DESPITE its return to the International Labor Organization's governing body (GB), the Philippines again landed among the Top 10 worst countries for workers.
The International Trade Union Confederation's (ITUC) 2024 Global Rights Index placed the Philippines on the list of the world's Top 10 Worst Countries for Workers for eight years in a row.
This happened the same day the ILO Committee on Application of Standards issued its conclusion after reviewing the country's adherence to ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association: the Philippines is failing to protect workers' rights.
It listed the Philippines as one of six countries where trade unionists have been killed in staggering numbers.
According to ITUC affiliates Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro), and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), not one of the recorded 72 cases of trade union killings since 2016 have been resolved.
In a joint statement, they also claimed that serious obstacles persist against trade union formation.
"A climate of fear, violence and intimidation continues to loom heavily over workers. To have Filipino workers in a state of near-permanent marginalization and disempowerment is a national disgrace for a country that presents itself as modern, democratic and economically vibrant," the statement said.
It pointed out that more than a year after the conclusion of the ILO investigation, technically called the High-Level Tripartite Mission, none of the mission's recommendations have been realized in any meaningful way.
"All this is not surprising. For the Philippine labor movement, the responsibility for this national disgrace lies squarely with the government, especially the Department of Labor and Employment. At every step of the way, DoLE had been actively blocking and undermining organized labor's attempts at pushing for urgently needed reforms," it added.
It disclosed that the DoLE had been exposed before the ILO for misrepresenting its alleged compliance with the ILO's high-level mission recommendations, as well as its supposed respect for tripartism in economic zones where workers' representatives are hand-picked by employers.
"How can the Philippines make its way out of this grim situation when the DoLE itself stubbornly refuses to recognize the harsh reality of red-tagging by state security forces and high officials, abduction, and killing of trade unionists, and constantly blocks the labor movement's efforts for policy reforms?" it said.
"How can our rights to organize and to freedom of association be respected when DoLE itself is part of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), an agency which cracks down on our workers and unionists rights?" it added.
"The fact that unionization rates remain stagnant provides the true litmus test of compliance with international labor standards. If this downward trend in unionization rates and collective bargaining coverage continues, due in large part to rampant corporate and state impunity against workers, the Philippines will remain one of the worst countries for working people." -By William B. Depasupil
