TUCP Labor Day Statement: 50 years of the labor code, 50 years of workers’ travails for social justice

The irony is not lost on labor that this year’s Labor Day celebration by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) at the Malacañang Palace will be all about the Labor Code turning 50 years old, while the ordinary workers toil in suffocating heat, worsening traffic, poverty wages, amid the high cost of food and services, not to mention the fast disappearing space for freedom of association and collective bargaining, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said in a Statement.

The TUCP, the largest labor center in the country, said it is scandalized by the patronizing memorial presentation by the DOLE of the 50th year of Presidential Decree 442, an issuance of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr., to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. The DOLE program for May 1 should have focused instead on letting workers’ voices be heard by the President on what urgently needs to be done to address the plight of the Filipino workers.

“Fifty years after its enactment, the Labor Code, a landmark social legislation of Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., has now become a relic and a dismal failure in delivering its promise of social justice due to the erosion through 50 years of the workers’ Constitutional right to self-organization, collective bargaining, security of tenure, and just and humane conditions of work,” the TUCP explained.

The TUCP explained that it consistently worked closely in genuine social partnership with former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr., as well as succeeding administrations, as the TUCP believed then, that the Labor Code provided workers both a legal framework and a reasonable foundation to reason and thresh out labor issues, to ensure employment preservation and maintain meaningful industrial peace through social dialogue.

“It is in the spirit of continuing social dialogue that the TUCP is dumbfounded by the lack of labor dialogue even just once a year on workers’ day, particularly, this May 1st. It has been two years into the Administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., and there has been no labor dialogue set even on the scheduled Labor Day Celebration in Malacañang this year. We therefore ask DOLE: ‘What is there to mark and remember the 122nd Labor Day with?’ Celebrating Labor Day would be a hollow ritual without addressing or even listening to the struggling workers’ pleas,” the TUCP stressed.

The TUCP pointed out that wittingly or unwittingly shutting out or ignoring the Philippine labor movement could derail President Ferdinand R Marcos, Jr., pitch to the world for the Philippines as an investment destination considering that both foreign trade and foreign direct investments are inextricably linked to the clear and categorical observance of international labor standards.

It should be noted that the country has been consistently ranked globally as one of the ten worst countries for workers. The country’s observance of ILO Convention No.87 on Freedom of Association has been under continuing scrutiny internationally since 2009. The latest January 2023 ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission highlighted persistent violations and violence directed against the Filipino workers’ freedom of association, all done with impunity.

The EU-GSP+ monitoring report for 2020-2022 has noted the need for the Philippines to align its national labor laws with international labor standards on freedom of association, to ensure the protection of workers’ right to security of tenure, to better enforcement to eradicate forced and child labor and trafficking in persons, among others. These concerns should be addressed by a genuine tripartite freedom of association roadmap and not a pseudo-tripartite roadmap that leaves out a majority of the trade union movement.

Part-and-parcel of the recommendations of the ILO has been the long-overdue need for amendments to the Labor Code long championed by TUCP. These include:

HOUSE BILL NO. 1512: SECURITY OF TENURE (SOT) ACT that seeks to end the pandemic of ENDO contractualization in the country and to restore security of tenure as the norm in labor relations, rather than the exemption.

HOUSE BILL NO. 1518: UNION FORMATION ACT aims to strengthen the right of workers to self-organization by lowering the requirements for union registration in response to the ILO’s long-standing observation of excessive registration requirements on workers’ organizations in the country.

HOUSE BILL NO. 5536: ASSUMPTION OF JURISDICTION ACT proposes to limit the power of the DOLE Secretary to assume jurisdiction over labor disputes by changing the operative phrase from the overly broad “industries indispensable to the national interest” to “industries providing essential services” as defined by the ILO.

HOUSE BILL NO. 7043: WORKERS’ RIGHT TO STRIKE ACT removes dismissal and imprisonment as a penalty for illegal strikes and lockouts because these are too harsh and disproportionate to the seriousness of the violation.

For the 50th Anniversary of the Labor Code to be truly worth celebrating, the declared State policy “to afford protection to labor, promote full employment, ensure equal work opportunities regardless of sex, race or creed and regulate the relations between workers and employers” and social justice should be realized in practice. But no, sadly, the implementation of the Labor Code has been left severely wanting and in dire need of reforms demanded at home and abroad.

House leader calls on colleagues to heed experts’ support for a wage hike

House Deputy Speaker and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) party-list representative Raymond Democrito Mendoza on Tuesday called on the House of Representatives to support the passage of the P150 daily minimum wage hike for private sector workers, saying a wage increase is urgently needed and backed by economists.

Mendoza made the call after the House labor and employment panel conducted two hearings on bills proposing daily minimum wage hikes ranging from P150 to P750.

Mendoza said that during the second hearing experts and stakeholders from the academe, civil society, and the informal sector as well as economists voiced their support of the P150 wage hike bill.

Minimum wage earners speak

Among them, he said, was Margarita Refaldo of the Association of Minimum Wage Earners, who had asked that those who do honest hard work and contribute to the growth of the economy be compensated appropriately.

"Hindi naman po kami humihingi ng malaki at hindi naman kami hihingi ng sobra," Refaldo said. "Ang hinihingi lang po namin bilang mga manggagawa na siyang nagtataas ng ekonomiya ng ating bansa ay...sweldo na masasabi natin na [papayagang] magkaroon ng maayos at disenteng pamumuhay ang mga simpleng workers."

(We are not asking for much, or for more than we should have. What we are asking is for us workers, who are vital in stirring economic growth, to have a living wage that will allow workers to lead decent lives.)

Another resource person, Flora Asiddao Santos of the Metro Manila Vendors Alliance (MMVA), said what they are demanding is a just wage.

“Kami ay naniniwala na ang hinihingi ng uring manggagawa sa pormal ay makatarungan. Kung mataas ang kita nila, tataas ang kanilang purchasing power, at tataas rin ang aming kita,” she said, citing their own experience of a surge in sales during holiday season when workers receive their Christmas bonus and 13th month pay.

(We are of the belief that what the laborers are calling for is just. If they earn more, their purchasing power will increase, and our livelihood will thrive as well.)

House of the People

Mendoza said the House of Representatives, as the "House of the People," should "walk the talk of inclusive growth and development."

"Through weekly marathon hearings, let us speak truth to power and end the big lie peddled by employers and economic managers that a legislated wage hike only spells doom,” he said.

“The House of the People should stand in solidarity with Filipino workers and their families because our society and our fast-growing economy will benefit from higher wages boosting consumer demand, pump-priming the local economy, and paving the way for equity and prosperity,” he added.

Mendoza also quoted economist and Social Weather Stations president Mahar Mangahas as saying that “the minimum wage system is not working because the real wages are stagnant and not increasing.”

Further, Mendoza noted the findings of Dr. Benjamin Velasco of the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations (SOLAIR), which showed that wage increases have no impact on employment because the wage increases have very little impact on inflation, given that inflation stems from cost-related factors and supply imbalances such as energy costs.

Mendoza also quoted economist Dr. Rene Ofreneo, also of UP-SOLAIR, as saying that the proposed legislated wage hike of P150 is doable and imperative given the billions in profits of big businesses.

Poverty wages

Mendoza then said that the Ateneo Policy Center also presented a position paper which revealed that it would require a daily budget of around P693.30 to be able to afford the main ingredients required to make the cheapest plate from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute's (FNRI) Pinggang Pinoy list—a cost higher than the highest daily minimum wage in the country: P610 in the National Capital Region.

Economist Emmanuel Leyco, for his part, also said that there is no record of businesses closing down as a result of a wage hike.

“I, therefore, urge all my colleagues in the House of Representatives to heed our people’s clarion call: Enough is enough! End poverty wages and cheap labor!,” Mendoza said.

“Together, let us make history. The Filipino demands and deserves a raise,” he added.

The Senate has approved a bill granting a P100 daily minimum wage hike for the private sector on third and final reading. — By LLANESCA T. PANTI,  BM, GMA Integrated News 

Philippine workers demand increased wages

The All Philippines’ Trade Unions (APTU), where the majority of IndustriALL Philippine affiliates are members, are demanding that Congress pass the Wage Recovery Act of 2023. This would mean a PHP150 (US$2.7) increase of the daily wage for all workers in the country’s private sector.

The Wage Recovery Act was filed by TUCP party list congressman Raymond Mendoza in 2023 to tackle escalating inflation and a decrease of real wages.

The labour centre says that regional wage boards have been ineffective in helping workers to increase their wages corresponding to the rise of productivity and gross domestic product. A wage increase would strengthen workers’ purchasing power and reduce hunger.

On 29 February, twenty APTU members rallied outside Congress when the bill was tabled. It is expected that Congress will hold three more hearings and a bicameral conference committee will be set up to consolidate the bills and decide on the amount, after which the Philippine President will either approve or veto the bills.

Unions in the country will continue to advocate for higher wages for Philippine workers. The Associated Labor Union (ALU) welcomes the current moves to focus national discussions on what matters for struggling Filipinos.

    “The take home pay of workers must be sufficient to buy at least their families’ minimum basic food and non-food needs. Daily minimum wages in the Philippines continue to be below poverty thresholds. Workers are used to small slices in the wage gap. Our basic labour rights advocacies continue – in Congress, wage boards, industries and at enterprises,”

says Eva Arcos, ALU national vice president.

    "Providing for an across-the-board wage increase is not only an economic, but also a social justice issue. It allows the workers to somehow cope with the inequities of the economic system, and assert their politico-economic rights,"

says Darius Guerrero, national secretary of Philippine Trade & General Workers' Organization (PTGWO).

 

IndustriALL supports the legislative initiative as Philippine workers are hit hard by the soaring price after the Covid-19 pandemic and impact of geopolitical tensions.

 

Says IndustriALL South East Asia regional secretary Ramon Certeza:

    “We will continue to support our affiliates to develop national action plan towards the attainment not only of minimum wage but towards living wage.” - IndustriAll

P150 wage hike pushed in House

In response to the Senate’s earlier passage of a P100 wage hike bill, a labor sector lawmaker called on the leadership of the House of Representatives to pass a bill seeking a P150 across-the-board wage increase nationwide for private sector workers.

In a statement, Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza said the passage of House Bill No. 7871, or any other measure seeking salary increases for Filipino workers, “is no longer a social or economic imperative but a moral and existential imperative for our millions of mostly poor wage earners.”

Mendoza serves as the representative for the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) party list.

“Their honest hard work receives only poverty wages that cannot even sustain the health, productivity and need for a decent life of their families,” he said.

Mendoza is author of HB 7871, or the Wage Recovery Act of 2023. It seeks a wage hike that’s P50 higher than the recently approved Senate Bill No. 2534, which sought a P100 wage-hike increase.

The difference, however, is that HB 7871 offers wage subsidies for micro and small enterprises to allow them to cope with the increased labor costs.

The TUCP said this was in anticipation of protests from employers, especially big businesses, who are “expert scaremongers misleading the people with their myths and fallacies against any wage increase.”

“The swift opposition from employers to the still-pending proposed legislated wage increase does not shock us anymore,” said Luis Corral, vice president of TUCP.

‘Demonized’

“They perennially demonize any and all legitimate wage demands of Filipino workers and their families who just want simple fairness as they struggle to make ends meet,” he added.

These fears prompted the House to pass its counterpart to SB 2534, which was passed on third reading last week.

However, Corral challenged both government and business players to “end the blame-game that workers’ wages will increase inflation and discourage investments because the real culprits are astronomically expensive yet unreliable electricity and soaring food prices, and not the poverty wages further eroded by the rising cost of living.”

“Let’s put an end to employer ‘overkill’ on a fair wage because a wage increase actually lifts all boats,” he added.

“All benefit from higher wages boosting consumer demand and driving inclusive and equitable wage-led growth toward a more prosperous and just Philippine society where Filipino workers and their families rightfully reap the fruits of their labor,” Mendoza said.

The last legislated national wage hike was given in 1989, with the enactment of Republic Act No. 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act, that established the regional wage boards. - By: Krixia Subingsubing - Reporter / @KrixiasINQ