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| Kababaihang manggagawa nanguna sa hiling na P100 dagdag-sahod |
Demands for a salary
hike and ayuda for the poor instead of changing the Constitution were among the
workers’ issues highlighted in the nationwide protests today. “We endured the
heat of marching under the sun because the burning issue of low wages and high
prices is a priority concern. Chi-cha not cha-cha,” declared Rene Magtubo,
national chair of the militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) and a city
councilor in Marikina, in reference to an urgent response to the economic
crisis instead of politicians tinkering with charter change.
PM also lambasted a
newly drafted Executive Order (EO) creating an inter-agency committee on labor
rights. The group argued that the EO falls short of the recommendations of
the International Labour Organization (ILO) high-level tripartite mission
(HLTM) for the President to personally direct the committee and was crafted without
dialogue with workers and employers. “Where is the President? The fact that
President Bongbong Marcos is abroad today mirrors his absence in the
inter-agency committee and reveals his utter disregard for improving the rights
and welfare of workers,” Magtubo stated.
PM members assembled
at 7:00 am at the Petron Blumentritt along Espana in Manila before marching
towards Mendiola. The main Labor Day mobilization in Manila was led by the
coalition All Philippine Trade Unions which brings together the groups
Nagkaisa, Trade Union Center of the Philippines, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). Similar rallies were held in the
cities of Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Iligan, General Santos, Cotabato and Tagum.
“Sahod, Trabaho,
Karapatan” was the theme of the nationwide protests. “We call for a P100
minimum wage hike to recover the lost purchasing power of workers. Also, we
demand an end to endo and the return of regular employment as the norm.
Finally, we ask the government to heed the ILO HLTM proposals on protecting
labor rights in the country,” Magtubo explained.
In Metro Cebu, PM
assembled at the Plaza Independencia at 8:00 am before marching to Metro
Gaisano in Colon for the joint rally of the coalition Sugbuanong Mamumuo Nagkahiusa
Alang sa Living Wage (SANA AL). Some 1,000 workers marched for the demand for
wage hike and regular jobs. The highlight of the protest was the destruction of
a makeshift statue of Sen. Robin Padilla by a giant hammer (maso) to symbolize
the workers’ fight against cha-cha.
In Iloilo City, the
coalition United Labor led the march of some 1,500 workers at 2:30 pm to the
Capitol grounds. The unions at Pepsi, Coke, URC and Iloilo Doctors were among
the participants together with a contingent from the Iloilo Grab Riders Union
(IGRU). The IGRU is the first union established among Grab riders in the
country.
In Bacolod, some 3,000
workers joined the United Labor of Negros rally at the city Public Plaza. Sugar
workers trooped to Bacolod City for the Labor Day protest of the groups PM,
KMU, NACUSIP, BMP, CAILO, BUNYOG and BACOD. Unrest is brewing among sugar
workers due to the early onset of tiempo muerto (dead season) as a result of
the sugar crisis.
In Iligan, the Federation of Democratic Labor Organizations (FDLO) led the Labor Day march around the city which ended at the city plaza. PM, Mindanow, and other civil society organizations joined the FDLO rally.
Press Release
May 1, 2023
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