LABOR WATCH 

Gov’t-Controlled Media Workers: Underpaid, Harassed

Most people see Korina Sanchez and think that all journalists, whether in broadcast, print or online publications, enjoy high salaries and lead glamorous lives. The truth is, media workers – from reporters to encoders and technicians – face the same issues of job insecurity, low wages and deplorable working conditions. Of particular concern are the media workers in government-owned and sequestered media corporations.

BY ROWENA CARRANZA
Bulatlat.com

Last April 15, there was something different in the staff box of the People’s Journal, a daily tabloid and part of the Journal Group of Publications under the sequestered Philippine Journalists, Inc.

Instead of the usual PJI logo, the staff box sported instead a skewed presidential seal. Was it a mere prank or was it a not-so-subtle criticism of how the paper has become a “mouthpiece” of Malacañang? Was it the workers’ way of airing their grievances against the management?

The officers of the Journal Employees Union however would not admit being behind the logo substitution.

The Journal Group of Publications is under the Philippine Journalists, Inc., which was sequestered by the government when former President Ferdinand Marcos was toppled in 1986. The Journal publications were owned by the Benedictos, who were known Marcos cronies. Since then, it has been run by appointees of whatever administration is in power.

Last April 29, more than 70 members of the Journal Employees Union held a protest run from the National Press Club to the Journal’s office in Manila. The union raised, among others, the following issues:

·      While allegedly telling employees that the company is bankrupt, the Journal executives reportedly receive monthly a P100,000 minimum basic pay, P40,000 transportation allowance (P30,000 is he uses company car and driver),  and P60,000 representation allowance (charged to Citibank credit account allegedly not subject to liquidation), as well as a P10,000 honorarium every board meeting.

·      The employees’ quarterly bonus on the other hand is given in “trickles.” Traditionally given on the 15^th of March, only half of the bonus was given on the said date, 25 percent was given two weeks after while the remaining 25 percent remains pending.

·      The last paycheck that the correspondents received was allegedly last December or four months ago. This includes their transportation allowance.

·      14 regular employees and supervisors under the International Edition of the People’s Journal were reportedly terminated recently without any warning and without separation pay.

·      Management reportedly announced plans to scrap the entire production department consisting of 80 employees after the logo substitution incident.

NBN employees’ plight

The People’s Television Employees Association, the union of the People’s Television Network, Inc. (PTNI), also known as the National Broadcasting Network (NBN), has been conducting protest activities from 12 to 1 p.m. every day since last week to highlight the woes the union faces.

The union has been in negotiation with management for a new Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) since February this year. Last April 15, the talks reached a deadlock.

According to the union, the management refused to grant its demand for a P1,500 yearly wage increase, which the NBN board of directors called “unconscionable.”

“Lokohan lang nangyayari. They wanted to drag the negotiation until after the elections,” said Banda.  In the first place, he said, the management showed bad faith when it filed cases against some union members while negotiations were ongoing.

Aside from the CNA deadlock, the NBN employees have a host of other problems. Homer Banda, the union president, said in an interview with Bulatlat.com that they have yet to receive the benefits they should receive under the law, including the P5,000 bonus ordered by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003 and various fees such as overtime, loyalty, night deferential, and productivity incentive pays; mid-year bonus; rice subsidy; clothing allowance; and salary increases.

According to the union’s computation, NBN owes its workers the following: 

It also charged the management of non-remittance of employees’ payments to the Government Service Insurance System Inc. (GSIS), the Union and cooperative funds, Pag-ibig, PhilHealth and even the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Banda also said that for the April 15 workers’ salaries, the management had to borrow money from the cooperative. It was done, he said, without permission from the cooperative.

Meanwhile, Alberto Cabreza Sr., had worked in the People’s Television Network, Inc., a government-owned network, for 27 years. When he retired in February last year, he got only P20,000 of his P348,000 retirement pay – in installment at that (P10,000 in April and P10,000 in October). In an interview with Bulatlat.com, Cabreza noted how retirees like him have difficulty in getting the retirement pay due them.

He cited as example the case of another NBN employee, Liberato Policarpio, who died without receiving a cent of his retirement pay.

Legal cases

Both the Journal and NBN employees have filed cases against their respective managements.

The NBN management, led by appointee Mia Aquino Concio who serves as network chairperson and president, has already been indicted by the Ombudsman for violation of RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards.

In its response, Concio and the other officials called the complaint “false, malicious and unfounded.”  They said that the PTNI was already debt-ridden when they assumed office. They also claimed that the complaint is “pure harassment, ” intended to force the board of directors to agree to “unconscionable demands for wage discussions” in the ongoing CNA negotiations.

Journal management on the other hand have had to face several separate cases filed by terminated employees with the Department of Labor and Employment as well as a case pending in the Supreme Court.

It is noticeable how the two have now resorted to extra-legal means in order to highlight their issues. PTEU members have picketed the station office whenever a Malacañang official would guest in any of the NBN show.

Its officers have also dialogued with Press Secretary Milton Alingod in order to bring their case to the president’s attention and with the hope of having Concio ousted from the network’s management.

The JEU on the other hand has, aside from the usual lunchtime pickets, engaged in protest runs such as on April 15. It has even coined the politically loaded slogans “Junk GMA (Gross Mismanagement and Abuse)!” and “Run FPJ (Free the People’s Journal)!”

“Incompetence”

Both JEU and PTEU question the competency of the appointed officials of their respective management.

Banda for example charges that Concio has no background at all in broadcasting, that many of the jobs she handled in the past were failures. He also said that the network’s charter does not provide for a president.

“While the workers failed to get their salaries last April 15, Concio got her salary check of P90,000,” complained Banda. He said they got theirs in the evening of April 16.

He also added that the station’s contractual employees who are categorized as “talents” only recently received their fees after a delay of seven months.

Said an employee who dared to ask Concio how come she received her paycheck on time while the rest of them were still waiting: “Kakaramput na nga lang ng sweldo namin di pa namin makuha sa oras. Sana maintindihan nila ang kalagayan namin na napakahirap kapag di dumating sa takdang oras ang sahod.”  Bulatlat.com

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