AMID THE BACKDROP of the Mary Jane Veloso case, activist groups commemorated this year's Labor Day with protest rallies in Metro Manila, while President Benigno S.C. Aquino III traveled to Cebu to attend a job fair and the inauguration of a cement plant -- practically the same activities in Mr. Aquino's Labor Day schedule in 2014.
Mr. Aquino arrived late at Friday morning's Jobstart Philippines Forum, sponsored by the Labor department and its partners, and went around in this gathering, before proceeding to the University of Cebu Medical Center also in Mandaue City to inspect a new facility. Thereafter he went to Naga City to attend that day's inauguration of a plant by multinational cement firm CEMEX that was completed last year.
Labor Day protests followed Mr. Aquino in this province, even right outside the job fair. And in Cebu City, labor groups of different stripes joined forces in a protest rally denouncing what they called Mr. Aquino's disregard of the workforce.
“[We are calling for] justice for all workers [who] until now [are experiencing] job contractualization [and are not given] decent working conditions,” Dennis S. Derige of the Partido ng Manggagawa's Cebu chapter said in an interview.
Mr. Derige noted the diversity of the ralliers, including the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and the Bukluran ng Mangagawang Pilipino.
In Manila, labor groups under the Nagkaisa coalition marched from Welcome Rotonda to Mendiola on Friday morning. The protests here and elsewhere in the metropolis lasted well into the evening.
An officer of the Manila Police District said the morning crowd was an "estimated 1,500" and described the protests as "generally peaceful."
For its part, the TUCP reiterated its call for the government to adopt its proposals on unemployment insurance and security of tenure, among other issues that have hounded Mr. Aquino in most Labor Day celebrations on his watch. (Unemployment remains a theme this year, despite its considerable decline and downward trend, according to the latest quarterly survey by the Social Weather Stations released last month.)
Early this week, the coalition canceled its annual luncheon with Mr. Aquino, citing his inaction on these and other labor concerns since 2011, the first Labor Day celebration under his administration.
But in March, the Labor department announced a new round of increases in the mininum wage covering the National Capital Region and prompted in part by a petition by the TUCP. The group's spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay, however, criticized this P15 increase, as opposed to TUCP's proposed P136 across-the-board increase, as "revolting" and "unacceptable."
Mr. Tanjusay also lamented early Friday that Mr. Aquino "could have honored the workers" with a Labor Day message, which, to be sure, Malacañang published that day on gov.ph
Labor groups as well as the media have been attentive to any pronouncement or activity from Mr. Aquino on that occasion. In 2013, the Palace moved Labor Day activities to April 30, upon the Labor department's recommendation, "so as not to crowd the labor group activities for May 1," Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said at the time. As that year was an election year, Mr. Aquino was in his home province of Tarlac to campaign for his candidates. Last year, the Labor department held job fairs while Mr. Aquino went to Laguna to deliver his Labor Day speech at a semiconductor facility.
His Labor Day message this year said in part, “Pangunahin sa adhikaing ito ang siguruhing ligtas at may kakayahan ang ating kababayan na magtagumpay sa buhay. Saanmang sulok ng mundo sila naroroon, sinisikap tugunan ng pamahalaan ang kanilang mga pangangailangan, lalo na sa larangan ng edukasyon, pagsasanay at agarang ayuda.” (Forermost in our aspirations is to ensure the safety and capability of our countrymen to succeed in life. Wherever they are in the world, the government aims to fulfill their needs, especially in education, skills training and prompt assistance.)
Sought for comment at the continuing protest in Mendiola by Friday night, activist and former business-section editor Satur C. Ocampo also spoke within the clear context of current events: "The workers…are demanding [the abolition of] labor export policy -- the dependence of the economy to the OFWs while neglecting the development of Philippine agriculture. We are also against labor contractualization which prevents duly recruited workers from joining trade unions." -- with reports by A.M. Monzon, Elizabeth Escaño, and Jauhn Etienne Villaruel | BusinessWorld
Saturday, May 2, 2015
‘Aquino abandoned workers’
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| 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
Friday, May 1, 2015
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
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.
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