Bulatlat - The Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine

This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 1, Feb. 4-10, 2007

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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