Labor Code Amendments are Anti-Labor, Groups Say

The Macapagal-Arroyo regime is proposing amendments to the Labor Code that cover wages, job security, labor disputes, union activities, and collective bargaining agreements. These amendments, however, are decidedly pro-capitalist as these seek to remove whatever good there is in the code, various groups say.

By Alexander Martin Remollino 
Bulatlat.com

Labor groups have long been clamoring for amendments to the Labor Code of the Philippines to make it more responsive to the needs of the working class. The Labor Code has often been criticized for being biased in favor of capitalists.

Comes now the Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment (COCLE) with a proposed bill containing planned amendments to the Labor Code. The Macapagal-Arroyo administration plans to enact the proposed new Labor Code before the 2004 presidential elections.

The proposed amendments cover wages, job security, labor disputes, union activities, and collective bargaining agreements. However, it appears workers are in for more miseries if the proposed amendments are enacted.

Proposed amendment: Regional wage boards shall have the sole authority to determine the minimum wages for each region.

This proposed amendment closes the door to any possibility of a legislated wage increase, which labor groups have been demanding for years because of their experience with the non-responsiveness of the regional wage boards to the demands of workers for wage increase. It also negates the possibility of designating a single minimum wage that shall address the needs of all workers in the country.

Proposed amendment: Wage orders shall only be discussed and implemented every six years.

Under this amendment, workers would be stuck with wages that could only be changed every six years. In view of the rapid rate of change in economic conditions in the Philippines, the amendment could not be more inimical to the interests of workers.

Moreover, the fact that the amendment applies only to unorganized establishments is an attack on the constitutionally-mandated right of workers to join organizations. It discourages workers from joining unions, thus leaving themselves at the mercy of the powers-that-be.

Proposed amendment: Labor-only contracting shall be merely regulated, not criminalized.

The amendment is clear on the definition of labor-only contracting. Labor-only contracting is to be considered such only if the intermediary is not duly licensed by the Department of Labor and Employment as a job contractor. Labor-only contracting shall not be considered such if the intermediary is duly licensed by the Department of Labor and Employment even if in essence the process of labor-only contracting is to be carried out. In effect, therefore, the amendment merely gives new form to the practice of contractualization instead of abolishing it altogether.

Proposed amendment: Unfair labor practice is to be made merely an administrative offense.

The present Labor Code classifies unfair labor practice as a criminal offense. Only union-busting is considered a criminal offense under this amendment. Other unfair labor practices are considered mere civil offenses. This decreases the liability of employers for such an offense.

Proposed amendment: The terms of collective bargaining agreements shall take effect for six years.

Under the present Labor Code, the terms of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) take effect for three years. The party-list group Bayan Muna considers this an "ideal" life span for a CBA, as it allows for more opportunities for renegotiation in view of continuously changing conditions.

Bayan Muna says this amendment was inserted into the proposed bill as a result of lobbying by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries with the collusion of the Department of Labor and Employment. This amendment favors capitalists, not workers, as it would allow them to confine workers to unchanging working conditions for long.

Proposed amendment: Employers shall be allowed to impose lockouts when there are deadlocks in CBA negotiations and workers may be charged with "unfair labor practice."

Although the amendment as written in the proposed bill acknowledges the right of workers to strike, this right is negated by the fact that employers may resort to lockouts in order to prevent strikes.

Also, under this amendment, workers are rendered virtually helpless. Making CBA demands, which the management does not desire to grant, and staging a strike may be considered "unfair labor practices," for which they may be subjected to a lockout and even charged civilly.

Proposed amendment: The Department of Labor and Employment shall be allowed to monitor the activities of unions that supposedly receive foreign assistance.

This is a curtailment of the civil rights of workers. Labor unions may be subjected to surveillance on the basis of "evidence" that they are receiving foreign assistance.

Proposed: The national government and its labor agencies shall give preference to conciliation and mediation over compulsory arbitration.

Under such an amendment, the government and its labor agencies shall merely act as "moderators" in labor disputes. It shall give free rein to labor-management conflicts rather than make decisions based on the needs of workers.

Proposed amendment: Workers shall be made to pay apprenticeship fees when joining training programs.

This encourages employers to resort to apprenticeship programs by making them more profitable. Under this, what little workers may earn in the course of their "training" shall go largely to the payment of their apprenticeship fees. The regularization of workers thus becomes more unlikely.

Anti-labor

The people, particularly the poor workers, placed a lot of their hopes on the Macapagal-Arroyo administration after successfully installing it to power through a popular uprising. With the installation of a new leader, the people hoped things would change for the better.

Unfortunately for the workers, should these proposed amendments to the Labor Code be enacted, they will be placed in even graver conditions than they are now. Militant labor, Bayan Muna and other groups say that these amendments to the Labor Code are clearly anti-labor – reason enough why cause-oriented groups have been vigorously opposing them. Bulatlat.com

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