Over a thousand port workers of the
Manila North Harbor (MNH) vow to shut down operations of this port if the
Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and Malacañang, the presidential office,
refuse to listen to their demands for job security as the PPA gears toward
privatization next year.
BRACING FOR STRIKES: Workers of the
Manila North Harbor, who risk losing their jobs with the impending
privatization of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), swear to stage
strikes if their demands for job security go unheeded. |
Jake Azores,
president of the Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Pantalan (SMP or Association
of Port Workers), this week said they will hold simultaneous strikes at
the port as a last resort to press the PPA to include the port workers’
security of tenure and right to unionize as part of the concessions with
whoever wins the privatization bid and the right to operate the MNH.
SMP is an
alliance of five unions inside the MNH comprised of stevedores, forklift
operators, checkers, dock workers and office personnel of the five cargo
handling contractors inside the port. Also included are some 1,200 porters
who are casual laborers inside the port.
Azores said they plan to close the
gates of Piers 2, 4 and 12 and the Pacheco and Hermosa entrance if they go
on strike.
No security
Although port workers are not against
the rehabilitation and modernization of the port, Azores said, they are
furious over the fact that their demands for keeping their jobs even until
a private operator takes over the port have fallen on deaf ears.
|
In a May 16 letter to PPA General
Manager Oscar Sevilla, the workers, through Azores, asked the Authority
itself to undertake the modernization of North Harbor citing its billion
of pesos of income. This way, the workers said, privatization will not be
resorted to and, impliedly, their job security unharmed.
Just the same, the workers said in the
same letter, “modernization should be undertaken in such a way that all
sectors in the North Harbor will not be adversely affected.”
Section 3 (Management and Operational
Undertaking) of the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Manila North Harbor
Modernization Project dated January 2006 states in part that “the operator
shall not remove or terminate the services of any of the absorb (sic)
labor due to retrenchment and/or redundancy within a period of 24 months…”
In effect, Azores said, the ToR
suggests that retrenchment would eventually happen after the 24th
month of private operations. In fact, the ToR also states that
“retrenchment of the absorb (sic) labor shall be undertaken only for a
period of not more than 36 months but not less than 24 months” of private
operations.
Azores said the ToR has no provision
for the preservation of their unions. “Pag walang unyon, walang
proteksyon ang mga manggagawa” (Workers have no protection without
unions), he said.
The ToR is pending approval by the
National Economic Development Authority.
But the retrenchment of port workers has
actually been going on since the privatization of the Manila South Harbor
began in 2003. In fact, Azores said 40 percent of the North Harbor’s
operations have been shut off due to the transfer of the WGA Superferry to the
South Harbor. During that time, Azores said 167 port workers were laid off
because the private operators of the South Harbor refused to take them in.
75 percent
Fears of losing jobs are also felt by
the PPA’s own personnel. In a separate interview, Ver Padua, executive
assistant to the Port Manager, said around 75 percent of the PPA’s organic
employees will likely lose their jobs once the port is fully privatized.
The PPA has around 200 employees most
of them aged 45-55. “We’re too young to retire but too old to find a new
job,” Padua said.
He confirmed that there are no
provisions with regard to the employees’ separation benefits or absorption
by other government agencies. Bulatlat
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