This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 1, Feb. 4-10, 2007

The Negros Press: Keen on Unionism, but Constrained
(First of a two parts)

Media workers in Negros see the gains they could reap from organizing their ranks. However, they are weighed down by a number of constraints.

BY KARL G. OMBION AND RYAN LACHICA
Bulatlat

BACOLOD CITY – Forming a union here is like flying to the moon – arduous but just the same possible.

Broadcasters and journalists here have long been keen on unionizing within their own establishments. The only problem is that they need to weather perceived obstacles; thus, they remain in “silent protest” and are too reluctant to act in the open.  

“Miguel,” real name withheld, is a news director, anchorman and reporter of a local radio station. He has been in the media for almost seven years – he rose from the ranks, as colleagues describe him.  

In a previous job, Miguel was one of those was who fought for decent wages and benefits. Unfortunately, he along with other employees was retrenched.

But Miguel favors organizing media unions. Media members as well as the technical staff should unite to fight for and ensure job security and benefits, he said.

“To form a union within an institution is building the power to bargain with the management,” he said. “But so far there has been no union here that I know of.”

Guillermo Tejida III, desk editor of Visayan Daily Star, also welcomes the idea. “Unionism in public and private sector is most welcome for this will lead to collective power on the part of the employees to lobby for their rights which are often neglected intentionally by the management,” he said.

It is high time, Tejida said, that the media got organized adding that public and private media practitioners alike seem to be closing their eyes to the reality that they are being abused despite the press’ own advocacy against these abuses.

“Media unionism is favorable as it will pave the way for better practice of the media profession. It will create better ties for a bolder fight for workers’ rights and bolster lobbying power,” said Tejida.

Constraints on unionization 

He said that in Bacolod and elsewhere in the province, unionism is welcome but drastic measures might be needed since media practitioners may not readily fight for their rights knowing that their security of tenure would be at stake.

Nomer, not his real name, an engineer and chief technical officer at a local AM station spoke in behalf of the technical staff. He has been in the industry for almost a decade now. He said that technical staff people are vital in the news productions, either in broadcast or in print.

“If a reporter is absent there are lots of options to pursue the news but without a technical crew news wouldn’t go out,” he said.

Unlike many reporters, he said, most technical staffs rely solely on their wage for their families’ daily expenses. For his part, he chose to take up sidelines. Fellow workers, however, have no extra sources of income.

Nomer, like other technical crew in radio stations, is a regular employee entitled to benefits such as social service insurance, Philhealth and others but all those benefits are not complied with religiously by their company. Overtime pay has also been cut off, he said.

“But if we have a union the management would probably give us recognition since we have strength in numbers,” he said. 

Management does not really see treat technicians on an equal footing with reporters, Nomer said.

“If the broadcasters or reporters would join forces with us then we can be a force to reckon with,” said Nomer.

Although production people are the backbone of the industry, they are also the least prioritized, he lamented.

Danilo Alcoriza, a columnist and a founding member of the Union of Journalists of the Philippines (UJP) in the province and of the progressive Correspondence, Broadcasters, Reporters Association-Action News Service (COBRA-ANS), underscored the constraints of organizing the local media.

“There are insurmountable odds in organizing media unions,” said Alcoriza, who is also Region VI chairman of Coalition for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage).

Alcoriza said that because many media practitioners – such as stringers and freelancers – have unstable jobs, they easily cave in to the pressures of management. “These working press people have no security of tenure and are mostly contract-based,” he said

Alcoriza further said that even within a media institution, there are gaps between the editorial people and the production people. This makes organizing a bit harder, he said.

He said that most reporters, broadcasters, news writers and editors alike rely on their outside influence, public relations work and other transactions related to their profession for additional income generation. Because they have other opportunities for income, they do not really care about alleviating the conditions of other colleagues in the media industry, particularly the production staff, he said.

“The creation of media groups or organizations usually doesn’t include technical people,” said Alcoriza. He also said that media groups do not cater to issues tackling the woes of technical crews, disregarding them as not part of the industry itself.

He said these practices tend to create a gap between the two components in the media industry – between the press and the production. Bulatlat