Sub-Contracting Keeps Women Workers Browbeaten, Underpaid
Contractualization
is a scheme that allows capitalists to replace their workforce with ease
according to market demands. For the management, this translates to
maximization of profits but for the laborers, this system denies them
the security and benefits of a regular job while being paid very low
wages.
By Reyna Mae Tabbada
Bulatlat
Women workers in
the Philippines have long been victims of abuse and discrimination.
They suffer under working conditions detrimental to their health and
sanitation. And they are the victims of extremely oppressive and
exploitative labor practices. Problems on the safety of the physical
work environment are perennial concerns of women workers. In recent
years, the unjust relations between women laborers and management have
also turned for the worse.
In a 2004 world
commission report, the International Labor Organization said “millions
of women workers (were) absorbed into the global production system”
where contractualization of labor is very rampant. The situation in the
Philippines mirrors this worldwide trend: the Labor Force Survey of the
National Statistics Office (NSO) from October 2005-2006 shows women
constitute 38.8 percent of the labor force. Research by the Quezon
City-based Center for Women Resources (CWR) also reveals that three out
of 10 employed persons are contractual, many of them women.
In an interview,
Mary Joan Guan, executive director of CWR, said that these women
contractual workers are concentrated in the following industries:
manufacturing, garments, factory, sales services, and electronics.
Contractual workers are called by different names such as trainees,
project-basis, and piece rate, with a flexible work arrangement. Even in
government, contractual women workers are rampant as they are not
included in the plantilla.
Contractualization
is a scheme used by capitalists to allow them to replace their workforce
with ease according to market demands. For the management, this
translates to maximization of profit according to the standards of
globalization. For the laborers, this system denies them the security
and benefits of a regular job while being paid very low wages.
Sub-contracting
Miriam Grafil, CWR
research coordinator, lamented that the plight of women contractual
workers has not improved. “Hindi umaangat ang kalagayan nila. Mula
pabrika napunta sa pagiging sub-contractuals hanggang maging
contractors,” (Their conditions have not improved. From factory
workers, they became sub-contractuals until they become contractors) she
said. And much of this can be due to the widespread implementation of
sub-contracting.
Companies that use
sub-contracting employ middlemen to hire workers. The workers work at
home or at the factory but they can fix their time according to their
own needs. A whole community is usually employed by the middle man. This
is especially attractive to mothers who need to earn as well as stay at
home to tend to their children. Even the Department of Labor and
Employment (DoLE) espouses sub-contracting as “pagmamalasakit
(show of mercy)” to the mothers.
But Guan disagrees.
“Hindi iyon pagmamalasakit. Ang bayad ay piece rate. Hindi lamang sa
nanay ang trabaho kundi buong pamilya. Pero ang sweldong binibigay ay
para sa isang tao lamang kahit buong pamily ang gumawa. Dahil kung piece
rate ka, gusto mong mas marami magawa,” (That’s not mercy. The pay
is still by piece. The work is not just confined to the mother but to
the whole family. But the pay is only for one person even though the
whole family worked. Because if you’re paid by piece, you want to be
able to finish more products) she argues.
Guan cites as an
example a wig factory in Laguna as there is a high demand for the export
of wigs and where the sub-contractuals are paid by piece. Women workers
usually receive P1,200 ($24.63 at an exchange rate of $1=P48.71) for one
wig but only after weeks of labor. In the garments industry, workers are
paid mere centavos or up to P10 ($0.20) for a pair of pants. And this
set-up is still being implemented in export processing zones and
factories.
Issues
Grafil conducted a
study last year on a group of sub-contractual workers in Taguig, Rizal
who were home-based. They were engaged in the garment industry removing
himulmol (extra fibers) from T-shirts for a known global brand
and were paid by the piece at the rate of ten centavos ($0.002) per
himulmol. Most of them were former factory workers who either lost
their jobs when the factory closed or were over 35 years old which is
considered the retirement age in the business. Some of the younger ones
were just waiting for the approval of their applications to go abroad.
The most obvious
problem beside the wage was health-related. Women workers do not wear
masks while removing the himulmol, which irritates the eyes and
triggers asthma attacks. The rooms where they were working had poor
ventilation. Other factories give limited bathroom breaks to their
workers, resulting in the prevalence of urinary tract infections (UTI).
CWR has followed up
with one of the workers from the Taguig research, Madam Flor. The worker
was able to borrow a small amount to purchase her own sewing machine and
start her own contractual business of sewing brassieres and panties with
materials coming from Triumph. She has also participated in small trade
fairs. “Yun na ang pangarap nila, maging contractor,” (That’s
their dream, to be a contractor) Grafil further explained. This shows
how women workers are slowly putting more importance to individual
undertakings.
This situation
illustrates another difficulty that faces women contractual workers:
they are hard to organize into unions. “Paano ka ba naman sasali
after three months wala ka na? Dapat may makitang method para
ma-organize yung mga contractuals, hindi dapat pareho sa mga regular,”
(How can you join when after three months you’re removed? We should find
a method to organize contractuals, it should not be the same as
organizing regular workers) Guan said.
Prospects
Both Guan and
Grafil agreed that creative methods should be used to organize
contractual workers. “Kailangan ng mas creative and innovative
measures paano mas mapamulat ang mga manggagawang kababaihan,” (We
need more creative and innovative measures in order to empower our women
workers) Grafil said. She added that this would lead to a more
“comprehensive way of organizing.”
Certain measures
have been introduced in the House of Representatives in order to lessen
if not eradicate the negative impact of contractualization. One of this
is the Contractualization Scheme with Gabriela Party-list Rep. Liza Maza
as one of its authors. So far, however, there has been no progress with
the bill, which did not surprise Guan.
“Parang
pinapatay talagang pilit kasi karamihan sa mga kongresista mga
kapitalista rin yan, mga negosyante kaya ayaw nila. Yun suporta lukewarm
if not absent,” (It seems like they are really junking the bill
because many of the congressmen are also capitalists, businessmen, and
they do not want the bill. The support is lukewarm if not absent) she
added.
However, not all is
dim for the struggle of women contractual workers for a much better
life. In the Southern Tagalog region, the Gabriela-Displaced Workers
Center Inc. offers opportunities for workers who have reached their end
of contract (endcon) by giving them livelihood projects. Although they
may not be organized according to their job as a contractual worker,
some have joined mass organizations like Gabriela in their communities.
Bulatlat
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