Reforms demanded in wake of deadly QC factory fire

Photo from Inquirer.net

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called for stronger labor enforcement and labor inspection in response to the deadly industrial fire at a small garment factory in Quezon City. The fire in the early morning of Thursday last week at MGC Wearhouse Inc. killed 15 people, 12 of whom were stay-in workers.

 

"Heads must roll and justice must be served for the needless deaths and injuries to workers,” insisted Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

 

PM lambasted employers 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. The deaths of MGC workers recall the Kentex factory fire which killed 74 people, the country’s worst industrial tragedy. Further, over the years workers have also been killed or injured in several construction sites amidst the current real estate boom.

 

“While capitalists were scrimping on protection for workers and DOLE was sleeping on its job of enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace,” Magtubo elaborated.

 

He averred 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.”

 

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

 

He noted that the DOLE’s “Labor Laws Compliance System” (LLCS) inaugurated in 2013 and the hike in the number of labor inspectors to almost 600 is still not working. An audit by the International Labor Organization in 2009 revealed that with only 193 labor inspectors to inspect 784,000 companies, an establishment gets inspected only once every 16 years.

 

“A big loophole in the so-called LLCS is the focus on ‘voluntary compliance’ and ‘self-assessment’ by employers. Voluntary compliance and self-assessment mean that the government is asking the wolf to guard the sheep. No wonder the sheep gets slaughtered,” Magtubo criticized.

 

He added that “The DOLE has again been caught sleeping on the job. DOLE must check firms 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. Non-unionized workers are among the most overworked yet underpaid since they do not have the protection of an organization.”

Press Release

September 4, 2023

DOLE asked: Take PAL’s assertions with a grain of salt

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asked the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to be more critical of the statements of Philippine Airlines (PAL) management regarding the mass layoff of 300 regular employees. This was the group’s reaction to the pronouncement of DOLE Assistant Secretary Benjo Benavidez that there is nothing illegal in the latest round of separation at the flag carrier.

“The DOLE is cognizant of the outsourcing dispute at PAL and that historically the company has laid off regular employees so that the work is subcontracted to endo workers in service providers. Thus DOLE must be more critical of the basis and purpose of the recent retrenchment of 300 employees,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Alnem Pretencio of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) also called on DOLE to immediately decide pending labor cases of the flag carrier. He explained that “Given this most recent mass layoff, it is incumbent upon the Office of the Labor Secretary to decide on two unresolved cases. One is the illegal dismissal in 2015 of 117 workers in the provincial airports. And second, the results of the SAVE inspection of PAL which found that the flag carrier illegally practiced labor-only contracting in the use of contract workers in the service providers. The cases have languished at the DOLE for the past several years.”

Magtubo averred that “The findings of the SAVE inspection shows rampant contractualization at PAL. This despite the DOLE’s legal imprimatur to the 2011 outsourcing of the airport services, catering and reservations departments that led to the loss of jobs of 2,600 regular workers. DOLE should not repeat the same mistake in prematurely declaring that the latest mass layoff is above board and legal.”

“In fact, on its face, there is an obvious disparity in numbers. In his declaration that the layoff is legal, ASec Benavidez cites that 182 employees have voluntarily accepted separation. But PAL states that 300 are affected and that workers will be retrenched aside from voluntarily separated. This begs the question, what is the status of the rest of the 300 workers to be dismissed?,” inquired Magtubo. 

March 2, 2020

BPO workers group calls for stronger labor enforcement after NCCC fire

Photo from Philstar.com

A BPO workers association today called for stronger labor enforcement and inspection in response to the deadly fire at the NCCC Mall in Davao City that claimed the 37 employees of the call center SSI. The group also expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

“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,” Rossie Hong, chairperson of I-Shield (Secured and Healthy Initiative Enabling Labor Defense). I-Shield was formerly named the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW).

Hong added that “Heads must roll and justice must be served for the needless deaths and injuries to our fellow BPO workers. While employers were scrimping on protection for workers and DOLE was sleeping on its job of enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace.”

I-Shield lambasted employers for cutting corners in occupational safety in order to raise profits and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for lax implementation of labor and safety standards. The deaths of SSI workers comes on top of the loss of lives in the industrial fires at Kentex in Valenzuela and HTI in Cavite ecozone.

I-Shield called on the DOLE activate the trade unionists who were recently trained to be labor inspectors. The deputization of unionists as inspectors was a demand of labor groups in the wake of the Kentex and HTI tragedies as a means to augment the number of inspectors and involve labor groups in enforcement. However months after being trained and deputized, none of the unionists have been given mission orders by the DOLE for actual inspections.

“Is the DOLE waiting for another industrial tragedy before it mobilizes trained unionists for labor inspections?,” Hong insisted.

I-Shield also appealed to the DOLE to immediately hold new batches of trainings for more unionists from different labor groups who are waiting in line to be deputized as inspectors.

ICCAW was formed in 2012 but changed its name to I-Shield this year. I-Shield is the accredited labor representative in the Region VII ICT industry tripartite council. Its website is https://bposhield.com.

I-Shield

December 27, 2017

PALEA welcomes promulgation of decision vs. DOJ prosecutor

The union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) welcomed the promulgation today of a decision by the Sandiganbayan regarding the mulcting case it filed against a prosecutor of the Department of Justice (DOJ). A delegation from PALEA came to the Sandiganbayan this morning to witness the promulgation.

Senior assistant state prosecutor Diosdado Solidum is charged with extorting some P2.5 million in 2013 in exchange for dropping a case against 250 PALEA members for alleged violation of the Civil Aviation Authority Act (CAAP) of 2008 because of its airport protest against outsourcing in September 2011.The protest ended with the forcible eviction by police and guards of PALEA members.

“We welcome the handing down of a decision today and we hope that the Sandiganbayan delivers a conviction on Solidum as there is incontrovertible proof of his guilt. A conviction will render justice for PALEA members whose protest against contractualization in Philippine Airlines (PAL) is not just legal but just. We hope that this small win will ultimately lead to a bigger victory in our fight against endo at PAL,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and also vice chair of the militant Partido Manggagawa.

PALEA held a protest at the airport in September 27, 2011 in a bid to stop the implementation of a massive outsourcing program that led to the mass termination of some 2,600 employees and their transfer as contractual workers in agencies. PAL charged some 250 PALEA members with violating the CAAP law and a Pasay City prosecutor subsequently affirmed the complaint. Solidum then approached PALEA with the offer of dismissing the case on appeal in return for P10,000 from each of the respondents. Solidum was caught in an entrapment operation in QC authorized by then DOJ head Leila de Lima.

Rivera added that “Our fight for justice has been long and winding. But we are glad that after four years, the Sandiganbayan will now render a decision on Solidum. We will be even more happy if our struggle for reinstatement as regular workers in PAL will finally be concluded.”

“A few days ago President Rodrigo Duterte assailed Lucio Tan-owned PAL for failing to pay CAAP for its debts on the use of airport facilities. As a result PAL has offered to settle the issue by paying P4 billion. We call on President Duterte to ask Lucio Tan and PAL to likewise fulfill their obligation to some 600 PALEA members have yet to be reinstated as regular workers according to the terms of a settlement agreement forged in 2013 to resolve the outsourcing dispute. The President is aware of this as it was brought to his attention in a dialogue with labor groups at Malacanang last February 27,” Rivera insisted.

PALEA is also calling on the Department of Labor and Employment to release the findings of its inspection of PAL, its sister company PAL Express and the 27 agencies contracted in their operations. A similar inspection of telecom company PLDT led to an order to regularize nearly 9,000 agency workers.

“We are confident that simlar to PLDT, PAL and PAL Express will also be found gulity of illegal labor-only contracting and thus be ordered to regularize its thousands of agency workers and reinstate the PALEA 600. This will mean that justice has been served PALEA’s fight, just like a conviction for Solidum today,” Rivera argued.

September 29, 2017

Workers slam PAL labor violations in Ayala rally

Members of labor groups marched in Ayala Ave. today in a preview of the big workers rally for Labor Day and to slam Philippine Airlines (PAL) for labor violations in the agencies it has contracted. Workers from the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Partido Manggagawa (PM) marched this afternoon from the Makati fire station to the PNB headquarters which also houses PAL offices.

“The inspections conducted by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) with the participation of PALEA members have uncovered breaches of general labor and occupational safety standards. Also exposed by the inspection is the fact that agency workers are doing the work of formerly regular workers. That means PAL is guilty of breaking the law and rules on contractualization,” explained Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice-chair.

Last week, DOLE announced in a press conference that inspections conducted through the Special Assessment or Visit of Establishments (SAVE) found PAL and telecom company PLDT guilty of violating labor and safety rules, including on subcontracting. DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello even proclaimed that he will order the regularization of some 10,000 PLDT agency workers as a consequence.

Rivera insisted that “PAL must remediate the transgressions of its controversial outsourcing scheme by reinstating the 600 PALEA members as per the provisions of a settlement agreement and terminate the use of service providers that have displaced the jobs of regular employees.”

“The protest march today at the country’s central business district on the eve of ASEAN is also a condemnation of the anti-labor and pro-business agenda of the meetings. Labor rights are being sacrificed at the altar of trade liberalization through ASEAN and other multilateral institutions like the WTO and APEC,” insisted Rene Magtubo, PM chair.

SAVE inspections conducted by DOLE and PALEA at PAL and PAL Express are still ongoing as only operations in provinvial airports have been assessed and offices in Metro Manila are yet to be visited. Rivera also blasted PAL for sabotaging the inspections by questioning PALEA’s participation and delaying the conduct of SAVE in its Metro Manila operations.

PALEA and PM are participating in the nationwide Labor Day rallies led by the coalition Nagkaisa. On May 1, Nagkaisa members will assemble at Welcome Rotonda at 7:30 am and then march to Mendiola for a program to call for a scrapping of the newly released DO 174, an end to all forms of contractualization and the protection of labor and human rights.

Also PM-Kabataan, the youth wing of PM, is also a holding a mass action at Welcome Rotonda at 4:00 pm on April 30 to highlight the pressing concerns of young workers like unemployment, contractualization and decent wages and benefits.

April 26, 2017

DOLE asked to deputize unionists as labor and safety inspectors

(Photo from Cavite Provincial Government)

In the wake of a third fatality in the massive factory fire at the House Technology Industries (HTI) in the Cavite ecozone, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to deputize unionists as inspectors to ensure enforcement of general labor and occupational safety and health (OSH) standards. Cavite Governor Crispin Remulla confirmed the third death due to the HTI factory fire last February 10.

“We ask DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello to approve the pending proposal that union officers be accredited as labor inspectors to beef up the labor standards enforcement system. With just a twist of Sec. Bello’s pen, labor leaders can be deputized, the number of inspections can be multiplied overnight, enforcement can be strengthened immediately, and workers lives and limbs can be saved as a result,” appealed Rene Magtubo, PM national chairperson.

He added that “We take exception to the opinion of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) head Charito Plaza that HTI has no fault since the fire was caused by an accident. In OSH 101, it is a basic tenet that accidents are not acts of divine providence but are the result of unsafe acts that are preventable by strict enforcement of safety rules. Even if HTI is compliant according to inspection, obviously there are violations of safety rules that led to the recent fire and a previous 10-hour blaze in October 2012.”

Citing deaths of workers in HTI, Kentex in Valenzuela, Hanjin shipyard in Subic and in several construction sites natiowide, Magtubo argued “Government through the DOLE and PEZA must make policy changes regarding enforcement of labor standards and occupational health and safety so that workers do not die in vain.”

“The DOLE only has some 600 inspectors to cover around a million establishments nationwide. 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 already thrice the present number of inspectors,” elaborated Magtubo.

PM insisted that the 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 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.

February 14, 2017

Cavite EPZA factory fire prompts call for stronger labor enforcement

The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) demanded stronger labor and safety enforcement from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in the wake of the massive factory fire at the Cavite EPZA that resulted to some one hundred injuries and one confirmed dead as of today.

“Export zones should not be independent republics where weak labor and safety rules lead to low wages, proliferation of contractualization and unsafe working conditions. The DOLE should exercise its labor enforcement and inspection powers to the full within economic zones. A big number of the country’s factory workers are now employed in the numerous export zones across the country and especially Calabarzon,” argued Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Yesterday members of PM and the Katipunan ng Manggagawang Pilipino (KMP) trooped to the Cavite EPZA to demand a transparent investigation of the factory fire at House Technology Industries (HTI) and immediate assistance for workers injured or killed in the industrial tragedy reminiscent of the Kentex fire in 2015.

“We express our sympathies for HTI workers and their families. 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 insisted.

He noted that despite HTI’s compliance certification, there are apparent occupational health and safety issues since there was a previous fire at HTI in 2012. A 10-hour fire started at the boiler department of the HTI factory in October 19, 2012 and lasted up to early the next day.

“Also we are gravely concerned that out of HTI’s total workforce of some 10,000, only 4,000 are regular workers and the rest are contractual workers deployed by several agencies. Labor inspection should reveal if these agency workers are actually doing the job of regular workers but are being used to evade implementation of mandated wages, benefits and rights,” Magtubo elaborated.

He added that “Further, due to their short-term employment, contractual workers may not be properly informed of health and safety procedures, and probably not participate in fire drills. The proliferation of contractual workers from manpower agencies and labor coops must be stopped not just to advance decent working conditions but also workplace health and safety. Thus we call on DOLE not just to probe HTI but also its sister companies Wu Kong and SCAD where conditions are no different.”

February 3, 2017

PM wants union officers deputized as labor inspectors for endo campaign

 

The workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to deputize union officers as labor inspectors to assist in the campaign to end endo. “By deputizing labor leaders, the number of inspections of establishment using subcontracting schemes can be multiplied overnight, enforcement can be strengthened immediately, and hundreds of thousands of contractual workers can be regularized as a result,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chairperson.

PM also supported the proposal of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines to criminalize violations of laws and regulations on contractualization. “Still employers and their contractors must first be found guilty of violations and thus we urge the deployment of union officers as labor inspectors to level up the enforcement and compliance system,” Magtubo argued.

He added that “If Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello’s target of reducing contractualization in half by the end of the year, then the present cadre of some 600 labor inspectors must be beefed up by trained and motivated volunteers from the workers movement.”

In response to employers’ opposition to the criminalization, the group finds nothing controversial about jailing violators of labor laws and regulations. “Former Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz already proposed criminalizing breaches of occupational health and safety standards in the wake of the Kentex fire that killed at least 72 workers and employers did not threaten to relocate to Vietnam or Cambodia to evade incarceration,” Magtubo reminded.

He explained that “Let us not forget the lessons of Kentex. The Valenzuela factory was found compliant after three site inspections by a DOLE labor inspector who mechanically followed a checklist but did not go beyond it, like for example verifying if the manpower agency used by Kentex was duly registered, which in fact it was not. A determined union officer deputized as labor inspector would not make the same mistake.”

According to the DOLE, in October 2011, a month before the issuance of DO 18-A which regulates the practice of subcontracting, there were 200,000 contractual workers under 2,624 registered subcontractors. “Needless to say, this data is grossly incorrect and patently underreported to put it mildly. In a succeeding 2012 survey by the Bureau of Labor and Employment, 30.5 percent of total employment of 3,769,259 (based on establishments with 20 or more workers) or more than 1 million are non-regular workers, meaning apprentices, probationary, seasonal, casual and project-based workers. In the same survey, one third of factory workers were found to be contractual. DOLE’s labor inspectors alone would be overworked to finish inspecting the working conditions of more than one million contractual workers.”

“We call on DOLE to train union officers in the labor inspection and enforcement process and then accredit them appropriately,” Magtubo added 

August 5, 2016

“Jail Kentex, subcon owners!”—labor group

Press Release

May 18, 2015

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) is calling for the criminal prosecution of the owners of Kentex Manufacturing and its subcontractor CJC Manpower Services. To highlight this call, some 50 PM members will troop this morning to the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment as Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz summons the representatives of Kentex and CJC for a mandatory conference.

“Workers who are caught jaywalking can be jailed. The owners of Kentex and CJC deserve no less a penalty for the massacre of some 70 workers and injuries to dozens more. The owners of Kentex and CJC are not just immoral but criminal. Justice for Kentex workers cannot be served by giving P13,000 in assistance to the families,” declared Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

In the rally today, PM members will carry placards with messages like “Kentex, CJC: Kriminal di lang immoral,” “Contractualization kills” and “Labor rights violations kill too.”

PM vows to continue pressing for justice for Kentex workers who were killed and injured in the factory fire last week. Earlier, PM together with the Nagkaisa labor coalition held a candle lighting protest at the Kentex factory. More actions are slated for the coming days.

As Secretary Baldoz called on Congress to put “teeth to the law” by passing pending legislative bills providing for criminal penalties for violations of occupational safety and health standards, PM challenged the DOLE to use its existing visitorial and enforcement powers to inspect establishments to prevent another workplace tragedy.

“Obviously we welcome criminalization of the breach of workplace safety. Still what the DOLE lacks is political will not enforcement powers Article 128 of the Labor Code already empowers the Labor Secretary or her representative to investigate any fact, condition or matter which may be necessary to determine violations or may aid in the enforcement of labor laws,” Fortaleza insisted.

He added that “In the very same industrial compound where Kentex is situated are other factories that we believe are similar sweatshops and possible firetraps. Secretary Baldoz and the DOLE’s labor law compliance officers should waste no time inspecting these Kentex-like sweatshops and firetraps.”

“Kentex and its illegal subcontractor CJC are both small fry. As far as illegal and immoral forms of contractualization is concerned there are bigger fish out there. We have been campaigning already against Asiapro, the biggest supplier of contractual workers in the guise of a labor cooperative. And everyone knows the endo system at SM. But the DOLE has not lifted a finger in these cases,” Fortaleza ended.

PM welcomes MMDA proposal for fixed monthly salaries for drivers

Press Release

May 19, 2011

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) welcomed the proposal from the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) of fixed monthly salaries for bus drivers and conductors instead of commission-based pay. The group also offered to involve labor leaders in the inspections that the MMDA and the Department of Labor and Employment plan to conduct tomorrow in bus terminals.

Renato Magtubo, PM chair. meanwhile slammed bus operators for opposing the fixed income scheme. “We ask the bus operators to moderate their greed in interest of road safety and workers welfare. Bus companies have the gall to say that drivers and conductors might reject the fixed income proposal because it will reduce their pay when in fact it is they who oppose it because it will diminish their profit,” Magtubo explained.

“The death of journalist and professor Chit Estella-Simbulan would not have been in vain if it leads to reforms in road safety such as better working conditions for drivers and conductors. As Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz had earlier ok’ed our proposal for labor groups to get involved in labor inspections, we now ask the DOLE and MMDA to immediately deputize labor leaders as labor inspectors before another commuter and worker is killed,” stated Magtubo.

PM had earlier called on the DOLE to deputize labor leaders as inspectors in the wake of the twin accidents at Eton construction sites in Makati and Quezon City. “Aside from the abusive commission-based pay, rampant contractualization at bus companies must also be addressed. Happy workers are hard and safe workers. Bus companies must realize that the increase in productivity in the long-term will make up for their short-term decrease in profit,” Magtubo asserted.

Gerry Rivera, president of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) called on bus drivers, conductors, mechanics and other workers to unionize. “A unionized establishment is a safe and satisfying workplace. We are willing to help fellow workers in the transport sector who will exercise their Constitutionally-protected right to organize. PALEA and the International Transport Federation will support them in this effort,” he elaborated.

PALEA is an affiliate of the ITF, a global union that represents some 4.6 million workers in the transport sector. In a hearing called by the House of Representatives Labor Committee on the labor row at Philippine Airlines, PALEA called on solons to pass a measure to mandate fixed income wages for bus drivers and conductors, and to report out the pending Security of Tenure bill. The latter bill seeks to curb contractualization in establishments, including the air and land transport.

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.