear on Labor Day is PNoy declaring that he is against outsourcing. But whether it is good or bad news, we want to hear PNoy speak on his personal position on the issue of contractualization. With our motion for reconsideration pending at the Office of the President, it is high time that PNoy say to the PAL employees, if he favors the straight road of regular jobs or the crooked path of contractualization.”

PALEA members assembled at 9:00 am at the Sto. Domingo Church and then marched along

Quezon Avenue

to the NLRC building at

Banawe St

. They chanted “Na-Baldozer na kami sa DOLE, Ayaw naming ma-Palacol sa NLRC” in reference to the fact that NLRC Commissioner Palacol is handling the case. Secretary Baldoz had earlier decided adversely on a separate dispute regarding the legality of the outsourcing scheme at PAL. PALEA also handed out fake money to passersby in parody of alleged corruption at the Labor Department.

On Friday PALEA and PM will lead a workers caravan to highlight the call against labor contractualization. The caravan will go around the economic zones of the province of Cavite including the biggest one at the town of Rosario. “We want to bring the good news of the campaign against contractualization to the export zone workers, many of whom are themselves contractual employees rather than regular workers. This is also part of our initiative to seek the support of the public on the planned strike at PAL to force management to accede to our demands,” explained Rivera.

The workers caravan is a buildup to the nationwide May 1 protests. On Labor Day, PM together with PALEA will assemble at 9:00 am at Mehan Garden in Manila then proceed to Mendiola for a labor unity rally at Mendiola and mass to be officiated by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo. PM will also lead Labor Day protests in Cebu City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Iligan City and Dipolog City.

The five main demands on May 1 are the stop to contractualization at PAL, the passage of the security of tenure bill, wage hike, price control and an end to the death of workers at the Hanjin shipyard in Subic.

PM pushes for paid leaves for RH services

PRESS RELEASE

26 April 2011

In reaction to the declaration of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that bonuses should be given workers involved in family planning, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa is pushing for paid leaves for employees availing of reproductive health (RH) services. The group believes that provisions of the controversial RH bill which provides for half-day paid leaves for pre-natal consultations would be a big relief to women workers.

“Hindi dapat na isasa-alang-alang ng kababaihang manggagawa ang kanilang kalusugan kapalit ng kalahating-araw na sweldo sa loob ng siyam na buwan na pagbubuntis,” asserted PM Secretary-General Judy Ann Miranda.

The passage of the RH bill is one of the demands to be raised by PM in the coming Labor Day celebration. Aside from the Mendiola rally at noon, PM will also lead Labor Day protests in Cebu City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Iligan City and Dipolog City. Thousands of workers are expected to participate in the Labor Day protest.

While welcoming the DOLE’s support for the RH bill, PM disagrees with the department’s line of reasoning for pushing its passage.  PM’s premise for supporting the reproductive health bill is rights-based rather than population management.

“Government officials should neither blame overpopulation for lack of jobs in the country nor believe that the RH bill is a solution to this problem.  Unemployment is a function of bad economic policies not lack of family planning. Beyond use of bonuses as incentives to encourage family planning to curb population growth, PM would rather that DOLE actively educate and disseminate information on sexuality and reproductive health as a health and human rights concern to enable workers, especially women, to make sensible decisions with regards to their reproductive health and achieve their ideal family size,” explained Miranda.

She added that, “DOLE should refrain from using the population issue sa kawalan ng komprehensibong plano ng gobyerno sa job generation.  The country’s high unemployment rate is not simply a population problem that will be resolved by the RH bill.  Hind magandang gamitin ang baluktot na katwiran sa pagtahak ng matuwid na daan.”

“Ang direktang ganansiya ng isang minimum wage earner sa RH bill ay complete accurate and relevant information, and affordable and accessible family planning and reproductive health care services and commodities.  Makakatulong din sa kanyang mga anak ang age-appropriate mandatory sexuality and RH education for Grade 5 to 4^th year high schools – para makaiwas sa unwanted pregnancies at makapag-desisyon nang maayos para sa kanyang kinabukasan,” added Miranda.

An OPPORTUNITY that KNOCKED only ONCE…? (A meeting with Balsy)

By: Gina Lynn C. Licayan
April 20, 2011

Is it Balsy? Is she for real? Past 10:00 o’clock in the evening! The eldest daughter of the late President Cory C. Aquino is inside this humble food chain. It’s in “Tropical Hut” along Brgy. Talaba in Bacoor, Cavite. These are questions that stirred inside my head on the 6th of May, 2010. From a days’ work at the union office, myself, together with Ka Gerry Rivera and Alnem Pretencio, the President and Vice-president of PALEA respectively, were on our way home but had to drop by the burger joint because we were literally stuck in the traffic.

Up close, it was really Balsy. I excitedly whispered it to my companions. Ka Gerry greeted and shook hands with her out of respect. After getting all our orders, we took our seats. We can’t believe our eyes, at a nearby table were seated Ms. Balsy and her son (I’m not really sure of his name but sure he wears big eyeglasses like his Lolo Ninoy). Adrenalin rushed inside us. We wanted to convey a simple message through her. And, we thought that it was the most opportune time. Ms. Balsy was our channel to convey our support to the presidential bid of Noynoy. It was our belief then that he was the better choice. But how? Crudely or innovatively, Ka Gerry wrote on the “Tropical Hut” tissue…

“Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) officers po kami.
We are for Noy!”
Gina L.               Alnem P.              Gerry R.
Board Director   Vice-President     President

A neophyte in the Union leadership, it was time for my initiation. And, so I thought. I was tasked to give the piece of paper to Ms. Balsy. So, after gathering enough strength, I approached their table. She was reading a pocketbook at that time. Her bespectacled son was enjoying his burger. Almost inaudibly, I whispered, “ Good evening ma’am, I’m Gina of PALEA. I just wanted to give this through you for Noynoy”. She seemed delighted and then she stopped reading. She looked up at me then took the tissue and said, “ Oh sweet … I’ll give this to Noynoy…. Thank you”. I saw her fold the tissue with both hands and inserted it in her pocketbook. It was the greatest feeling in my life. I was almost immobilized with disbelief that I was able to do it. Before I could walk back to my seat, the unexpected happened. Ms. Balsy, without hesitation, removed the wristwatch she was wearing and gave it to me. That priceless watch is embossed with a picture of Noynoy. I was rendered speechless. I could only mince the words, “thank you very much ma’am”. After a while, they left waving at us.

As I headed to our table where Ka Gerry and Ka Alnem were anxiously waiting, I was in euphoria. Still full of disbelief, I relayed what happened to them. They, too, were unbelieving but happy. Suddenly, we noticed Ms. Balsy’s son approaching. When he reached our table, he handed to the two officers their campaign pins and bowlers. In like manner, they had their chance to say thank you for the warmth exuded by the Aquinos.

Life is really full of surprises! Ours was really a unique one. It may be ironic at the same time. Ms. Balsy came across in our lives at a time when we needed to see hope in our struggle. Being the eldest in the Aquino siblings, we really believed that our message would be delivered to Noynoy. We hoped and prayed that Noy will become President. A knight in shining armor, sort of, maybe he sees beyond reasons. The plight of the workers, in general and PALEA members, in particular, will become the center stage of governance.

Remembering that night of May 6th, we fantasized for a country kind to workers. Indeed, it is the dream of every worker. PALEA members included. As it is, even with Benigno Simeon C. Aquino now the president, that fantasy remains elusive. A true fantasy, after all.

Finally, I surmise that the tale of the tissue is just an ordinary tissue for the Aquinos.

PAL employees hold Kalbaryo ng PALEA at Baclaran

Press Release

April 20, 2011

PALEA

Some 100 Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees held a “Kalbaryo ng PALEA” at the Baclaran Church this morning in a dramatic expression of the problems faced by workers. The members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) reenacted the complete Stations of the Cross but adapted the content in the context of the PAL workers struggle against contractualization. “The threat of mass layoff and labor contractualization are heavy crosses for PAL employees to bear,” exclaimed Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

Rivera meanwhile slammed the Employers Confederation of the Philippines for its position that “collective bargaining is the better option to a wage hike.” He explained that “This is a pleasant sounding doublespeak. In reality, employers oppose with all their might workers forming unions and bargaining for contracts, similar to PAL’s intransigent refusal to open negotiations and bust PALEA.”

Some PALEA members carried makeshift crosses while being whipped by other protesters wearing masks of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and former Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman. Another protester wearing a mask of Lucio Tan was kicking the PAL employees carrying crosses. In another scene, a protester in the character of President Benigno Aquino put crowns of thorns on the heads of the PAL employees.

At 12:00 noon the PALEA members joined the commemoration of the desaparecidos that is traditional sponsored by the group Families of the Involuntary Disappeared. PALEA has been seeking the solidarity of sectors and groups for its planned strike against PAL and has won the support of Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo and human rights NGO’s.

Today’s Kalbaryo protest is PALEA’s own although it has participated since Monday in similar mass actions by other labor groups. A broad unity of labor groups has been supporting PALEA’s fight for regular jobs and bargaining rights.

The Kalbaryo is part of series of buildup activities for the May 1 mobilization to be led by PM, PALEA and other labor groups at Mendiola. At 9:00 a.m. on May 1, PM and PALEA will assemble at Mehan Garden in Manila then march to Mendiola for a 11:00 a.m. mass to be celebrated by Bishop Pabillo. PM will also lead Labor Day protests in Cebu City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Iligan City and Dipolog City. Thousands of workers are expected to participate in the Labor Day protest.

On April 27, hundreds of PALEA members will picket the National Labor Relations Commission on the occasion of the first hearing on the labor dispute. The day also marks the first anniversary of the termination notices sent by Philippine Airlines management to some 2,600 workers. Also on April 29, PALEA will lead a workers caravan that will go around the major industrial estates and economic zones in Cavite.

PALEA asks PNoy to speak his mind on the PAL labor row on Labor Day

Press Release

April 19, 2011

PALEA

With Labor Day a few days away, the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) asked President Benigno Aquino to make a policy statement on the Philippine Airlines (PAL) labor row as he had done with the reproductive health issue. PALEA issued the challenge as scores of its members joined an anti-contractualization rally at Mendiola today led by the Alliance of Progressive Labor.

“We want to hear PNoy declare forcefully his policy on labor contractualization as he did on reproductive health. We know that it was Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa who penned the Office of the President ruling so now we want to learn PNoy’s own thoughts on the dispute given the motion for reconsideration we filed,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

Rivera slammed the “non-wage benefits” and “job fairs” announced by Labor Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz as government’s gift to workers on May 1. He argued that “These are mere crumbs thrown to workers. Non-cash benefits from Philhealth and Pag-ibig, and discounts on basic goods should complement not replace a substantial across-the-board wage hike in order that the minimum wage can approximate the living wage.”

“Meanwhile the Labor Day ‘contractual job fairs’ are unfair for it fosters contractual work and denies workers the dignity of a regular job that gives decent wages and benefits. Some 100,000 contractual workers are being offered in the job fairs even as thousands of regular workers are being terminated as in PAL. The myth of the employment policy of the government has been exposed by its complicity in the mass layoff at PAL. Government is collaborating with employers in destroying regular jobs and creating contractual work,” Rivera explained.

Yesterday PALEA joined another Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa sponsored by PM at the vicinity of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa is part of series of buildup activities for the May 1 mobilization to be led by PM, PALEA and other labor groups at Mendiola.

On April 27, hundreds of PALEA members will picket the National Labor Relations Commission on the occasion of the first hearing on the labor dispute. The day also marks the first anniversary of the termination notices sent by Philippine Airlines management to some 2,600 workers. Also on April 29, PALEA will lead a workers caravan that will go around the major industrial estates and economic zones in Cavite. On Labor Day thousands of workers are expected to participate in the protest.

Groups hold Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa at the airport

Press Release

April 18, 2011

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) will hold this afternoon a Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa to highlight the dire plight of Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees and Filipino workers. “Labor contractualization, cheap wages even violent demolitions are heavy crosses for workers to bear. The anti-labor and anti-poor policies of the PNoy government are unfortunately adding to the burden suffered by workers,” declared Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

“We call on PNoy to give due course to our motion for reconsideration and reverse the ruling penned by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa. We want PNoy himself to speak his mind on contractualization at PAL. PALEA also declares it support for the demand for a wage hike amidst the escalating inflation,” said Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.

At 3:00 p.m. today the Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa starts with some 100 PALEA, PM and AMP members reenacting the Stations of the Cross. Some PAL employees will be carrying makeshift crosses while being whipped by other protesters wearing masks of Ochoa, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and former Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman. Another protester wearing a mask of Lucio Tan will be kicking the PAL employees carrying crosses. In another scene, a protester in the character of President Benigno Aquino will put crowns of thorns on the heads of the PAL employees.

In reaction to the controversy over the state of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Rivera explained that “A better airport should also mean better working conditions for workers. Airport workers must enjoy regular jobs. Salaries and benefits for airport workers must be improved.”

PALEA and PM have lambasted the decisions of Lagman and Baldoz allowing the mass layoff of some 2,600 PAL employees and their transfer as contractuals in service providers. The groups have also criticized the Office of the President decision drafted by Ochoa that affirmed the earlier decisions,

By 5:00 p.m. Fr. Erik Adoviso, head of the Archdiocesan Ministry for Labor Concerns, will lead a mass at the Our Lady of the Airways Parish located at the corner of Sucat and MIA Roads. Hundreds of PALEA members are expected to attend the mass. Also at 11:00 a.m. PALEA and PM members will distribute leaflets at the Baclaran Church among churchgoers and passersby.

The Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa is a buildup to the May 1 mobilization to be led by PM, PALEA and other labor groups at Mendiola. Thousands of workers are expected to participate in the Labor Day protest.

Fight for jobs and CBA, Defy the DOLE order vs strike

THE PAL-PALEA COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT:

A CRITICAL COMPONENT OF THE STRUGGLE AGAINST

EMPLOYMENT AND UNION BUSTING CONTRACTUAL

     

In 1998, Philippine Airlines (PAL) reported heavy financial distress that it went through a Rehabilitation Program for a period of ten (10) years. Included in the program was the suspension of the PAL-PALEA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Members of Philippine Airlines Employees’  Association (PALEA) opposed the proposed suspension. It was interposed that the said program is in contravention of public policy and violates the right of the workers to Collective Bargaining Agreement. 

Amidst the opposition posed by the workers and despite the mediation of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) headed by then Sec. Bienvenido Laguesma, PAL stopped operations of the company on the midnight of 23 September 1998. A few days later, PAL, with the assistance of the DOLE, conducted a referendum among the members of the Union. The central issue was the proposed suspension of the CBA. Caught between losing their livelihood and surrendering their hard earned right, the members of PALEA reluctantly acceded to the suspension as a pre-condition to the re-opening of PAL. Consequently, PAL re-opened its operations on 07 October 1998. Some PALEA members questioned the legality of the suspension in the Supreme Court (Rivera vs. Espiritu, G.R. No. 1355447 January 23, 2002). 

During the rehabilitation period, PAL registered a complete turn-around of its financial situation. Its maturing obligation amounting to US$2.0 Billion incurred for its aggressive and most ambitious re-fleeting program was fully paid. Such that, on 28 September 2007, one year ahead of its schedule, PAL came out of the rehabilitation program. However, the suspension of the PAL-PALEA CBA continued. Surprisingly, a year later, the then PALEA leadership purportedly agreed to a one-year extension of the CBA moratorium on the ground of financial losses incurred by the company. This fact, however, remains undocumented. 

Based on the above premises, it can be gleaned that on August 26, 2009, when PAL management laid down its plan to outsource, the PAL-PALEA Collective Bargaining Negotiations shall already have commenced after more than ten (10) years of CBA suspension. It is very clear that the Company’s outsourcing program which eventually results to mass termination of 2,604 regular PAL employees and Union members is intended to evade PAL’s responsibility to negotiate a new CBA with PALEA. 

Verily, the PAL-PALEA CBA is a central issue to the PAL-PALEA labor dispute. PAL’s reported total comprehensive income in the amount of US$75.0 Million, which, according to PAL’s Financial Statements is a “significant improvement of US$116.5 Million from the same period total comprehensive loss of US$41.5 Million in 2009. PAL Holdings, Inc., majority stakeholder of PAL, in turn, reported profits in the amount of Php3 Billion for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2010. 

Despite the excellent financial condition of the company, PAL refuses to share the benefits of the company’s operations to its workers, through the CBA. After making its workers sacrifice their collective bargaining rights for more than a decade which resulted to the company’s huge labor cost savings, PAL now rewards them with termination and refusal to bargain. If PAL succeeds in its sinister design, a de facto indefinite CBA moratorium would take place. This is how PAL celebrates its 70 years of operation – termination of its loyal and dedicated workers and eventual contractual employment. 

Unfortunately, the government, through the Department of Labor and Employment and the Office of the President, miserably took a blind eye on the above-mentioned circumstances. By deciding that the termination of the 2,604 regular employees is a valid exercise of management prerogative, these very same offices, which are mandated to protect the workers, violated the sacred rights of the workers to Security of Tenure, Rights to Collective Bargaining, Rights to Concerted Actions including the Right to Strike in accordance with law and the Rights of the Workers to Self-organization. All of which are embodied in the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. By their decisions, the workers’ constitutional rights are now subordinated to management prerogative which is only a principle in law.  

Meanwhile, last 12 April 2011, PALEA submitted its Motion for Reconsideration to the decision of the Office of the President dated March 25, 2011 affirming the mass termination.  

The workers are pushed to the wall. They must have to test the law and prove to themselves that there is still a law that protects their rights. Thus, PALEA’s resort to a strike, even in defiance of the DOLE Secretary’s Order certifying the PAL-PALEA CBA issue to the National Labor Relations Commission for compulsory arbitration, can be regarded as the workers’  stance to test the law -a fight for their survival. PAL’s outsourcing plan will result in the death of the Union and the end of Collective Bargaining. 

Faced with such adversities, PALEA is raising the level of the struggle to the international arena. As an affiliate of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), PALEA has sought the assistance and intervention of its ITF affiliates, both local and overseas. With the government evidently violating the Philippines’ international obligations under the core conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), specifically the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention (1948, No. 87), and the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention (1949, No. 98), a case will be filed against the government with Philippine Airlines as co-respondent. 

PAL’s mass termination is not a simple case of retrenchment. PAL intends to outsource virtually its entire workforce. It will be the biggest outsourcing of core functions which will be a precedent that gives the green light to all other employers to follow. 

Hence, the case of PALEA has become a unifying factor to the country’s labor movement. Because of the adverse implications of PAL’s case to the workers, in general, and to trade unionism, in particular, the labor movement has thrown its full support behind PALEA. The Union has successfully mobilized various labor organizations in support of its cause under the call, “ Ang Laban ng PALEA ay Laban ng Lahat. Ang Laban ng Lahat ay Laban ng PALEA (The Fight of PALEA is the Fight of All. The Fight of All is the Fight of PALEA). Interestingly, even the clergy, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) through its National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), has already thrown its support to PALEA invoking the principle of “the primacy of labor over capital”. 

The struggle of the PALEA members transcends the PAL issues. PALEA is now the trailblazer in the fight for Security of Tenure, Regular Jobs, Union Security and the Right to Collective Bargaining.

PALEA Executive Board

Labor party wonders why living wage figures remained at 2008 level

Press Release

April 15, 2011

While prices of basic goods and services keep on rising, the government’s calculation of Family Living Wage (FLW) remained at 2008 level, provoking curiosity from the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

According to the group, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) website contains all the necessary information on wages, except on FLW estimates which has never been updated since September 2008. The link to the site has been “under construction” since then.

“Was it arbitrary on the part of the government to put an embargo to this very important information?  If it cannot even update its figures how much more in complying with the Constitutional mandate of providing labor the right to a family living wage?,” lamented PM chair Renate Magtubo.

Living wage is defined as the amount of family income needed to provide for the family’s food and non-food expenditures, including a 10% proportion of "other components" to allow for savings.

The NWPC’s September 2008 figures put the FLW estimates in the National Capital Region (NCR) at P917 a day to as high as P1, 322 in the ARMM region. PM’s own estimate put it at P1, 000 in 2009.

Magtubo said the NWPC may have opted to “reconstruct the truth” to hide or mask the ever widening gap between real wage and the living wage.  NWPC calculated the real wage value of the P404 minimum wage in NCR at PhP239.76.  It cannot be compared to the current FLW since new numbers are missing.

“For this evidently clear act of omission labor has the right to call for NWPC’s abolition together with the equally hopeless regional wage boards,” argued Magtubo.

A regular and timely estimate of FLW is important since it shows the movement of a family’s current cost of living relative to its income thus must be principally considered in making wage adjustments. 

In fact first on the list of the 10 criteria for the current minimum wage fixing is the workers’ demand for living wage which includes not only the right to recover the lost value of their wages but also improvement on their living standard.

“The truth is there is clearly a mismatch between the actual needs of workers and their level of income because the present system puts more weight on capitalist’s ‘capacity to pay’ rather than on labor’s ‘capacity to buy’,” explained Magtubo.  

Magtubo said the country’s wage levels remain at “starvation level” since the PhP125 and PhP75 demand, even if granted, can only cover about half of a worker’s actual needs.

Aside from pressing for a wage increase, PM has also been proposing for the replacement of the current wage fixing mechanism by a new system that would institutionalize living wage as the principal criterion for determining the basic minimum wage.  It wants a new National Wage Commission mandated with this new framework take the place of the regional wage boards.

Despite impending wage hike Pinoy workers face dim prospects under P-Noy

PRESS RELEASE

14 April 2011

Despite the labor department’s assurance that a wage hike is imminent with the wage boards ruling on the existence of “supervening event” that warrants wage adjustments, workers face an even bleaker prospects under the Aquino administration, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said. 

“Though absolutely necessary, a wage hike in the country does not necessarily lead to enjoying a happy life for a worker’s family as wages in the Philippines remain at starvation level while working conditions deteriorate further,” PM chair Renato Magtubo said.

The labor group argued that unless the government comply with its constitutional mandate to provide workers a family living wage (FLW),“wage levels in the country shall remain as such – a starvation wage just enough to make workers available for work the following day.”

PM has been proposing that the current wage fixing mechanism is replaced by a new system that would institutionalize living wage based on the current cost of living as the principal criterion for determining the basic minimum wage.

Living wage is defined as the amount of family income needed to provide for the family’s food and non-food expenditures, including a 10% proportion of "other components" to allow for savings/investments, according to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC).

The latest figures (September 2008) posted at the NWPC website puts the FLW in the National Capital Region (NCR) at P917 a day to as high as P1,322 in the ARMM region.

Partido ng Manggagawa’s own estimate in 2009 puts it at P1,000.  The present minimum wage in NCR, however, is only at P404.  This means that the P125 or P75 proposed wage hikes can in no way cover this huge cost of living and income gap.

“There is clearly a mismatch between the actual needs of workers and their level of income.  This is because the present system puts more premium on the ‘capacity to pay’ of an employer rather than the ‘capacity to buy’ of a worker,” explained Magtubo.  

And even if there is no strong correlation between wage hikes and impact on productivity, employers usually threatens the government to defer any wage adjustments or file unnecessary exemptions to avoid compliance.   

“I would suppose that P-Noy is even clueless about this kind of reality as he has the capacity to buy a toy car in a snap,” quips Magtubo.

Another problem, the former partylist representative said, is that wage hikes cover only less than half of the employed and more unlikely for a quarter of them who are working as part time. The other half of employed persons lives on their own either as self-employed or as unpaid laborers. 

On the other hand three million Filipinos are completely out of work, notwithstanding the exodus of returning OFWs who are expected to swell the rank of the country’s unemployed.

Magtubo likewise added that with President Aquino recent ruling on the legality of outsourcing and contractualization at the Philippine Airlines, thousands of workers shall be downgraded into contractuals and therefore shall receive lesser pay and much lesser benefits compared to what they should enjoy as regular workers.

These conditions, he said, illustrate the most likely scenario in the world of work under the Aquino administration –  a “business as usual” policy maintained while attacks on labor rights intensify.

“Is cheap and flexible labor going to be the same policy to be pursued by the P-Noy administration?  Indications are getting clear – his ‘tuwid na landas’ leads us straight back to the same failed road of freeing labor from the clutches of poverty and exploitation,” concluded Magtubo.

Labor party calls for labor enforcement reforms as another worker dies in Hanjin shipyard

Press Release

April 14, 2011

The militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called for stronger labor enforcement and labor inspection reforms in response to the death of another worker last Monday at the Hanjin shipyard in Subic. “The Hanjin shipyard is a graveyard of workers. While capitalists were scrimping on protection for workers and the Labor Department was sleeping on its job of enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace,” insisted Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

Alvin Dalunag, 31 years old, died while working as welder inside the Hanjin compound. He was the 25th reported workplace death in Hanjin since it began operations in 2006. PM lambasted the Korean-owned ship construction giant for cutting corners in occupational safety in order to raise profits and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the lax implementation of labor and safety standards.

He claimed that “Accidents are not acts of divine providence that can be dismissed as unavoidable. Instead accidents are the result of unsafe acts and therefore preventable by strict enforcement of occupational safety and health and labor standards.”

“Under the regime of the DOLE’s self-assessment program, the number of labor inspectors have shrunk from around 240 to just 190 and the number of establishments inspected plummeted from 26,000 in 2004 to just 6,000 last year. Self-assessment means that the government is asking the wolf to guard the sheep. No wonder the sheep get slaughtered,” Magtubo criticized.

He recommended that “We propose that the DOLE deputize labor leaders as labor inspectors. In so doing the number of inspectors and inspections can be increase several fold overnight, enforcement can be strengthened immediately, and workers lives and limbs can be saved.”

Magtubo added that “DOLE must review Hanjin and its contractors for compliance not just with safety regulations but labor standards such as payment of minimum wages and benefits, observance of working hours and remittance of social security among others. Construction workers are among the most overworked yet underpaid of employees since they are generally unorganized.”

“The DOLE has again been caught sleeping on the job as in the case of the Eton construction accidents,” Magtubo said.

PALEA seeks reconsideration of P-Noy ruling

PRESS RELEASE

April 12, 2011

Saying they need to exhaust all administrative measures available to them, members of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) went back to Malacanang Tuesday to seek reconsideration of the March 25 ruling by the Office of the President.

“We want the President to reconsider and state clear his stand in upholding the constitutional rights of workers to security of tenure and collective bargaining,” declared Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

The March 25 OP decision allowed PAL owner and business tycoon Lucio Tan to proceed with his plan to layoff some 2,600 regular employees in the airport services, in-flight catering and call center reservations, and transfer them as contractuals in service providers.

PALEA considered the decision to be flawed as it permits the mass layoff at a time when PAL is expecting $1.6 billion in annual profit.  “Worst, it lets PAL reward the sacrifice of the 12-year long suspension of the PALEA CBA with the termination of workers whose wages, benefits and protection have already stagnated in that period,” lamented Rivera.

Rivera stated further that because of its flawed affirmation of Secretary Baldoz’s earlier decision, President Aquino’s March 25 ruling drew strong indignations not only from PALEA  and the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) but also from the whole spectrum of the labor movement in the country and the international labor organizations as well.

The Catholic Church, through Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, also has publicly declared its all out support for PALEA’s impending strike against mass layoff and contractualization.

“Wala siyang kakampi dito kundi si Lucio Tan. Thus, through our motion for reconsideration, P-Noy has the second chance to show the labor movement where he really stands – sa baliko at tusong landas ba ni Lucio Tan, o sa makatarungang landas ni Juan Manggagawa?,” stated Rivera.

PALEA was accompanied by its lawyers Atty. Joeven Dellosa and Atty. Marlon Manuel in the filing its MR to Malacanang.  In Mendiola, labor groups supporting PALEA such as PM and the anti-contractualization group Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktualisasyon or KONTRA held an indignation rally in support of the embattled PAL union.

On Holy Week, the groups will hold a “Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa” protest at the airport to highlight the plight of Filipino workers, especially contractual employees and the unemployed.

PALEA and the broad labor would also bring the PAL case before the International Labor Organization (ILO).

PM chair and former partylist representative Renato Magtubo pointed out that instead of fostering industrial peace, the OP decision brought PAL to the brink of a paralyzing strike last April 1. 

“It has not weakened PALEA’s resolve to fight but rather strengthened their determination to even defy the Labor Secretary’s order enjoining a strike,” said Magtubo.

 Magtubo insisted that the OP decision sends the wrong message to the workers that P-Noy’s policy is to condone labor contractualization and sacrifice workers rights at the altar of management prerogative.