Click here to read past Bulatlat stories on Mendiola Massacre Mendiola Massacre: 23 Years Later Click here for Bulatlat’s full coverage of the 10-day Lakbayan-National Peasant Caravan that preceded today’s commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre.
Category: Labor & Employment
Filipino Legislator in Canada Pushes for Better Treatment of OFWs
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Despite the glossy image of Canada as one of the places where Filipinos would want to migrate to, poverty and lack of job security are realities that they have to contend with. Mable Elmore, who visited the Philippines recently, said her primary goal as member of Canada’s Legislative Assembly is to provide affordable housing, raise the minimum wage and support working single mothers.
Military Continues Harassment of Leftists, 2 Activists Are Latest Targets
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Two activists have complained that the Philippine military has been harassing them, the latest in a series of similar intimidations apparently aimed at forcing activists to spy against militant groups for the armed forces.
News in Pictures: Today Is Ka Bel’s 77th Birthday
Labor in 2009: Joblessness, Rights Violations, Violence Confronted Filipino Workers
By MARYA SALAMAT
The year 2009 began, ended and paved the way to 2010 with the festering problem of joblessness for millions of Filipinos. The global financial crisis only revealed the stark reality of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s inherently flawed job-generation strategies. The Arroyo regime fell short of its employment target. Worse, thousands of jobs, especially in the export industry, were “massacred” in 2009 even as unionists faced violence, intimidation and murder.
Labor Migration in 2009: A Terrible Year to Be an OFW
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
The regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo changed the face of labor migration in the Philippines. It pursued its labor-export policy aggressively, begging receiving countries to accept more overseas Filipino workers. In the meantime, it shirked its responsibilities toward OFWs in distress, in many instances even becoming complicit in the abuse of overseas workers.
Attacks on Workers Persist as ILO Keeps Mum on Arroyo’s Accountability in Abuses
By MARYA SALAMAT
Two months after the International Labor Organization conducted a fact-finding mission in the Philippines, labor-rights violations escalate in the Philippines, as highlighted by the death of Danilo Belano, a long-time labor organizer, who died while being tailed and harassed by military agents.
On November 30, Trade Union Day, Workers Slam Worsening Attacks
By Bulatlat.com “There is no more opportune time to celebrate genuine trade unionism than these times when our democratic rights are under siege, said Romualdo Basilio, chair of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao region and provincial coordinator of Anakpawis Partylist, as the entire national progressive labor center gears up for a series of activities in celebration…
Why Workers Abhor Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ) orders
By MARYA SALAMAT
Unlike other post-martial law administrations that used assumption of jurisdictions (AJ) mostly to quell already ongoing strikes, the Arroyo regime has used these orders not only to quell ongoing strikes but also to make sure workers cannot strike at all. As a result, fewer strikes have been recorded, allowing Arroyo to claim that “industrial peace” is improving. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Workers Demand Scrapping of DOLE Order Used to Break Up Strikes, Kill Unionists
The Kilusang Mayo Uno said the “assumption of jurisdiction” order issued by the labor secretary has been abused and has been used in many instances to break up strikes, often violently, as what happened in Hacienda Luisita in 2004.
Dismissed Workers in Thailand and Philippines Call for Boycott of Triumph Products
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com In the approaching shopping season for Christmas, Triumph underwear as gifts for one’s self or for loved ones may no longer be a generous idea anymore. It would be tantamount to blessing the global giant’s cruel treatment of its employees. This year, Triumph International has been busy executing some cruel, one-sided…