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.

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 24^th 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

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

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