Women and children in “pakyao” working
arrangements
PHOTOS BY KARL OMBION
BACOLOD City – The “pakyao”
system or piece-rate labor arrangement has apparently replaced the work
arrangement in many sugar farms in Negros.
“Pakyao”
system is an arrangement where a group of sugar workers are given tasks
like wedding, planting, sugarcane cutting and hauling in specific land
areas; or tons of production load, for a contracted price set by the
landowner.
Unlike a regular
worker with a definite work time, salary and some benefits, workers on “pakyao”
system define their own work time and work methods, share among themselves
the contracted price which is usually lower than minimum wage, and they do
not enjoy basic benefits even if provided by the labor code. For a group
of “pakyao” workers to earn more, they have to look for more
piece-rate jobs.
In effect, they have
no security of tenure, are vulnerable to economic abuse, and are migratory
- they move from sugar farm to sugar farm to find work, also on “pakyao”
or contractual basis, to increase their income.
A field study made by
the Bacolod-based Center for Investigative Research and Multimedia
Services (CIRMS) on the conditions of workers in sugar farms, revealed
that more than 60 percent of sugar farms in Negros employ sugar workers
under the “pakyao” system.
As a result of this
system, sugar workers in many sugar farms receive below minimum wage, some
as much as P80 per piece work only, while others receive as low as P40,
the study showed.
It also stressed that
this labor arrangement has resulted in what it described as the
destruction of security of tenure, dehumanization of workers, and
degradation of the dignity of labor.
Nanay Perlita, 49, a
sakada (seasonal worker) all her life in a hacienda in Victorias
City like her husband and three children, said that in the early1980s they
were still regular workers; but when the sugar industry suffered set backs
in the late 1980s and 1990s, her amo (boss) began to employ them as
“pakyao” workers.
Harsher
Their situation is
even harsher now, she said, as they are forced to get as many “pakyao”
jobs as they could, in different haciendas, to survive. “Before we had
salary at the end of the month, and could ask for some medical,
educational and housing assistance from our amo and ama; but
now it is no more,” she said in Ilonggo.
She also admitted
that her three kids had voluntarily stopped schooling, because they want
to help in family labor so they could earn extras. “I really wanted them
to finish even elementary only, but it is very difficult now; I cannot
provide them their transport fare and baon (provisions) to the town
center, which is 30-45 minutes away, and the tricycle cost is P 45 for one
way only,” she said.
The same holds true
among several sugar workers in selected haciendas in central and south
Negros studied by CIRMS.
Sugar hacienderos use
the “pakyao” system to reduce their cost of production, and evade
the labor requirement for basic benefits like SSS, medicare, and hazard
pay, among others, the study showed.
This system has also
destroyed sugar workers’ unions and associations, as piece-rate laborers
and contractuals being irregular are not allowed under the Labor Code to
form unions, the study further disclosed.
The sugar workers’
general condition has worsened under what the study described as the
“neo-liberal” policies of the government. “Despite the relative sustained
recovery of sugar prices in the domestic and international market, the
workers pay and conditions remain miserable,” it said.
In a related
development, the Bacolod office of the Department of Labor and Employment
(DoLE) has admitted that it has been receiving lots of complaints about
the rampant employment of the “pakyao” system in many sugar farm
plantations.
“It is actually legal
as provided in the Labor Code, only that the actual situation is worse
than we expected,” admitted a DoLE-Bacolod official who requested not to
be named.
He said this is
already a grave concern for the agency. “Still, we are giving this due
attention so the problem would not worsen any further,” he added.
Bulatlat
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