By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA – Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) called on the newly-installed president of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines to heed the demand of at least 180 striking contractual janitors for reinstatement. PUP president Emmanuel de Guzman assumed office amid a labor dispute in the university’s Sta. Mesa campus. The…
Tags: Kilusang Mayo Uno
Workers call labor department’s order against contractualization ‘a hoax’
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA— Employees who get ‘endo’ (end of contract and thus end of job) after four to five months still populate the employed in the Philippines, six months after the labor department issued an order that it claimed would have ended contractualization. It is the employment scheme that has helped employers cut…
Bulatlat Live: May 1 Labor Day
By BULATLAT STAFF
Flipino working people mark this Labor Day as a “day of reckoning” as the Aquino government continues to frustrate their long-standing demands. Follow Bulatlat.com’s live coverage.
Unions in Makati and Pasay join calls for P125 across-the-board wage hike
By MARYA SALAMAT
Although most came from firms belonging to the top 500 corporations, with some being subsidiaries of top global corporations, the unionists complained also of low wages and threats to their job security.
Labor Groups Prepare Mass Actions for May 1 “and Beyond”
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA – On May 1 labor groups in the country plan to hold mass actions in various locations as they press the government to swiftly legislate a P125 across-the-board wage increase. In the days leading to that, they announced activities in workers communities, inviting support and participation of workers, women, youth…
Aquino Government Callous to People’s Difficulties Amid Spikes in Prices
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
“Can the President not see how difficult it is now for Filipino families to cope? It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that the current wage levels are just not enough to give Filipino families a decent and dignified life.” – Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Luz Ilagan.
Employees Expose Labor Rights Violations in Bacolod Hospital
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“The hospital claims to be a Christian Institution. It even carries the slogan ‘Cure the sick and care for every individual who works for the common good of all.’ Too bad the slogan doesn’t apply to the employees.” – Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital Employees Union
Dole Philippines Workers in Tough Fight as US Company Uses Military Force Vs Union
By MARYA SALAMAT
Today, Feb. 22, the workers at the largest plantation and cannery in the Philippines will hold a union election. The incumbent KMU-affiliated union, Amado-Kadena, is fighting to retain its dominance even as Dole Philippines uses a pro-management faction of the union against it while the US company, its allies and the military vilify and harass the union’s members and officers.
Right to Organize, Best Protection for Contractual Workers
By ALDWIN QUITASOL
“Contractualization is essentially an attack on the right of workers and the people to a living wage, to job security and to exercising trade-union rights. Any form of “protection” under a contractual employment status won’t be enough. Only unionization and regularization will truly protect contractuals.” – KMU
PAL’s Pilot Woes, Labor Disputes ‘a Direct Result of Lucio Tan’s Profiteering, Abuse of Workers’
By MARYA SALAMAT
The mass resignation of PAL pilots, the notice of strike filed by the cabin crew union, the struggle of ground employees against mass termination and contractualization — all of these are interrelated. “It all stems from Lucio Tan’s moves to increase his profits even more by intensifying the exploitation of all his employees in the aviation industry.”
Related story: As Though 11-Year CBA Suspension Not Enough, PAL Employees Face Layoffs, Contractualization
SONA 2010: Labor Situation in the Philippines
Leandro Gerodias, national president of the Association of Democratic Labor Ogranizations, an affiliate of the Kilusang Mayo, discusses the labor situation in the Philippines during a panel discussion hosted by Kodao Productions’ Raymund Villanueva and Bulatlat.com’s Benjie Oliveros, on the key issues that progressive groups say President Aquino should address. The forum was part of the coverage of Bulatlat.com and Kodao Productions of Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address. Watch part 2 of the webcast here.