LABOR WATCH

Workers’ Unrest in Laguna

By Dennis Espada               
Bulatlat.com 

CALAMBA CITY--Industrial workers here marked the Labor Day celebration as a season of rage against the machines of monopoly-capitalism. Well-known for its many resorts and "buko" (coconut) pies, Laguna, throughout the past decades, has turned into a fertile ground for militant worker's struggles.

Getting Bumped

Workers of bus company Tritran Inc. are demanding the management to have them reinstated and justly resolve the ongoing labor dispute.

More than 1,000 drivers and conductors lost their jobs in January after the management decided to temporarily close its business due to alleged financial losses amounting to P50 million.

Bulatlat.com learned that Tritran has around 200 passenger buses operating in the Southern Tagalog region and Metro Manila. Its terminals are located in Binan and Santa Rosa, Laguna; and cities of Lucena and Pasay.

In a letter to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region IV dated Dec. 12, 2003, Tritran management stated that they have undertaken measures like cost-cutting and reduction of personnel but it appeared "that these actions were insufficient to prevent these serious business losses."

Strikers however contradicted the management's claims, saying their own computations showed the company was earning an average of P9,000 daily from transport fares by each bus unit.

Roberto Sanchez, president of Aniban ng Lakas ng Manggagawa sa Tritran-National Federation of Labor Unions (ALAMAT-NAFLU), the company's labor union, explained that the management's move was supposedly aimed at turning regulars into mere contractuals through forced resignation.

In a phone interview recently, J.C. Sebastian, Tritran's VP for Finance, denied that the workers were terminated from their jobs. He explained that the temporary closure will last within six months as the company find ways to cope with its "losses".

"Susulatan natin sila para ipaalam ang desisyon ng management kung bubuksan muli o permanente nang isasara ang kumpanya," (We will write and inform them whether management has decided to  reopen or permanently close the company) Sebastian vowed.

Since they went on strike at the Pasay terminal last March to protest the closure, Sanchez said they have witnessed violent dispersals by the police resulting to the arrest and detention of seven strikers.

"Nagpaputok ang mga pulis ng baril pababa, pagkatapos tinira kami ng teargas...wala silang ipinakitang court order o di kaya'y AJ (assumption of jurisdiction)," (The police fired their guns downward, then they hit us with teargas… they showed neither a court order or AJ order) Sanchez recalled.

Workers' families, meanwhile, have been tightening their belts to fit with their measly budgets.

Workers at the Park

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) reported that Laguna Technopark, an industrial zone composed of 82 companies with a total of 64,180 employees, recently contributed the biggest export share with $596.44 million.

But despite the export growth enjoyed by foreign capitalists, workers, who are mostly contractuals, suffer the brunt of massive lay-off, union-busting, militarization and various systematic forms of trade union repression.

In an interview with Bulatlat.com, Marlon Rosales, secretary-general of the Alyansa ng Manggagawa sa Engklabo (AMEN), a broad worker's alliance within the Laguna Technopark, said that only five out of 18 unions under their wing, has a collective bargaining agreement.

The nominal minimum wage in the Southern Tagalog region is P237 per day, while the family living wage is pegged at P538 per day -- a disparity of P301.

Rosales, who is a worker of the Japanese automobile giant Honda Philippines Inc., said the current minimum wage is "not fit for a family's decent living."

Rosales also deplored the growing unemployment rate in the region, now at 13.7 percent. The unemployment rate in the region rose from last year's 528,000 to 586,000 this year, according to data from the Department of Labor and Employment-Region 4-A Labor Situationer as of March 2004.

Industrial Belt

Only 16% of employers in Laguna Technopark comply with the minimum wage law, according to the local labor group Cabuyao Worker's Alliance (CAWAL).

CAWAL said that since the rise of the "old-industrial belt" in the 1980s and later, the establishment of the Laguna Industry and Science Park covering the barangays (villages) of Diezmo and Pulo, the once agriculturally-dependent town of Cabuyao has become a big community of industrial workers. But despite this, majority of its people are still impoverished.

CAWAL's spokesperson Noel Alemania, said last week that the workers' P237 daily wage is reportedly being deducted by most factory-owners. In Science Park alone, there are at least 75 existing factories.

"Kahit sumusweldo ng P237 'yung manggagawa na hindi naman talaga sapat sa kanilang pangangailangan, pero 'yung karapatan nila sa 15-minutong breaktime ay iniaawas ng employer sa kanilang buong 8 oras na pagtatrabaho. Sa ganoon, simpleng inaalisan 'yung manggagawa ng minimum na sahod...dahil kailangan nilang magdagdag ng additional na panahon para punuan 'yung breaktime na dapat ay pribiliheyo na ng manggagawa," Alemania explained.

Alemania also noted the problem of labor-only contracting, including the "piece rate" scheme, where employees need to finish a certain number of products before they could get their salaries.

Politician's Response

Recognizing the workers' demand to improve their conditions, re-electionist vice-mayoralty candidate Isidro "Jun" Hemedes Jr. of Lakas-CMD, together with aspiring councilors Atty. Joseph Lauguico and Pol Hain made a pledge before CAWAL members that they will push for the creation of a labor welfare desk and other legislative measures that would benefit the workers.

The task of the labor desk is to receive worker's complaints and assist them in their legal cases.

The three local politicians vowed they will help on-strike workers to facilitate dialogues with the management for the speedy resolution of labor disputes.

For his part, pro-labor lawyer Atty. Lauguico said that, if elected, he will propose to the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) to include a program that would educate workers on their basic rights such as forming a union. He will also call the government to ban the recruitment of employees by employers who have clear anti-labor practices.

Though Hemedes expressed his committed support, however, he pointed out the "limitations" of his office.

"Kung sa personal ay buong-puso akong susuporta sa inyo. Subalit bilang pinuno ng Sangguniang Bayan, may mga limitasyon na itinatakda ang batas," (On the personal level, I wholeheartedly support you. But as the head of the Provincial Council, the laws have set limitations) Hemedes stressed. Bulatlat.com

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