News Roundup 30 November 2022
Nov 30, 2022 • 6 min Read
On Bonifacio Day, workers stand up for higher wages and right to organize | PHILSTAR.COM – Workers’ groups and their allies marked Bonifacio Day on Wednesday by calling for higher wages, job security and better working conditions and their right to organize unions to push for these. Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, an alliance of labor groups that last protested together in 2020, said that not much has changed for workers since Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. became president and that there have been no major policy announcements for them. “Inflation is rising, wages are shrinking and the kinds of jobs that are being created as we open up our economy leave much to be desired,” Josua Mata, secretary general of trade alliance SENTRO, said in Filipino in a briefing on Tuesday. He said underemployment — part-time workers and those looking for additional work — has also been increasing, which contributes to a lack of job security for many workers. According to government data, the unemployment rate was at 5% in September, down from 5.3% in August and 8.9% in September last year. Underemployment, however, was at 15.4% in September, up from 14.7% in August and 14.2% in September last year. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said earlier this month that the underemployment rate worsened as more than 882,000 people looked for additional income to cope with rising commodity prices. Labor leader Leody De Guzman said that the continued use of contractual labor through manpower agencies has also contributed to lack of job security. Ending labor contractualization was a campaign promise made by Rodrigo Duterte and one that he failed to deliver on during his presidency. “Our Constitution clearly states that it is the government’s obligation to provide full employment — full employment! — to workers, but the past administrations and the current one has always favored the capitalists,” De Guzman, who ran for president in the May polls on a platform of changing the political system, said. Ferdinand Gaite of government workers’ group COURAGE said that workers need an across-the-board wage increase if only to regain what they used to earn before inflation hit 7.7%. He said the current minimum wage of P570 in Metro Manila — wages are lower outside the capital — is too low for Filipino families to live on. The minimum wage, he also said, should be uniform across regions and industries. “Do farm workers need less food than company workers?” Lawyer Luke Espiritu of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino said that while low wages and high prices have led to the “pauperization” of workers, they are denied their rights to form unions, to negotiate with management for better conditions and to raise wages. He said that even though these are guaranteed under the Constitution and the Labor Code, “all of these are voided in practice” because union organizing has been equated with terrorism. He said that when workers call attention to issues like wages and labor contractualization, “they are met by the [National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict], they are met by the police, they are met by the military.” At the protest, labor lawyer Sonny Matula of the Federation of Free Workers reminded the crowd of why labor groups time their protests with the holiday for Katipunan founder and leader Andres Bonifacio: “One of the things that Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan fought for was the right to organize and form unions.” He said that unions and other associations were illegal during the Spanish colonial period but that the 1899 Malolos Constitution guaranteed this right as well as the right to petition authorities over grievances. These guarantees are also in the 1987 Constitution. In a statement on Wednesday, Sen. Risa Hontiveros joined the call for the Marcos administration help workers cope with issues of income and employment as she backed Nagkaisa’s labor agenda. “Their proposals are vital to understanding the most pressing issues of our economy as well as what many Filipino families face daily. If anything, these should be the first thing on the agenda,” she said. “The government should consider programs that guarantee income and employment. Let us also make the issue of security of tenure a priority again. Anti-poor policies like contractualization need to be seriously reconsidered in this volatile economy.”
Protest actions greet Bonifacio Day in Bacolod City | INQUIRER.NET – Two protest actions calling for wage increases and to slam the rising prices of basic commodities were held in Bacolod City to mark Andres Bonifacio Day on Wednesday, November 30. The Partido Manggawa (PM) Negros members held a “blank paper protest” in front of the replica of the Bacolod City Government Center. They were pressing for a labor agenda that remains blank or absent in the Marcos administration, said Priscilla Goco, secretary-general of Partido Manggagawa-Negros. The labor agenda includes demands for a wage hike, labor rights and an end to contractualization, affordable and quality public services, and mechanisms for a continuing policy dialogue on structural reforms. Edsel Relota, PM Negros chair, said Bonifacio’s fight for independent development and his advocacy for social justice and “kaginhawaan” continues to ring true in the face of the growing inequality. Andres Bonifacio is regarded as the Father of the Philippine Revolution against Spain. He called for a labor agenda combining the demands for wages, jobs, rights and services intersects with the campaign to defend human rights and civil liberties. A group of protestors from militant-sectoral groups also gathered in front of the Fountain of Justice at Araneta Street to call for an increase in wages amid price hikes and “to fight for Philippine sovereignty endangered by imperialist interests.”
Cebu multi-sectoral groups call for wage hike, hit rising cost of goods | INQUIRER.NET – Members of progressive organizations held protest rallies on Wednesday in various parts of the city in observance of the 159th Andres Bonifacio Day. Among the places of convergence were Colon Street, the Freedom Park, and near the Fuente Osmena Circle. Although the groups are multi-sectoral, members were united in calling for solutions to the problems of labor, including the need for higher wages. Members of Bayan and Akbayan-affiliated wings also criticized the government’s alleged inaction to bring down the rising prices of basic commodities. Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) and Partido Ng Manggagawa dubbed their protest as “Blank Paper” Day which was adapted from the rallies in China. The group described the Marcos administration to have “a labor agenda that remains blank or missing.” Bayan – Central Visayas chairperson Jaime Paglinawan said the first five months of the Marcos administration did not address the people’s concerns. “The country is experiencing its worst economic crisis plunging millions into abject poverty,” he said.
