Labor Watch

All's Not Quiet on the Labor Front

After the large labor protest rally last May 1 and the sector’s active participation in multi-sectoral protests since then, no one can say that the labor front has lapsed into complacency. Just these past few weeks, workers figured prominently in important issues and events -- fighting old fights and scoring some victories.

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com

 
Media Forum

Last week, employees of the biggest chain of department stores in the Philippines hit the policy of contractualization employed by their company and sanctioned by the government.

In a forum sponsored by the People's Media Center, leaders of the Sandigan ng Manggagawa sa Shoemart (Shoemart Workers’ Union or SMS), the militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement or KMU) and the Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktwalisasyon (Coalition Against Contractualization or KLK) described the plight of contractual workers in Shoemart, which is owned by tycoon Henry Sy.

Representatives of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Employers' Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) on the other hand said contractualization is merely a result of the economic crisis.

Bayan Muna Representative Liza Largoza-Maza, another speaker at the forum, condemned contractualization as violative of workers' rights. "Contractualization denies workers the right to job security and tenure. It denies workers the right to organize as well their rights to benefits," She said.

Refrerring to the situation of Shoemart employees, Maza observed that "About 90 percent of the employees are contractuals and are terminated immediately after the peak shopping seasons such as Christmas and the school opening." 

Maza and representatives of the KLK urged the passage of House Bill 4461, "An Act Strengthening the Right to Security of Tenure, Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof, Amending Pertinent Provisions of the Labor Code and for Other Purposes."

The bill seeks to legislate the recognition of employment from its beginning in the absence of a written agreement. It also entitles those employed seasonally or temporarily to the same rights and privileges enjoyed by regular employees.

Nestle imbroglio

Meanwhile, the workers of the Nestle plant in Cabuyao, Laguna have been embroiled in a dispute with the management over issues of union busting and harassment for more than 10 months now. They have had to put up with virtually every imaginable form of harassment.

Last Nov. 14 they experienced another harassment again.

As they were holding a rally to appeal for a just and speedy resolution of the dispute in front of the Court of Appeals (CA), which now has jurisdiction over their case, a car stopped before them. A man, who identified himself as ”Diosdado” of the Manila Chronicle, a national daily, stepped out of the vehicle and started taking pictures of the demonstrators.

Some of the demonstrators surrounded the man. Western Police District policemen brought him to the headquarters. He was forced to bring out his ID, which revealed him to be Marcelino Reyes Manarang, a Matrix security guard assigned at Nestle Rockwell.

Ding Fortuna, president of the Nestle workers' union, said this was another instance of harassment by the Nestle management. "Nestle has gone as far as following us to the CA just to harass the workers, demoralize us and defeat our determination," he said. He added that Nestle's security guards frequently take pictures and shoot footages of the striking workers. They are also subjected to intimidation and even physical abuse, he said.

Workers' Gains

There are pieces of good news, however, as workers of Honda Philippines and the daily tabloid Bulgar have secured important gains.

The Honda workers' union signed a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the management last Nov. 16 after almost three months of negotiations.

The workers fought and won a P60 wage increase per year for the next three years. Aside from that, they were also able to get new benefits, such as mid-year and Christmas bonuses equivalent to half a month's pay, a sack of premium rice monthly instead of the six stipulated in the previous CBA, a P15,000 signing bonus, a lump sum of P9,000, a 600-day union leave instead of the 86-day union leave agreed upon in the last CBA, a T-shirt for each worker for Labor Day, and others. They also succeffully negotiated for a P2,000 per person seed fund for the workers' cooperative.

Meanwhile, the DOLE-National Capital Region released last Nov. 18, an order instructing the owners of MVRS Publications, Bulgar publisher, to pay their 64 employees the amount of P11, 754,002.96 in back wages and penalties for violation of Republic Act 8188 or the Double Indemnity Law.

The MVRS management had not been giving their employees the wages and benefits due them, such as the emergency cost-of-living allowance, holiday pay, rest-day premiums, and other benefits.

Alex Diaz, one of Bulgar’s reporters, revealed that the management is not paying the paper’s correspondents properly. "The management treated them as mere contributors, even though some of them have been working with Bulgar for almost 12 years," Diaz said.

Wage Increase

Last Nov. 20, members of the KMU marched to Congress to demand the Passage of House Bill 4188, also known as "An Act Providing for a P125 Daily Across-the-Board Increase in the Wages and Salaries of Employees and Workers in the Private Sector and for Other Purposes". The bill is a consolidated version of House Bills 2605 and 2623, and co-authored by Reps. Crispin Beltran, Roseller Barinaga, Krisel Lagman-Luistro, and Rolex Suplico. The House Committee on Labor and Employment passed it upon second reading due to the persistent efforts of workers' groups and their supporters. Bulatlat.com

We want to know what you think of this article.