Women workers hail long-delayed victory on violence-free workplace

Women workers picket Senate to demand C190 ratification

Partido Manggagawa (PM) together with NAGKAISA Women picketed the Senate of the Philippines to witness the hearing for the final stage of the ratification of ILO Convention 190. C190 recognizes the right of everyone to a world of work that is free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment.

 

“Matapos ang mahigit dalawang taong pagsusulong ng ratification ng C190, bagama’t long-delayed, ay natutuwa kami na nagbunga na rin ang aming tuloy-tuloy na kampanya para dito,” said PM General Secretary Judy Ann Miranda.

 

Miranda added that after the ratification, PM will then push for necessary laws and policy measures to be put in place to address violence and harassment in the world of work. In the Philippines, one in seven women experience sexual harassment at least once every week, according to a study. Sexual harassment in the workplace is prevalent but underreported because victims fear reprisal.

 

“Kalakhan ng biktima ng sexual harassment ay kababaihan, lalung-lalo na ‘yaong rank-and-file, casuals at job order. Gusto naming makapag-trabaho ang mga manggagawang kababaihan nang walang agam-agam at may dignidad, kaya babantayan namin ang pagpapatupad ng mga kaakibat na batas at polisiya kaugnay ng C190. Makaka-asa ang kapatid naming mga manggagawang kababaihan, maging ang LGBTQI+ community, na hindi magpapabaya ang PM sa usaping ito,” Miranda ended.

Access photos here:  https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/pfbid0296km3ouqrVzcAbe3DzE9oKEeQZ8o6AxgfNjzxmmcGMpJpyN4facYmbdDjQxtWCaKl

Partido Manggagawa

28 November 2023

 

Labor Groups vow to end VAW, call for ratification of Convention against violence at work

 

Some 500 workers led by the Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition marched ahead of the worldwide 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women (VAW) at the University of the Philippines, Diliman as well as in Cebu and Bacolod, to call for an end to all forms of violence and for the ratification of ILO Convention 190 that addresses violence in the world of work.

Raising their banners, the women workers said: "We Vow to End VAW," as their collective commitment to pressure government ratification of ILO C.190 and a renewed culture of respect, safety and non-discrimination.

“Low wages, high prices, unemployment , and contractualization are vicious issues that plague Filipino women everyday. It is a form of economic violence which prevents women from living a life of dignity,” said Judy Miranda, head of the Nagkaisa! Women Committee (NWC), who led the labor sector’s protest action.

“We can only truly celebrate to End VAW when women have regular jobs, receive living wages, quality public services and are free from human rights violations and war atrocities,” added Miranda, who is also Partido Manggagawa Secretary General.

“We need to stop harassment and violence at work, particularly against women and girls,” said Atty. Sonny Matula, chairperson of Nagkaisa!

“We might not know it but many are suffering from such violence in our work premises, offices, schools and other places of work. We need to discover, expose and oppose it. There is no decent work if our fellow workers are suffering harassment and violence at work,” Matula added.

The loudest call of the predominantly women marchers is the ratification of ILO Convention 190 Concerning the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. Adopted in June 2019, ILO C. 190 is an assertion by the global community that violence and harassment in the world of work will not be tolerated and must end.

“Twenty-two countries have ratified the ILO C. 190. As one of the countries that supported its adoption, we in the Philippines should add our voices,” said Nice Coronacion, of the NWC.

“As we celebrate the International Day on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women, the ratification of ILO C. 190 will be one of our contributions in the fight to end all forms of injustice from domestic violence, rape, homophobia, sexual harassment, pornography, trafficking and prostitution,” added Coronacion, who is also Sentro Deputy Secretary General.

Public Services International (PSI) Philippine affiliates joined the national day of action for the ratification of ILO C. 190 to also start off the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in the Philippines.

“Public workers in the Philippines, around 60% of whom are women, continue to experience various forms of violence and harassment including physical abuse, verbal and emotional abuse, economic abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence. Exacerbating the situation are the attacks against union rights of public workers through union harassment and intimidation, red-tagging and unfair labor practices,” said Jillian Roque of the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK).

Ratifying C190 will strengthen protection of public workers regardless of their employment status including the growing number of informal and precarious workers in the public sector such as the job orders, contract of service and even our Barangay Health Workers.

It is alarming that more than 640,000 workers in government are denied their rights to fair wages, job security and social protection. This number does not even include the 260,000 Barangay Health Workers all over the country who are predominantly women and serve as our primary health care frontliners but are not even considered as employees.

Photos can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/pfbid05CNihboQ3LNMQe3678tdrfxBxCpGdixMwMS1qb1D4X3FWAWpqcLBuCWgxnBHYQKel

Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition Women’s Committee

25 November 2022

Women workers to Tulfo: Hindi nakakalalaki ang VAWC

From Wikipedia

 

The militant Partido Manggagawa took issue with the stand of Senator Raffy Tulfo to amend the VAWC Law as codified his proposed Senate Bill 211 (SBN 211).

 

“Kinakailangan magpakita ng datos at matibay na batayan si Sen. Tulfo para magkaroon ng basehan ang kanyang panukalang baguhin ang VAWC para bigyan ng ispesyal na katayuan ang lalaki kumpara sa nanay at anak para mabigyan ng pantay na proteksyon at parusa sa SBN 211,” according to Judy Ann Miranda, Secretary-General of Partido Manggagawa (PM).

 

The group argued that a special law for women and children, such as the Republic Act No. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004, exists because domestic abuse against women and children has been pervasive and entrenched in Philippine society. Thus, it is not a law against men.

 

“We do not discount the fact that there may be men who are domestically abused by their wives/partners. In which case, there are provisions in the Penal Code (Articles 262, 263 and 265) and Article 72 of the new Family Code which they can use to file a complaint against their partners,” Miranda added.

 

The Philippines signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) 15 July 1980 and ratified it on 5 August 1981. After more than three decades, the problem remains. At the global level, the World Health Organization (WHO, 2021) estimated that “1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime,” mostly intimate partner violence.

 

“However, it should be clear to us why there is a special law specifically on domestic violence for women and children. RA 9262 gives out the message that wife-beating is not a trivial matter in Philippine society and that these abuses warrant a guarantee of protection and support from the government. We do not want male violence that is pervasive and entrenched in our society to be safely ignored and ridiculed by a proposed bill that would warrant equal protection for men,” Miranda concluded.

22 August 2022