TUCP on May 1, 2020: Workers Unite, Let us build back better, build a decent and more equitable society.

#LaborDay #MayDay2020

𝐿𝐴𝐵𝑂𝑅 𝐷𝐴𝑌 𝑆𝑇𝐴𝑇𝐸𝑀𝐸𝑁𝑇

“Isang mapagpalayang pagbati sa dakilang araw nating mga obrero!”

𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱, 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.
But in this time of COVID-19 pandemic, workers and their families are the first victims. The socio-economic inequalities that workers and their families have to suffer daily, have been magnified a thousand-fold. Living in communities that are less than decent, eating food that is less than nourishing, hoping against hope that the public healthcare system will be strengthened just in time, and surviving on cash handouts that are less than fair.

For millions of workers under 'no work, no pay' arrangements and those who are at the mercy of contractual arrangements without security of tenure, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝟭𝟵, 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆.

𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 - these are our healthcare workers, our frontline public sector workers, our workers in essential businesses such as banks, groceries and pharmacies, delivery services, security guards, janitors, garbage collectors, and all workers who despite the threat of starvation sacrificed for the fight against COVID-19.

The challenge that we face today is how to collectively shape a world that treats its workers fairly by building back better.

Workers have always been at the forefront of change, and we must ask ourselves what our society should look like after this. The ones who keep the world running are the minimum wage earners and healthcare workers who do backbreaking work but are not given secure jobs, and are left to toil and survive below the poverty line.

𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 as the world can so easily close its doors to our workers overseas. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, when we have also been forced to close our doors to the rest of the world. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁.

TUCP envisions the New Normal as a society where workers rights are protected, government addresses workers needs and prioritizes it first and foremost, and the generation of capital and profit-taking by the elites no longer constitutes the bottom line.

𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲, 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻.
So, today we call on government to place the health and safety of workers first. Partner with workers as we craft comprehensive guidelines that will allow us back to safe workplaces. For workers still in lockdown, augment and extend the DOLE wage support programs for formal sector workers and the social amelioration programs for our Overseas Filipino Workers and the Informal sector. That is only just, because they built the wealth that only the few in our society enjoy.

Today, we call on all workers to unite, let us build back better, let us build a decent and more equitable society for all workers. - TUCP Labor Center

‘Aquino abandoned workers’

Labor Day rally. Thousands of workers from different organizations
gathered on Mendiola in Manila to celebrate Labor Day on Friday.
Lino Santos

A BIG labor group on Friday accused President Benigno Aquino III of abandoning his commitment to uplift the economic conditions of millions of Filipino workers nationwide.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) who joined other labor groups in the Labor Day protest at Mendiola, Manila, slammed the President for his failure to respond to the eight-point agenda raised by the groups in 2012.

“President Aquino’s choice to go to Cebu today rather than confront and respond to the frustrations of the workers on this Labor Day is both an abandonment and a form of cowardice,” TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

Tanjusay said the President’s trip to Cebu was also a sign of the chief executive’s disconnect with the problems of the workers.

“It is now clear that he is still uninterested and disconnected with the... problems confronting the workers and besetting the labor sector,” Tanjusay said.

“With only 14 months left before his administration ends, the workers are expecting nothing from Aquino and what we are now doing is just waiting for the new president in 2016 to decide on the groups’ proposals,” he said.

Included in proposal are the streamlining of contractual job scheme, increasing the wages of private employees and government workers, lowering the cost of electricity and ensuring the reliability of supply, implementing an agro-industrial plan to create stable jobs and allowing public sector workers to form unions. - By Vito Barcelo | Manila Standard Today

Labor Day 2015: 6 continuing concerns

LABOR Day is celebrated in many countries around the world on May 1. It was first declared International Workers Day in 1891 by the Second International, originally the Socialist International.

Although May Day became an important holiday in socialist countries such as China and the former Soviet Union, the Catholic Church in 1955 dedicated May 1 to Saint Joseph, the Worker, patron saint of workers and craftsmen. In the Philippines, Araw ng Manggagawa on the Monday nearest May 1 is listed among the nation’s regular holidays in RA 9492.

An annual meeting with labor leaders in Malacañang has long been a highlight of the celebration of Labor Day in this country. This year, however, a coalition of labor groups announced that they are not attending any Labor Day meeting in Malacañang. Instead, the coalition of labor groups with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines–Nagkaisa faction said they will take to the streets “to seek justice for the Filipino worker.”

The coalition said the national government has failed to act on six concerns which they presented as early as 2010, the first year of the Aquino administration. The six concerns are their calls for full employment, an across-the-board wage hike, protection for all Filipino migrant workers, quality public service, primary universal health care, and lower prices of goods and utilities.

All these six are worthy goals for the nation, but we can understand the great difficulties in the way of their realization by the government. These are all major problems of the country, particularly the call for more job opportunities, which has been blamed for the continuing problem of mass poverty. It is also behind the tragedy of Mary Jane Veloso who got entangled with drug-traffickers in her search for a better life for her family.

Instead of a Labor Day reception in Malacañang, President Aquino will be in Cebu and Bacolod today. There he may meet with local labor leaders along with local government officials. He might take the opportunity to review with them what the government has done for the workers of his country during the last five years. These accomplishments may not be up to the expectations of the nation’s labor leaders, but they could be substantial enough under the present difficult circumstances. And the President may be able to come up with some good news for labor in the last year of his administration. - Tempo

Workers to PNoy: Labor justice needs powerful execution, not endless dialogue

A big march to Malacanang with simultaneous actions in other cities nationwide marked today’s celebration of Labor Day as workers protested the government’s failure to address their bottom line issues such as jobs and job security, living wage, trade union rights, and decent working and living conditions.

In Manila, thousands of workers from different federations and labor organization comprising the Nagkaisa! coalition marched from Mabuhay Welcome Rotonda to Mendiola under the theme, “Hustisya sa Manggagawa at Sambayanan.”

The cry for justice, according to Nagkaisa!, is labor’s summation of failed engagement with President Aquino, whom the group insisted, “never stood on the side of labor since the PAL dispute in 2011” despite the rhetoric of ‘tuwid na daan’.

“President Aquino should have learned a valuable lesson from his last minute intervention on Mary Jane’s case. That in order to move a quixotic boulder up the mountaintop, a firm decision and solid determination is needed — a resolve he never had in addressing labor problems during the last five years in office,” said Partido Manggagawa (PM) chair Renato Magtubo and one of Nagkaisa! convenors.

The group disclosed earlier that none of labor’s bottom line issues such as contractualization, low wages and power rates reduction have been addressed by Malacanang after four years of dialogues.

“During the last five years we didn’t ask President Aquino to produce miracles. Yet a simple certification of pro-labor measure such as the Security of Tenure bill to regulate contractualization did not even warrant his attention,” said Frank Mero, President of Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro), another convenor of Nagkaisa!

Labor justice, he added, needs a powerful execution not an endless dialogue.

Another convenor, Annie Geron of the Public Services Labor Confederation (PSLINK), public sector unions are disappointed that the President was not even aware of the fact that the government bureaucracy itself is implementing a widespread and worst kind of contractualization called ‘job orders’.

However, Nagkaisa! conceded that President Aquino has earned credits for saving the life of Mary Jane Veloso. But the group said that won’t change the fact that beyond his buzzer beater intervention on Mary Jane’s behalf, many labor issues that translate into social problems like human trafficking and the exodus of Filipinos to foreign lands persist.

“Filipino are hopelessly enmeshed in an unchanging political system serving the affluent elite and betraying the destitute millions. They sense that no one is fighting for them,” said Gerard Seno, Vice President of Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)-Nagkaisa!

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) President accused the Aquino administration of perpetuating the old system of elite rule.

“PNoy has resolutely protected controversial allies and lifted no fingers on political dynasties. But never had he shown a grain of disposition for the working class,” said De Guzman.

Other than Manila, labor marches were also held in the cities of Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, General Santos, and in Cavite and Laguna provinces.

25,000 'frustrated' workers to march on Labor Day vs govt failure to address poverty, inequality

MANILA, Philippines -- A labor coalition that counts the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said it will field 25,000 workers, including those from the informal sector, in a Labor Day protest “to express their collective frustration at President Aquino’s failure to initiate policy reforms to address deepening poverty and widening inequality in the country.”

Gerard Seno, vice president of TUCP-Nagkaisa, said in a statement that, on the fifth Labor Day under President Benigno Aquino III, “for the excluded basic social sectors there is still no one in government they can trust or run to. For them as the majority of Filipinos, the message to our President: ‘This is just not acceptable, we can do better’.”

Nagkaisa counts 49 labor groups in the private and public sectors.

The coalition’s May 1 protest will begin with a march from the Welcome Rotonda on Espana to Mendiola for a rally.

Earlier, Nagkaisa member organizations announced they were scrapping the annual Labor Day breakfast dialogue with Aquino over his “failure to deliver the workable and time bound 8-point policy agenda proposed by the group finalized in 2012 designed to mainstream the country’s economic growth down to the grassroots level.”

The 8-point agenda seeks the streamlining of the contractual job scheme, an increase in private and government workers’ wages, a reduction in rates and reliable supply of power, the implementation of an agro-industrial plan to create stable jobs, and the enforcement of the international convention allowing public sector workers to unionize.

“The eight policy issues have been painstakingly tackled and validated by bilateral technical working groups between Nagkaisa labor organizations and the different government agency policy people,” Seno noted. “What the President must do is approve and implement them or veto it altogether but he must not keep these groups waiting.”

Because of Aquino’s perceived inaction, he added, “TUCP-Nagkaisa sees a uniting thread of disengagement from the administration within the basic sectors of our society from labor to the farmers to the urban poor, to the middle class. The feeling that no one in government really cares, that everyone is a victim in system where personal control over their destiny has been lost, that nameless bureaucrats in a faraway, unknown office determine what will be and that each and every Filipino is hopelessly enmeshed in an unchanging political system serving the affluent elite and betraying the destitute millions. They sense that no one is fighting for them.”

Nagkaisa said it has other pending demands: expanding the coverage of tax exemptions, reforming the wage-setting mechanism, passing the Freedom of Information bill, in-city relocation for informal settlers, addressing migrant workers’ concerns, and a quarterly dialogue between workers and the Office of the President.

In the same statement, TUCP-Nagkaisa executive director Louie Corral noted a March survey by Pulse Asia highlighted the fact that four of Filipinos’ top five concerns “relate to the daily survival needs” of people: the high prices of basic needs, low wages, the lack of decent jobs, and the lack of substantial poverty reduction.

The fifth concern was corruption in government.

Corral also accused the administration Liberal Party and the opposition United Nationalist Alliance of “merrily plotting for 2016, “setting up the electoral circus in the hope that we will all forget that the unemployment level has been mired at 7.1 percent, the underemployment rate stuck at 22 percent, and that the daily minimum wage in (the National Capital Region) just increased by P15 from P466 to a still “unliveable” P481.” - InterAksyon.com TV5

TUCP submits May 1 agenda

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa submitted to Malacañang its proposed discount card and unemployment insurance programs for minimum-waged workers for approval of President Aquino during the traditional Labor Day breakfast with labor groups in the palace on May 1, a press release from the TUCP said.

The group also proposed to Aquino the approval of a majority coconut-farmer administered trust fund to ensure that the proceeds of the P77 billion coco levy are used to promote jobs in the coconut industry and to set up coco-industrial hubs, ensure the completion of CARP with respect to lands under current Notice of Coverage;

Assist the peasant farmers through appropriate support measures and financing including trainings, appropriate technology, and easy-term credit; a return of the subsidy for MRT and LRT users to cushion rising costs for ordinary workers; and pass the Freedom of Information law, the press release said.

The measure, under the proposed Labor Enhancement Assistance Program will assist and empower the basic sectors, include an unemployment insurance policy for the 3.4 million minimum wage earners providing three months of minimum wage salary coverage in cases of retrenchment and a minimum discount card that serves as a voucher or CCT-like program for minimum wage employees to give them a monthly discount on tuition fees, purchase of rice, basic food commodities, medicines worth P2,000, it said.

The March 1 to 7 Pulse Asia Survey on urgent national concerns showed that 4 of the top 5 concerns relate to the daily survival needs of ordinary Filipinos. It showed 46 percent are crying out at inflation, 44 percent have said salaries are too small to cover daily expenses and another 34 percent said there are no decent jobs, the press release added.

TUCP-Nagkaisa executive director Louie Corral said they told Aquino to tap the 2014 P300B excess funds as reported last week by National Economic Development Authority chief Arsenio Balisacan as possible source of the proposed program, the press release added. - The Visayan Daily Star

Kilusan - TUCP joins the observance of Labor Day 2014

Manila-  Pambansang Kilusan ng Paggawa (Kilusan - TUCP), Kilusan sa JFC and BOIE Employess Union  participated in the broadest labor coalition, NAGKAISA! in the observance of International Labor Day.