A human rights advocate, genuine union leader and peasant organizer. Written on a piece of cardboard, the words caught the eyes of visitors arriving at the home of murdered activist Albert Terradaño in Tayum, Abra. And they learned what the words meant when they spoke with his family, friends and comrades. By Kim Quitasol Northern…
Category: Labor & Employment
Despite P5,000 Xmas bonus Gov’t Employees Slam Arroyo for Low Wages
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that there will be a P5,000 ($93.60) extra Christmas bonus to all government employees on or before December 15. Why are government employees, particularly public school teachers, still unhappy? BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN Christina Manalo, 51, has been a teacher for 26 years now. She used to be indifferent to the…
P1 Trillion in Revenues Lost Due to WTO Accord
An anti-globalization alliance says the government’s fiscal crisis is all the more exacerbated because the government radically reworked the 1994 tariff rates on imported commodities, leading to a loss of P1 trillion in revenues. BY BULATLAT RESIST, the Philippine network of people’s organizations and sectoral groups opposed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) today said…
700,000 Gov’t Employees to Lose Jobs?
Is there a difference between retirement and retrenchment? Analyzing government policies on the rationalization of the bureaucracy, it appears that government officials want to encourage as much as 50% of the 1.4-million workforce to retire while at the same time giving them minimal retirement benefits. BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN Ibon Foundation, an independent research think-tank,…
A Diagnosis of Public Hospitals
A few days before Health Secretary Francisco Duque visited the Bicol Medical Center (BMC) last Nov. 8, the hospital underwent repair and refurbishing – but only its frontage, some hallways and the garden near the auditorium where Duque dialogued with hospital employees. The rest of the hospital remained glaringly untouched. Such is the state of…
State Employees Demand P3,000 Pay Increase, Unpaid COLA
Government employees are overworked and underpaid. Their security of tenure is threatened by reengineering and privatization schemes. Worse, they have no right to strike or undertake collective action. But now they are fighting back. By Karl G. Ombion Bulatlat.com Bacolod City – The government is the biggest employer in the country. According to official records,…
Subic: Where the Show Never Stops
Even with the removal of the U.S. Bases, the sex trade never stopped in Olongapo and Subic. In the 80s, prostitution catered to U.S. servicemen. Now prostitution caters to businessmen, mostly Chinese, Taiwanese, and Filipinos, who frequent the casinos inside the former U.S. bases. By Dabet Castaneda SUBIC, Zambales – It was a little pass…
Hacienda Serafica Farm Workers Hold Picket
While most people rared to go back to work last Nov. 6 after a long vacation, farm workers of Hacienda Serafica who have long been suffering from unjust working conditions have decided to stop working and hold a picket. According to them, they intend to stay until their demands are met. By Johann Hein B.…
Hacienda Luisita Workers Reap Gains from ‘Bungkalan’
Last June, the unions in Hacienda Luisita declared they will encourage and undertake systematic cultivation of portions of idle land in the plantation to produce food crops and stave off hunger during the rainy season. The “bungkalan” (cultivation) immediately became a big hit among hacienda workers’ families, enabling them to buy food and simple household needs.
Sacked Union Leader Jailed by Benguet Police
The strike at a big mining firm already ended last Sept. 10 with both the union and management promising not to take retaliatory action. Nineteen union officers, however, got dismissed by the company. Worse, a union officer was arrested and detained last Oct. 3. His case? A police officer accused him of stealing a cellular…
Lepanto Mining Firm Not Environment-Friendly – UP Baguio, SLU scholars
For months now, Lepanto mining company is locked in a protracted labor strike by its employees. But there’s another issue raised by university-based doctors and scientists on the firm’s mining operations. Their findings of water samples take from river systems where the company’s mine tailings are allegedly dumped showed very high cyanide, chromium and lead.…