By DONAVIE GUD
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The senatorial candidates who consistently topped the election surveys did not respond to the 2025 electoral agenda of workers, the private and public local unions revealed during their event held on April 23 at the University of the Philippines Diliman. 

Launched by more than 100 unions on March 18, the Workers’ Challenge 2025 aims to know the plans of senatorial and partylist candidates on national living wage, security of tenure, and freedom of associations. 

The unions sent the challenge to 50 out of 66 senatorial candidates and 86 out of 156 partylists. Some were not reached due to challenges contacting them. 

Most of the senatorial candidates who did not respond came from the slates of former President Rodrigo Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Among them are Bong Go, Erwin Tulfo, and Tito Sotto. 

“It looks like they’re only strong in surveys, but when we asked them how they would address the decades-long problems of workers, they did not hear us and became silent in our challenge,” Pete Pinlac, secretary general of Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon sa Pilipinas (MKP), said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, the unions revealed that the senatorial candidates who accepted their challenge came mostly from the Makabayan bloc. 

One of them is Jerome Adonis, the current secretary general of Kilusang Mayo Uno.

“There should really be a minimum wage of P1,200 ($21.28) per day for all workers across the Philippines,” Adonis said. 

Currently, the daily minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) is P645 ($11.44), which falls significantly short of the amount needed for decent living. 

According to a study conducted by the IBON Foundation, as of September 2024, a family of five in NCR should have at least P1,206 per day to live decently.

Makabayan’s France Castro joined the workers in their call for security of tenure, drawing from her experience with contractualization in the education sector. 

“When I was a new teacher, I experienced being contractual for four years. That’s why we fought for the regularization of teachers in the public and private sectors,” Castro said. 

Meanwhile, senatorial candidate Leody De Guzman of Partido Lakas ng Masa condemned the prohibition of unionization within the labor force. 

“The right to unionize is in the Constitution but it is still being prohibited,” De Guzman said. 

The private and public local unions also revealed the partylists who supported their Workers Challenge, including Kamanggagawa, Health Workers, and Aksyon Dapat. 

Pinlac urged workers to amplify their calls to local candidates, saying that their Workers Challenge is not yet finished.

“Let’s maximize the initial success of Workers Challenge 2025 through expanding this call to the various places where workers are,” Pinlac said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, another labor initiative called “Labor Vote” was launched by workers’ groups on April 24 to forward their nine-point agenda for the upcoming midterm election. 

The agenda includes calls for development of agriculture and industry, eliminating workforce discrimination, and holding the corrupt politicians accountable. (RVO)