In wake of Hanjin worker death: Union officers urged to be deputized as labor inspectors

Press Release

May 10, 2014

In response to a report that a Hanjin contractor has been punished for the death of another worker at the shipyard last May 2, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to deputize union presidents and officers as labor inspectors in order to strengthen the enforcement of labor standards and safety rules. The DOLE in Central Luzon has issued a cease and desist order to Finback Corp. due to the accidental death of its employee, Ryan Gacus.

Renato Magtubo, PM national chair, reiterated the call that justice must be served the 37 workers who have died at the Hanjin shipyard. “Stopping the operation of Finback is just a first step. We will monitor what steps DOLE will do next to serve justice to Gacus. Aside from the responsibility of the principal employer Hanjin and its subcontractors to the laborers who have been killed at the shipyard-cum-graveyard, the government must make policy changes regarding enforcement of labor standards and occupational health and safety so that workers have not died in vain,” he stated.

Magtubo said that “The DOLE just has some 200 inspectors to cover around 800,000 establishments nationwide, thus in 2013 just around 40,000 enterprises were subjected to inspections, self-assessments and visits. The numbers can easily be increased several fold by deputizing union officers as labor inspectors. Even if just 10% of the 17,000 local union presidents are accredited, this is about 10 times the present number of inspectors.”

PM insists that by deputizing labor leaders, the number of inspections can be multiplied overnight, enforcement can be strengthened immediately, and workers lives and limbs can be saved as a result.

The group explained that DOLE already allows local government units to undertake technical safety inspections in order to complement its efforts and so there is no reason not to mobilize workers groups in labor enforcement. “All the DOLE has to do is train union president and officers in the labor inspection and enforcement process and then accredit them appropriately,” Magtubo added.

In the DOLE’s Labor Standards Enforcement Framework, unions with collective bargaining agreements are given a role in self-assessment for their enterprises. “If unions play a responsibility in ensuring labor standards and occupational safety in their own workplaces, it does not take a leap of logic to allow them a task in inspecting other enterprises,” Magtubo argued.

PNoy dared to act on Hanjin deaths

Press Release

May 3, 2014

Just two days after the commemoration of Labor Day, the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) challenged President Benigno Aquino III to uphold and protect workers rights at the giant Hanjin shipyard in Subic, Zambales as another worker died last May 1 in a workplace accident. “PNoy had once personally thanked Hanjin for its PhP24 billion investment. Now he should personally act on the 37^th reported death at the shipyard,” insisted Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

Randy Gacos, 29, a fit-up welder at the shipbuilding facility of HanjinHeavy Industries and Construction Philippines Inc., suffered severe burns while working in the erection section of the shipyard on Wednesday and then died on Thursday night while being treated at a local hospital.

Magtubo added that “The Hanjin shipyard is a graveyard of workers. While capitalists are scrimping on protection for its work force and the government is sleeping on its job of enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace. Hanjin’s crooked path must be set straight by PNoy. Instead of beating war drums over the West Philippine Sea it is better that PNoy wage war for workers rights at Subic.”

“PALEA supports our brothers in Hanjin. From airlines to shipyards, contractualization is wrecking havoc on the working and living conditions of workers. The promotion of contractual employment is the policy of government as exposed by the Office of the President decision on outsourcing at Philippine Airlines. Of the 3,000 hired last Labor Day at the job fairs, we ask the Department of Labor, how many are for permanent positions and how many are for contractual employment? Ang laban ng manggagawa ng Hanjin ay laban ng PALEA,” exclaimed Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.

Some 21,000 laborers work in the Hanjin shipyard but just a few hundred are claimed by the giant multinational as its employees since the rest are hired by 19 subcontractors.

PM also called for stronger labor enforcement and labor inspection reforms by the government in response to latest death at the Hanjinshipyard and the rampant contractualization at the shipyard. “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,” Magtubo claimed.

He added that “PNoy’s government 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.”

Current labor policies worse than martial law – labor groups

PRESS RELEASE
20 September 2011
Organized labor groups under the Church Labor Conference (CLC) and the Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktwalisasyon (Kontra) trooped to the historic Mendiola bridge on the eve of the country’s commemoration of its dark days under martial rule.
But more than keeping the fire of  the famous “Never Again” call, workers came to denounce the present government under P-Noy, for perpetuating  labor policies that are worse than martial law.
“During the time of Mr. Marcos, labor is not allowed to express itself freely because rights were suspended.  Today, these freedoms to express and organize ourselves into union, collectively bargain with our employers, and get involved in concerted actions , remain dead,” said Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) chair and CLC co-chair Renato Magtubo. 
Magtubo explained that in fact by comparison, many unions have actually survived the dark days of martial law than under this era of globalization, citing the case of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) which by coincidence is  going to celebrate its 65th anniversary tomorrow.  PALEA was formed in September 21, 1946.
“But after tomorrow, PALEA will be pushed into the brink of extinction if Lucio Tan succeeds  in making the Philippine Airlines the flag carrier of P-Noy’s labor contractualization policy,”  added Magtubo.
Under PAL’s outsourcing plan, more than 2,600 members of PALEA, including 70% of its officers,  shall be terminated and rehired as contractuals by third party service providers.   In effect, the outsourcing plan is union-busting hiding under the guise of company restructuring as claimed by PALEA.
Magtubo stressed further that, “By freeing the employers’ unlimited exercise of management prerogative which was affirmed recently by P-Noy in the case of PAL,  workers have effectively lost all the rights to express and defend themselves since they can now be fired at will by their employers.  And this is worse than martial law.” Another example, Magtubo said,  is the case of Dusit Hotel workers who were fired at will by the management  after they cut off their hairs in a show of protest  against management policies.    Magtubo said the government did nothing to defend the rights of these workers.
The case of Hanjin workers  in Subic is another.  Some 21,000 workers in this giant shipyard work as contractuals.  They live in a very poor working conditions as manifested in many incidents of work-related deaths.  Yet the government lifts no finger in ending this gross violations of labor rights in the shipyard and in all  export zones (EPZAs) in the country.
“Labor is not happy with this situation.  Unfortunately,  the little space left where we can express ourselves is also becoming useless since like Marcos, nobody in Malacanang cares to listen or take the side of labor,” concluded Magtubo.
The groups said, however, that martial-law like represssion only strengthen the unity of labor and prepares them to embark on  collective struggles against common enemies such as the plague of contractualization and even for a political battle against a pro-capitalist government.

Workers hold counter SONA, challenge PNoy’s social transformation agenda

Press Release

July 25, 2011

Some 1,000 members from different workers groups comprising the anti-contractualization coalition KONTRA held a labor counter SONA at Mendiola this morning. Renato Magtubo, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) national chairperson, slammed PNoy for anti-labor policies in his first year in office.

“How can social transformation be real when groups calling for social change are blocked miles away from hearing distance of PNoy and Congress? Social transformation is impossible without political and economic reforms,” he said.

In the afternoon, PM, KONTRA, Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP) joined the multisectoral groups Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and Kampanya para sa Makataong Pamumuhay (KAMP) in a march from Tandang Sora to Batasang Pambansa. Meanwhile youth groups such as PM-Kabataan and Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (SDK) assembled at Philcoa, Quezon City then merged with PM and the multisectoral groups in the march along

Commonwealth Ave.

Gerry Rivera, PM vice chair and PALEA president argued that “After one year of PNoy, there is no new program to generate jobs, no new mechanism to increase workers wages and no change in the no-union policy in the ecozones. PNoy has given the go signal for contractualization at Philippine Airlines (PAL). He has praised Hanjin’s investments but has been silent on the deaths and injuries of workers at the shipyard-cum-graveyard. PNoy has continued with sacrificing labor rights at the ecozones to attract foreign capital.”

Labor counter SONAs were also held in other cities. In Metro Cebu, PM and other groups under the coalition Kahugpungan sa Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Sugbo (KANAMASO) marched this morning from Sto. Rosario Church to downtown Colon. In Metro Davao, PM massed up at Magsaysay Park then marched along

Magsaysay Ave.

to Orcullo Park for the rally. In Iloilo, PM held a forum at UP-Iloilo and also a press conference to air its reaction to the SONA.

“Workers challenge PNoy to jumpstart his so-called social transformation agenda by reversing the Office of the President decision on PAL, declaring the security of tenure bill as a priority agenda and implementing a massive public employment program,” insisted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.

Absent major policy reforms, there will be no social transformation

PRESS STATEMENT

Church-Labor Conference (CLC)

Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktwalisasyon (KONTRA)

25 July 2011

President Aquino’s communication advisers said the President’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) will focus more on ‘social transformation’.  What would that mean in real sense, however, largely depend on how Filipinos would view their lives today and in the immediate future.  And for the masang Pinoy who have been used to hearing nice words from their leaders, this new buzzword assumes no meaning at all unless accompanied by major policy reforms. 

For unemployed workers, their ‘transformation’ would mean having stable and good paying jobs.  For contractual workers, that would mean regular and secured jobs.  For the homeless, that would mean decent homes for the family.  For the poor, sick, and old, that would mean universal healthcare and pension systems.  For the youth, that would mean free education and brighter future.  For migrant workers, that would mean a secured environment back home.  For women, that would mean more freedom and equal opportunity.

For the economy, that would mean a departure from the old system and the creation of a new roadmap for development.  In politics, that would mean an end to elite rule and the establishment of a truly democratic government.

Absent these policy changes, the much-hyped ‘social transformation’ would remain an empty phrase.  And unfortunately during Pnoy’s first year in office, the economic and labor policies that he upholds are more of the same.  He still clings to the free market economics of neoliberal globalization and upholds the policy of cheap labor and contractualization as manifested clearly in the case of Philippine Airlines and Hanjin. 

Thus, different labor groups gathered today in Mendiola and in Batasan to challenge the President that major steps must be done beyond his tuwid na daan battlecry.  So beyond the push for good governance, the manggagawang Pinoy are asking PNoy to: (1) put an end to contractualization; (2) push the passage of Security of Tenure bill; (3) implement a public guaranteed jobs program; (4) declare a moratorium on demolitions; and (5) formulate a social protection package for displaced workers in the form of unemployment insurance and the like to address the problems of the displaced workers.

SIGNED

Philippine Airline Employees Association (PALEA)

Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Hanjin (SAMAHAN)

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM)

Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN)

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)

National Union of Building and Construction Workers-National Confederation of Labor (NUBCW-NCL)

Urban Missionaries (UM)

Archdiocese of Manila Labor Center (AMLC)

Bagong landas ng social reform di lang tuwid na daan ng good governance

Press Statement

July 23, 2011

Gerry Rivera

President, PALEA

Vice Chair, PM

Hiling ng mga manggagawa kay PNoy sa SONA:

Bagong landas ng social reform di lang tuwid na daan ng good governance

In his SONA, President Benigno Aquino will likely highlight his administration’s accomplishments in stamping corruption. But workers believe that poverty will not be solved by good governance alone. Poverty can only be eradicated by reforms in the economic and social arena that attacks the iniquitous distribution of wealth in the country.

After one year of PNoy, there is no new program to generate jobs, no new mechanism to increase workers wages and no change in the no-union policy in the ecozones. PNoy has given the go signal for contractualization at Philippine Airlines. He has praised Hanjin’s investments but has been silent on the deaths and injuries of workers at the shipyard-cum-graveyard. PNoy has continued with sacrificing labor rights at the ecozones to attract foreign capital.

In Philippine Airlines, the Office of the President has allowed management to outsource 2,600 jobs even as it suppressed the right of the union to fight through an assumption of jurisdiction order. In the Hanjin shipyard, another worker has died last Wednesday, adding to the 31 previous deaths. In the Mactan Economic Zone, after three decades a union finally won a certification election only for the Japanese company to shutdown operations in order to bust the union then reopen last week via a permit from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

Kung ganito sa unang taon ni PNoy, paano na sa susunod pang limang taon?

Despite the absence of wang-wangs, despite the resignation of Merci Gutierrez and despite the initiative to prosecute GMA for plundering the country, it is undeniable that the number of poor and hungry Filipinos has remained the same if not worsened. And it is because there is not social reform being implemented under the PNoy administration despite the so-called social contract with the people.

The contents of the PNoy’s Philippine Development Plan are hardly different from GMA’s Medium Term Philippine Development Plan. PNoy’s Public-Private Partnership is simply privatization by just another name. Privatization has being tried by Cory, FVR, Erap and GMA. And it has been exposed as the root of the high prices of power, electricity and water, and of excessive toll fees among others.

Ipinapaabot ng mga manggagawa kay PNoy: ang gusto ng kanyang mga boss ay bagong landas di lang tuwid na daan. Ang kailangan ng taumbayan ay di lang good governance kundi higit sa lahat social reform.

Workers hold pre-SONA protest vs. PEZA

Press Release

July 22, 2011

Some 200 members of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) held a pre-SONA protest at the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) today as the labor group slammed the suppression of the right to unionize in the ecozones even under the present administration. Some of the protesters, many of whom are workers in Cavite factories, had their hands and mouths bound to symbolize the suppression of the freedom to organize in the ecozones.

“After one year of PNoy, there is no new program to generate jobs, no new guideline to increase workers wages and no change in the no-union policy in the ecozones. PNoy has given the go signal for contractualization at Philippine Airlines. He has praised Hanjin’s investments but has been silent on the deaths and injuries of workers at the shipyard-cum-graveyard. PNoy has continued with sacrificing labor rights at the ecozones to attract foreign capital,” declared Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.

To highlight its case, PM pointed out to PEZA’s collusion in stifling workers efforts to unionize at the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) in Lapu-Lapu City. A Japanese-owned company in MEZ, Blaze Manufacuring Corp., shutdown its operations on the day that a certification election was held. The union won the elections for the first time in the history of that ecozone.

Miranda insisted that “We demand that the PEZA national office revokes the letter of authority it granted to reopen recently.” PM is slamming Blaze for union busting and PEZA for its collusion. The PM chapter in Cebu had already picketed the PEZA office in Lapu-Lapu City last Monday.

“Ipinapaabot ng mga manggagawa kay PNoy, ang gusto ng kanyang mga boss ay bagong landas di lang tuwid na daan. In his SONA, PNoy will highlight his administration’s accomplishments in stamping corruption but poverty will not be solved by good governance alone. Poverty can only be eradicated by reforms in the economic and social arena that attacks the iniquitous distribution of wealth in the country,” Miranda explained.

PM is participating in protests before and during the SONA to underscore its critique of the Aquino administrations programs. On Monday, PM will join other labor groups in a Mendiola rally to criticize the administration’s anti-labor policies including its tolerance of contractual employment. In the afternoon, PM will participate in a broad mobilization of militant organizations at the Batasan to challenge President Aquino on the pro-globalization framework of the Philippine Development Plan and the public-private partnership.

PM supports Escudero’s call for independent body to investigate poll cheating

Press Release

July 20, 2011

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today expressed support for Sen. Chiz Escudero’s call for an independent body headed by a retired Supreme Court justice to conduct an investigation into the allegations of cheating in the elections of 2004 and 2007.

“It is high time to put a closure to the question of who really won the 2004 elections. Arising from the cover up during the regime of Gloria Arroyo, it is to the interest of truth and justice that an independent body now hears evidence and testimony of witnesses such as Zaldy Ampatuan and Lintang Bedol,” stated Renato Magtubo, PM national chair.

Magtubo also called on President Benigno Aquino III to include the burning issue of poll reregulates in his SONA speech. “We want to hear in his SONA PNoy’s personal position on the demand for an investigation of the cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections,” Magtubo insisted.

However Magtubo also challenged Aquino to go beyond the issues of cheating and corruption in his SONA speech. “We know that PNoy will highlight his administration’s accomplishments in the arena of stamping corruption but poverty will not be solved by good governance alone. Poverty can only be eradicated by radical reforms in the economic and social arena that to attacks the iniquitous distribution of wealth in the country,” he elaborated.

PM is planning protests before and during the SONA to underscore its critique of the Aquino administrations programs. On Friday morning, PM will participate in a thousand-strong mobilization of pro-RH bill advocates at Mendiola. Meanwhile on Friday noon, PM will lead a rally at the

Roxas Boulevard

office of the Philippine Export Zone Authority to assail the agency for its role in the suppression of the right to organize in ecozones.

On Monday, PM will join other labor groups in another Mendiola rally to criticize the administration’s anti-labor policies including its tolerance of contractual employment. In the afternoon, PM will participate in a broad mobilization of militant organizations at the Batasan to challenge President Aquino on the pro-globalization framework of the Philippine Development Plan and the public-private partnership.

“PNoy’s decision in the Philippine Airlines labor dispute over outsourcing and contractualization, and recently his praise for Hanjin’s billion-dolar investments but silence over the shipyard’s record as a graveyard for workers rights are the most concrete illustration of the contradiction between his anti-corruption posture and his pro-globalization agenda,” Magtubo argued.

Protest caravan presses Hanjin to comply with safety and other labor standards

PRESS RELEASE
03 July 2011

Disgusted with 5,000 accidents resulting to at least 31 deaths since it operated in the country, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today took part in the labor and church led “Caravan for Decent Work and Humane Working Conditions” from Manila to the Subic Bay Freeport in Olongapo City where the sprawling complex of Hanjin shipyard is located. The caravan, co-organized by the Church-Labor Conference (CLC), is met along the way by workers from Pampanga and Bataan under the Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (Makabayan) and Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD).

A group of cyclists and motorcyclists are to meet them at Olongapo City for a short program at Hanjin shipyard.  After the program, CLC co-chair and CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action Bishop Broderick Pabillo leads the mass at Brgy. Wawandue in Subic.  A torch parade around the city follows by nightfall. The Partido ng Manggagawa has been labelling the Korean-owned shipyard as the “graveyard of workers’ rights” for the appalling number of work-related deaths and accidents lying above many other labor rights violations in the company.

“Deaths, accidents, massive contractualization, cruelty against workers, poor working conditions and the denial of workers’ right to self organization, are things that cannot just be put under the rugs by the labor movement, the Church, the government, and the international community,” declared PM Chair Renato Magtubo. A labor department’s Occupational Safety and Health Standard (OSHS) director disclosed that based on its own investigation there were already some 5,000 reported accidents in Hanjin in the first two years of its operation.

Hanjin began its Philippine operations in 2006. The labor group Makabayan has put the number of work related deaths at Hanjin to 31; 11 cases of maltreatment by Korean superiors; 63 illegal termination; and 20 illegal suspension.

Workers also complain of spoiled foods being served to them, the rude physical treatment they are getting from their Korean superiors, and the low wages they receive since they are all employed through subcontractors. “Subjecting Hanjin’s 21,000 workforce into this cruel world of industrial relations is a national policy question that has to be addressed by Pnoy regardless of Koreans bringing in billions of pesos of investment in the country,” argued Magtubo. On 2009, the Senate Labor Committee conducted an inquiry on Hanjin and found many lapses in safety standards and other labor law violations.  The Department of Labor and Employment on the other hand came out with a circular for safety compliance yet deaths and accidents still hound the shipyard.

Labor and church groups are urging the government to strictly enforce all safety standards in Hanjin and compel the company to observe the Philippine and international standards on decent work, including the workers’ right to organize -- specifically the recognition of the Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Hanjin. The group is also asking for the cancellation of permit to operate of some 19 contractors which supply 100 percent of Hanjin’s contractual employees.

Labor groups ask Korean government to take action on Hanjin’s labor rights violations in PH

PRESS RELEASE

29 June 2001

Labor groups belonging to an anti-contractualization group Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktwalisasyon (Kontra), trooped to the Korean embassy in Makati City this morning to ask the Korean government to take immediate action on the growing number of employees’ deaths and accidents at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines, a South Korean owned shipyard located northwest of Manila.

“We urge the South Korean government to guide its shipbuilders operating abroad to strictly comply with safety regulations and other labor standards to avoid their shipyards being labelled as ‘graveyards of workers’ rights’ by the international labor community,” stated Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda.

Labor groups in the country are getting more incensed with the unabated cases of deaths and accidents at Hanjin, many of them reported and documented yet largely ignored by the company and government officials.  Aside from this, there are other major violations of labor standards at the shipyard that warrant immediate action from the government.

Miranda said the latest count puts the number of work related deaths at Hanjin to 31; 11 cases of maltreatment by Korean superiors; 63 illegal termination; and 20 illegal suspension. 

The giant shipyard also implements massive contractualization of its entire workforce, with 21,000 workers hired as contractual employees from 19 sub-contractors. It is the fourth largest ship-builder in the world, investing at least a billion dollars in the country. 

But the shipyard earned notoriety for its accident record and labor standard violations, prompting the Philippine Senate to conduct an inquiry.  The inquiry saw many lapses in safety and violated labor laws.  Unfortunately there was no sanction imposed on Hanjin.  Hence, accidents continued afterwards while strong-arm management rule reign upon its workers. Media coverage is also not allowed in the complex.

Miranda added that, “While we are not opposed to the entry of foreign investments in the country, the leniency extended towards Hanjin by the Philippine government should not be viewed by the Korean capitalists as a free ticket to maximum exploitation of Filipino labor.”

President Benigno Aquino III himself thanked Hanjin for investing some P24.2-B worth of investment in the country. 

“But that is no reason for the government to sleep on its job in enforcing safety and other labor standards in the country,” said Miranda. 

On July 3 the groups leading today’s rally will hold a “Caravan for Decent Jobs and Humane Working Conditions.” The caravan will proceed from Manila to Subic in order to highlight the dire plight of contractual workers especially in Hanjin.

The group said the government must review Hanjin and its contractors for compliance with safety regulations, payment of wages and benefits, observance of working hours, among others.

PM challenges PNoy to protect labor rights at Hanjin

Press Release

June 20, 2011

The militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) challenged President Benigno Aquino III to uphold and protect workers rights at the giant Hanjin shipyard in Subic, Zambales as complaints mounted of violations of labor and safety standards. Dozens of members of PM and the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) joined the Church-Labor Conference, an alliance of labor and religious organizations that is co-chaired by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, in a rally this morning at Mendiola in Manila.

“The Hanjin shipyard is a graveyard of workers. While capitalists are scrimping on protection for workers and the government is sleeping on its job of enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace. Hanjin’s crooked path must be set straight by PNoy. Instead of beating war drums over the Spratlys it is better that PNoy wage war for workers rights at Subic,” insisted Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

On July 3 the groups leading today’s rally will hold a “Caravan for Decent Jobs and Humane Working Conditions.” The caravan will proceed from Manila to Subic in order to highlight the dire plight of contractual workers especially in Hanjin.

“PALEA supports our brothers in Hanjin who are seeking the redress of the same grievances as Philippine Airlines employees, which is contractualization and union busting. From airlines to shipyards, contractualization is wrecking havoc on the working and living conditions of workers. Ang laban ng manggagawa ng Hanjin ay laban ng PALEA,” exclaimed Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.

PM also called for stronger labor enforcement and labor inspection reforms by the government in response to at least 26 deaths at the Hanjin shipyard and the rampant contractualization at the shipyard. “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,” Magtubo claimed.

He added that “PNoy’s government 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.” Some 21,000 laborers work in the Hanjin shipyard but just a few hundred are claimed by the giant multinational as its employees since the all almost are hired by 19 subcontractors.

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.

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.