SUPREME COURT ISSUED RULING ON TUCP LEADERSHIP ROW

The Supreme Court (SC), it Resolution dated January 24, 2018, dismissed the petition filed by the camp of former Senator Herrera against the decisions of the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary and the Court of Appeals. The high court said the petition was filed using a wrong legal procedure.

On March 31, 2016, the BLR issued an Order determining the 27 bonafide and legitimate member-organizations of the TUCP. That BLR Order was assailed by the “Herrera Group” and they made an appeal to the Office of the Secretary (OSEC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Following the March 31, 2016 BLR determination of member-organizations/federations, the TUCP held its 8th Convention and Regular Election of Officers on 02 April 2016, at the TUCP Headquarters in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, pursuant to Article VI of the TUCP Constitution and By-Laws. All the 27 member-organizations were invited to participate in the Convention and the election of new officers. The said convention elected Rep. Raymond Mendoza from the Associated Labor Unions (ALU) as President; Philippine Trade and General Workers Organization (PTGWO) Atty. Arnel Dolendo as General Secretary; and Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA) Esperanza Ocampo as Treasurer.

On September 28, 2016, the March 31, 2016 Order of the BLR was affirmed by the new Secretary of Labor and Employment Silvestre H. Bello III and the subsequent Motion for Reconsideration filed by former Labor Secretary Ruben D. Torres, who represented himself as the new TUCP President was denied on December 13, 2016.

The February 21, 2017 Petition for Certiorari filed by former Labor Secretary Torres and Atty. Capoquian with the Court of Appeals (CA) assailing the rulings of the current Secretary of Labor and Employment, Silvestre H. Bello III was dismissed by the Thirteenth Division of the Court of Appeals on August 11, 2017. The CA sustained the Resolutions of the BLR and DOLE, affirming “that there are only 27 labor organizations as legitimate TUCP members”. On September 20, 2017, the camp of Mr. Torres filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court to reverse and set-aside the Court of Appeals decision. After almost four months, the Supreme Court resolved to dismiss the said petition due to technicality.

The TUCP is now just waiting for the Certificate of Finality of the Supreme Court decision that will be issued within 30 days beginning the date of issuance of the court resolution. The TUCP leadership under Rep. Raymond Mendoza hopes that the leadership dispute within the labor center will be finally settled soon in favor of the majority of its legitimate members. TUCP PRESS RELEASE March 22, 2018

CVisayas seeks P120 wage hike

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THE Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) is seeking a P120 daily wage increase for all workers in Central Visayas.

Nora Analyn Diego, ALU-TUCP regional vice president, said they will file the wage hike petition before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) this Wednesday.

She said the P120 daily wage hike petition is essential for the workers to cope with the increasing cost of living and meet the basic needs of their families.

Meanwhile, Antonio Chiu, president of Cebu Chamber of Commerce, said they have yet to issue a comment on ALU-TUCP petition. - BY RHEA RUTH ROSELL

DTI should impose its weight against rising inflation, not on labor

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The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should impose its weight against rising inflation rather than keeping the labor price low under the policy of contractualization.

The DTI has always been on the side of business, thus, when Secretary Ramon Lopez stated that contractualization “is not unfair to workers” he was essentially parroting the line of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) whose bottom line position on this issue is to keep the price of labor low to remain competitive. For DTI and ECOP, the best way to keep the price tag of labor low is to keep contractualization as the prevailing policy of the Duterte administration.

The labor movement has repeatedly rejected the “win-win” formula of DTI and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Our bottom line is change: Direct hiring must be the new policy. This is the only way workers can actually enjoy their constitutional right to security of tenure. The DTI and DOLE position is for workers to enjoy security of tenure in their respective manning agencies and not in their principal employers as contained under Department Order 174 of DOLE. This “win-win solution” has led to a farcical situation where majority of the more than 45,000 workers reportedly “regularized” under DO 174 last year now find themselves “regularly employed” by agencies and not by the principal. The rule should be, as its name denotes, manpower agencies and other service providers should merely be treated as agents of the principals.

This is the main reason why we have been pushing for an Executive Order to correct this distortion and rectify decades of injustice imposed upon millions of workers. The Labor Secretary, and in this particular case, the President, can prohibit contractualizaton under the Labor Code.

Section 2 of the labor-proposed EO provides relief for this impasse as it states that: “Contracting or subcontracting when undertaken to circumvent the worker’s rights to security of tenure, self-organization and collective bargaining and peaceful concerted activities pursuant to the 1987 Philippine Constitution is hereby strictly prohibited. Security of tenure refers to the direct hiring relationship between the principal employer and employee.”

Contractualization under the proposed EO is still recognized. Only that the types of job that can be contracted out be done upon consultation with members of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC). What the DTI wants is to perpetuate the norm of contracting out almost all jobs in the guise of management’s exercise of their prerogative. This regime, for over two decades, led to a dramatic change in employment relations, with “middlemen employers” such as manning agencies and “labor cooperatives” dominating the trade.

This norm also has dissipated almost all rights guaranteed to workers by the constitution and labor laws, from security of tenure, right to organize, collectively bargain and to strike in accordance with law, and to be represented in the formulation of policies affecting their welfare.

Again, to DTI: Contractualization is not unfair to workers? It seems like this agency is now headed by a feudal lord.

Trading workers through manpower agencies who act as middlemen in a trilateral employment relationship is feudalism, which is clearly unjust. For more than two decades, this re-feudalization of labor has become the norm and keeping the policy will perpetuate this abominable condition of poverty and inequality amid economic growth.

Hence, when we stated that the buck stops now with the President, it is because we believe the impasse can be resolve in favor of justice. It’s either change as promised by the President, or business-as-usual as demanded by ECOP.

NAGKAISA Labor Coalition
Press Statement

Time is up: The buck stops now with the President on the issue of endo

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Contractualization was a top billing issue during the 2016 presidential election. And it was the President who made a campaign promise that the moment he becomes the Chief Executive, contractualization will stop. The trade union movement responded with enthusiasm and accorded the President the courtesy and latitude of managing his plans by participating in all the summits, workshops, and dialogues organized by the government on this issue.

Several times he asked leaders of Nagkaisa labor coalition that he be given more time to realize his pledge – the first was on February 27, 2017; then on May 1, 2017; and the last was on February 7, 2018 where he asked for another extension until March 15. On these occasions, President Duterte would always say that contractualization is anti-labor and anti poor as it brings in hardship and poverty upon millions of our workers.

Furthermore, it was also the President who asked Nagkaisa leaders during the Labor Day dialogue held in Davao last year to draft within 10 days an Executive Order (EO) that he can sign to correct the labor-rejected Department Order 174 issued by the Department of Labor and Empoyment (DOLE) in March last year and to rectify the more than two decades of failed framework of regulation. Nagkaisa religiously complied with all these processes and waited for the final response of the President.

Now, a few days before his self-imposed deadline and the President is no longer asking for time and more drafts but for a compromise. The buck stops now with President Duterte. The labor-drafted EO which seeks to bring back direct hiring and institutionalize prohibition as the general rule on contractualization but recognizes that there are types of jobs that can be contracted out as along as it passes through consultation with the National Tripartite and Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC) is the fairest middle ground or “compromise” that labor can take. A watered-down version of an EO is unacceptable.

NAGKAISA Labor Coalition
Press Statement