TUCP URGES: “SA IKATLONG SONA NG PANGULO, BIGYANG HALAGA NAMAN SANA ANG MANGGAGAWANG PILIPINO!”

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) calls on President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr., on his 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA), to place workers front-and-center in shaping our collective vision of a “Bagong Pilipinas.” 

"Ang mga manggagawa naman sana ay bigyang halaga sa pangatlo niyang SONA," the TUCP urges, explaining the prevalence of precarious work such as short-term, low-end gig, and ENDO jobs with poverty-level minimum wages under which a family of five could not even afford three nutritious meals a day. "This vicious cycle makes workers 'disposable' and where they are routinely subjected to harassment and political profiling which is unfortunately the current state of Filipino workers," the TUCP stated. 

The TUCP, the country’s largest labor center, reiterates the need for a long-overdue dialogue between the Philippine labor movement and the President to tackle the true state of Filipino workers and their families without filter or embellishments.

The TUCP feels that the Marcos Administration can do so much more by certifying urgent long-pending priority labor reforms to raise wages, uphold workers’ freedom of association, and create new, permanent, and decent jobs.

“We welcome the target to create three million jobs under the Trabaho Para Sa Bayan law, but these jobs should alleviate poverty in an environment that recognizes and respects the human dignity of every Filipino worker. This means improvements in the quality of life of every Filipino worker and their respective families. This means decent and permanent jobs where workers are paid a living wage and freely exercise labor rights without fear, especially their right to freedom to organize and join a union, and not just the insult of mere lip service to workers in addition to the injury of wage orders keeping wages low,” the TUCP explained. 

Soaring food and electricity prices incessantly erode the purchasing power of workers’ wages especially as the ₱35.00 wage increase from the NCR regional wage board cannot even buy the workers and their families a kilo of quality rice.  

The TUCP urges the President to certify as urgent the bill granting an across-the-board wage increase of ₱150.00 nationwide maintaining that the NCR ₱35-wage increase is insultingly paltry, which is not even enough to afford a decent meal, solve the crisis of malnutrition, and child stunting, fatally threatening Filipino children to be either too short for their age and mentally stunted or worst, being the reason why they cannot even reach their fifth birthday. 

“Only the Congress holds the key to raise workers’ wages at levels that can afford three nutritious meals daily for their families and ensure their decent lives in the spirit of simple fairness and social justice. A substantial wage hike today is an investment for a bright tomorrow with a healthy and competitive future workforce,” underscored the TUCP.  The TUCP also called on House Speaker Martin Romualdez to prioritize the immediate passage of the most urgent law demanded and deserved by every Filipino worker— House Bill No. 7871, known as the Wage Recovery Act, filed by the TUCP that seeks to give a daily across-the-board ₱150 wage hike nationwide.

The TUCP also reminds the Marcos Administration that trade and investments into the country are conditioned on the observance of labor rights and are not just all about providing an enabling business environment through ease of doing business. "Ang mga manggagawa naman ay bigyan kahalagahan! Bagong Pilipinas should be anchored on the rule of law, where our dark long history of anti-union violence, political profiling, and impunity aimed at workers and unions in the country definitely has no place,” the TUCP stated.

“We cannot have a ‘Bagong Pilipinas’ while the country continues to be among the ten worst countries for workers for nearly a decade. We trust that under President Marcos’ modern and modernizing leadership, we can correct our troubling track record in workers’ rights and promote a race-to-the-top labor relations through sincere and genuine social partnership with the workers," the TUCP emphasized.

In addition to the legislated wage hike, the TUCP calls on the President to certify urgent the following long-pending priority labor legislation to align labor laws and practices with ratified  International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions. "Surely, the country would not want to perennially be in the shortlist for persistent violation of international labor standards for two straight years since 2023". The TUCP therefore calls for passage of the following: 

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

(b) HOUSE BILL NO. 1518: UNION FORMATION ACT to strengthen the rights of workers to self-organization by lowering the requirements for union registration.

(c) HOUSE BILL NO. 5536: ASSUMPTION OF JURISDICTION ACT to limit the power of the DOLE Secretary to assume jurisdiction over labor disputes from the overly-broad “industries indispensable to national interest” to only those  “industries providing essential services.”

(d) HOUSE BILL NO. 7043: WORKERS’ RIGHT TO STRIKE ACT to remove dismissal and imprisonment as a penalty for illegal strikes and lockouts.

Prioritizing these labor reforms promotes an enabling environment. But we not only need to put Filipinos back to work but create new opportunities, especially to our millions of fresh graduates every year.  To this end TUCP asks the President to also prioritize the TUCP Jobs Agenda: 

(a) NATIONAL RAILWAY SYSTEM CONNECTING REGIONAL AND PROVINCIAL AGRI-INDUSTRIAL HUBS. This will create new jobs, ensure food security, decongest urban metropolitan areas, and democratize wealth creation by promoting rural development and job generation. It will ultimately lower the cost of doing business throughout the countryside, incentivizing the entry of foreign investments; 

(b) JUST TRANSITION PROGRAM, with tripartite partners in Government, labor, and business,  to ensure human-centered and worker-friendly solutions, such as via massive reskilling and upskilling, to seize millions of new, permanent, and decent employment opportunities in green jobs, such as renewable energy and environmental compliance, and digital jobs, such as e-commerce and big data.

“With all our social partners, let us work together as one nation in upholding labor rights, building infrastructure, and prioritizing human capital development to generate more and better jobs today and tomorrow—tungo sa Bagong Pilipinas para sa Manggagawa, Mamumumuhunan, at Mamamayang Pilipino!” the TUCP emphasized.

Labor groups to Marcos: Certify proposed P150 legislated wage as urgent

Labor groups on Monday called on President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to certify the proposed measures for a P150 increase in the minimum wage of private sector employees as urgent.

The National Wage Coalition (NWC) made the call a week ahead of Marcos’ third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 22.

“‘Yung mga panukalang batas natin na nakabinbin sa Kongreso, ‘yun na lang ang tanging pag-asa natin upang makadama ang ating manggagawa ng sapat na dagdag-sahod,” said Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Legislative Officer Paul Gajes in a media briefing.

(The proposed bills are our only hope for an adequate wage hike.)

“’Yung P35 na binigay ng Regional Wage Boards (RWB), hindi sasapat yun,” Gajes added.

(The P35 wage hike of the RWB is not enough.)

The coalition, composed of workers’ organizations including SENTRO, Nagkaisa, TUCP, and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, also urged Speaker Martin Romualdez to expedite the passage of the proposed bills at the House of Representatives.

“Sa tingin ng NWC, nararapat na bigyang-pansin ng Pangulo. I-certify na as urgent itong pending bills na ito at ang Kamara… sana naman i-expedite na itong bills na to,” said Gajes.

(The NWC thinks President Marcos should certify these bills as urgent and the House should expedite their passage.)

Earlier this month, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) approved the P35 hike in the daily minimum wage of workers in the National Capital Region (NCR), increasing it from P610 to P645 for the non-agriculture sector.

But Gajes earlier said the wage hike is not enough, describing it as “crumbs tossed to humiliate workers.”

“It’s high time that the President and Speaker of the House show their genuine concern for the underprivileged and heed the cause of the united Filipino workers for sustainable and livable wages. ‘Yung P35 just won’t do,” he added.

The NWC was pushing for the passage of the legislated wage hike as it raised concerns about the inadequacy of the minimum wage to provide families with a decent standard of living.

In February, Cavite lawmaker Jolo Revilla said there were at least 77 House members who would support the P150 legislated wage hike.

Also in February, the Senate approved a P100 legislated wage hike for private sector workers. — Story by SUNDY LOCUS,GMA Integrated News 

The Regional Wage Boards are Unreliable and Unjust!

The National Wage Coalition’s Statement on the Recently Issued Wage Increase

The new ₱35.00 wage increase for NCR workers issued by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board - National Capital Region office (RTWPB-NCR) is a disgrace. After several legislative proposals for an across-the-board wage increase, numerous actions held on the streets, and hearings with the labor sector — all with the intent to call and demand for a fair wage increase to adjust for inflation and the ever-changing value of our salaries, the RTWPB’s increase is nothing short of a heartless disregard for the economic crises faced by our workers and families.

The National Wage Coalition (NWC), which represents workers across various sectors and industries, has demanded for a wage increase no less than ₱150. Our minimum wages do not amount to liveable wages. We have presented our arguments based on factual and credible research. And yet our efforts amount to a low increase. The ₱35 increase does not even amount to measly change; it is not even sufficient for a kilo of rice. It makes up for only 30% of the lost value of wages in the NCR, which reached ₱100 according to the Consumer Price Index of May 2024. The NWC has stated before that the RTWPB-NCR has had 35 years’ worth of failure to issue fair and livable wage increases. This recent increase is no failure. It is the deliberate demonstration of the Board’s lack of empathy towards the economic needs of the working class.

With the RTWPB-NCR showing once again their unreliability and heartlessness, the National Wage Coalition demands Congress to address our calls accordingly. In light of this disrespectful and disgusting ₱35 increase by the RTWPB, Congress and the House of Representatives’ Committee on Labor must pass our proposed bills for an across-the-board increase of at least ₱150. Additionally, they must recognize the uselessness and irrelevance of the RTWPB-NCR and conduct a congressional review of our wage fixing policies under RA 6727. It is clear that such policies are insufficient and unreflective of our current economic needs. The RTWPB refuses to meet our demands, thus their existence must be challenged, questioned, and ultimately discontinued.

The National Wage Coalition urges the greater Philippine labor movement and all Filipino workers to press on with the fight for higher and fairer wages. We must act in solidarity in addressing Congress, so that they may truly understand the needs of the working class. You know the worth of your labor and more importantly, the value of your personal life and needs. And while this laughable ₱35 increase may be a setback, so long as we persevere, the fight for a higher wage continues. ###

PH still on Top 10 list of worst countries for workers

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