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Editoral Policy | Webeditorial
Newswire Archive                   Hidden

trade union

“The Hanjin shipyard is a graveyard of workers. While capitalists are scrimping on protection for workers and the government is sleeping on its job of enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace. Hanjin’s crooked path must be set straight by PNoy. Instead of beating war drums over the Spratlys it is better that PNoy wage war for workers rights at Subic,” insisted Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

On July 3 the groups leading today’s rally will hold a “Caravan for Decent Jobs and Humane Working Conditions.” The caravan will proceed from Manila to Subic in order to highlight the dire plight of contractual workers especially in Hanjin.

Since the start of the year, fuel price inflation stands at a whopping 10.19 per cent. It is followed by transportation and communication prices at 7.28 per cent, while inflation of food prices has been recorded at 4.03 per cent.

According to Bello, the sky-rocketing prices of basic commodities threaten to push millions of families propped up by minimum wage earners across the poverty threshold.

“Barya lang ang P22 sa harap ng nagtataasang presyo ng mga bilihin. Kulang ‘yan para tustusan ang pangangailangan ng mga kababayan natin, at lalo silang maghihirap kung ‘yan lang ang matatanggap nila,” Bello added

Abolish regional wage boards

Edwin Bustillos, APL deputy secretary-general, said almost one year after the victory of President Aquino, workers have yet to see tangible gains.

“Instead, what we have is a disastrous decision for the workers of PAL, violent demolitions of informal settlers and skyrocketing prices of oil, food and other prime commodities,” he said.

Workers are being presented a Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for 2011- 2016 that merely provides a slightly updated version of the same old neo-liberal prescriptions, Bustillos said.

The APL mobilized in Manila, Lipa, Cebu, Davao, General Santos, Cotabato and Cagayan de Oro.

By BMP & PLM

The ascendance to power of the Aquino administration was the most significant event that took place in 2010. The marginalized sector particularly the workers were indeed hoping that the new government would somehow uplift their worsening conditions brought about by the global financial crisis.

Unfortunately, the first half of the Aquino administration proved its real worth to the Filipino people in terms of its policies. The Aquino government only validated its subservience to the elite and not to the toiling masses.

By Worker's Party-Philippines (PM)

“We are hopeful that P-Noy (President Noynoy Aquino) will act immediately on our petition. The President has the power based on Article 263(g) of the Labor Code to intervene at any time and assume jurisdiction over any labor dispute in order to settle it. That power has usually been used to stop workers from holding a strike as in the case of PALEA and FASAP recently. But now we are challenging P-Noy to employ it to stop management’s planned mass layoff,” explained Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chairperson.

The PAL employees brought a mock coffin with the label “RIP PAL workers” and also an effigy of Labor Sec. Baldoz in the image of the fictional “Kamatayan (Death).” The protesters carried posters with messages such as “Job Security ng PAL Workers, Inilibing ni Baldoz,” “Baldoz Halloween Order and Lagman Midnight Decision, Parehong Anti-Labor,” “Baldoz, Mumultuhin ka ng Halloween Order Laban sa PAL Workers,” and “Kung Di Mo Kaya si Lucio Tan, Baldoz Resign.”

A particular section of the working class, those working in the special economic zones, deserve particular concern in terms of the observance of labor standards and labor rights.

Judy Ann Miranda, secretary general of PM, declared that “FASAP’s brothers and sisters in the labor movements stand as one body and speak with one voice in solidarity with the struggle of the flight attendants. We will mobilize our members, especially women workers, to support their fight.”

Meanwhile Gerry Rivera, PALEA president, stated that “PALEA members will respect any picketline that will be setup by FASAP. We will be with them in the picketlines.”

This makes Aquino’s responsibility bigger and the masses’ expectations of him higher, the Alliance of Progressive Labor said, as he begins his presidency following his inauguration today as the 15th Philippine president.

Vowing this early to press Aquino to live up to his “people’s mandate,” the APL and other progressive forces in the labor and social movements are urging the new president to make “full employment” one of the centerpiece programs of his administration.

June 28, 2010

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) held another rally this afternoon at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in protest at the decision of Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman that declared the planned PAL mass layoff to be a “valid exercise of management prerogative.” PALEA also filed a motion for reconsideration of the Lagman order in time for the deadline today.

Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice-chairperson, insisted that “There are strong grounds to seek the reversal of Lagman’s decision.” PALEA assails the order as a “midnight decision that is erroneous on both substantive and procedural grounds.”