OFW Blogger

THREATS TO CHANGE

Instead of change, or even a glimmer of it, what labor got from Aquino, so far, is a continuation of the same Arroyo policies on deregulation, both of labor standards and wages, and particularly for PAL, threats that the airline industry will be further deregulated through an open-skies policy, said the KMU in a statement.

Ironically, while labor standards and wages are being deregulated, the workers’ efforts to form organizations and act collectively are strictly being regulated.

If workers started exercising their right to strike to press their demands, the Aquino government, like its predecessor Arroyo, has displayed, during his first 100 days, the same predilection for using the power of the labor secretary to assume jurisdiction (AJ) over labor disputes, to immediately force the workers to stop their protest actions, the KMU said in a statement.

The Aquino government has committed to a “policy of minimal intervention in labor disputes,” according to the National Conciliation and Mediation Board. This led to the Aquino government preferring to set up more plant-level grievance machineries to let the workers and their employers settle their problems by themselves, with the government acting only as “mediator” or “arbitrator.” While in itself this is not bad, experiences have taught labor that employers would rather try to get away with violating labor standards and coerce their employees into accepting that, said Tony Pascual, secretary-general of National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU-KMU).

Given President Aquino’s silence against violations of labor rights even by big, profitable companies, and his statements favoring deregulation, organizations of local and migrant Filipino workers have charged that it is not surprising that President Aquino is well-liked and supported by big businesses, including foreign investors.

In a survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines among its members last month, seven out of 10 expect to increase their profits this year, up from just four out of 10 last year. Three in every four members are satisfied with the “availability of low-cost labor.” Seven out of ten are happy with the “availability of trained personnel” in the country.

Aquino was voluble against what he calls as “threats to change,” but he has not been heard to raise even a squeak against violators of workers’ rights, such as in the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN where more than a hundred long-time employees have been terminated since June, the protesting ABS-CBN IJM union members said last week, before they drove to the National Labor Relation Commission for a hearing on their case. These employees were not yet considered regular despite the long years they had worked with the company. In fact, one of the victims of this termination has a labor department decision saying she should have been regarded as regular employee in the company years before. Like Lucio Tan, the Lopezes are perceived as avid supporters and close to President Aquino.

John Leonard Monterona, Coordinator of Migrante Middle East and Vice Chairman of Migrante Partylist observed: “The selfish interests of foreign investors are contrary to the interests of the working people, thus, they would not give just wages and better compensation package and benefits for its hired workers; they would always tend to alienate Filipino workers to amass more profits,” 

##