Without a doubt, covid-19 has
gravely affected everyone, rich and poor, employer and worker. Still, workers and
the poor are the ones who have been disproportionately impacted. The
double-digit economic recessions in the second and third quarters of this year
has been felt as grinding poverty and daily hunger by 7 million Filipino
families as revealed in the SWS survey in September.
The Philippine economy is in worse
shape compared to its neighbors is due to the harsh and long lockdown. It is
the authoritarian response of the Duterte administration that is to blame for
the economic recession and the adverse effect on the working class. The administration
was late in forming a response and once it did, it treated the pandemic—similar
to how it treated the drug addiction—as a peace and order concern instead of a
public health matter. The severe lockdown shuttered the economy, and left
workers and the poor without jobs and livelihood for months on end. The aid
provided by the government reached only 3 million households out of 16 million
Filipinos who were temporarily jobless during the lockdown. Today 4.5 million
are unemployed and 2.2 million more are out of work but are not officially
jobless only because they stopped looking for employment.
To make matters worse,
employers used the pandemic as an opportunity to deny workers their benefits
and their rights. Workers were put on floating status for more than the six months
allowed by law. Establishments reopened but replaced regular workers with new
hires on endo status. Some employers shutdown their firms without paying
workers separation and other benefits. Capitalist Grinches are exploiting the
pandemic to bust unions as shown by the experience of the Arcya Glass Employees
Union in Laguna and the First Glory labor union in the Mactan ecozone.
While the pandemic of rights
violations spread, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) exercised social
distancing from workers. The DOLE released a series of orders and advisories that
denigrated labor standards and rights. Labor Advisory 17 allowed employers to cut
wages and benefits as long as workers will agree. But workers were left with no
choice but to bite the bullet of wage cuts as the DOLE suspended the filing of
complaints under DO 213. Labor groups called on the DOLE to dialogue but were
repeatedly denied. Meanwhile the government banned protests and arrested those
who tried using the pandemic as an alibi. In one incident, the picketline of Sejung
Apparel workers in the First Cavite Industrial
Estate was dispersed by police and guards in the middle of Black Friday night
for allegedly violating quarantine rules. With workers strikes and street protests
effectively banned, Congress railroaded the Anti-Terror Law.
But
workers are fighting back and are in the frontlines of the struggle to reclaim their
rights. The Arcya Glass workers spent their holidays in the picketlines to protest
the continued operation of the factory despite allegedly being permanently
closed. The First Glory labor union has voted to go on strike to demand the
reinstatement of 300 fired workers. Labor groups in the Philippines together
with international union federations have formed the Caucus of Global Unions
Pilipinas to call for the repeal of the Anti-Terror Law on pain of the country
losing its trade privileges with Europe. Workers in four big factories in the
Mactan ecozone have organized into unions as a result of recent grievances over
lack of aid during the pandemic and long-running issues over wages and
benefits. Certifications elections are due to be held next year in the four
firms. We predict that 2021 will see a resurgence of workers’ actions to defend
democratic freedoms and labor rights.
December 29, 2020
