Demands of Filipino workers under the new regime
Simultaneous with the worsening economic crisis, workers are sinking deeper into the quagmire of poverty. In spite of this, the Macapagal-Arroyo regime implements policies that oppress and impoverish workers. In accordance with imperialist "globalization", liberalization, privatization and deregulation are persistently advanced. Contrary to the workers' urgent demands, Macapagal-Arroyo has merely continued the anti-worker program of the ousted Estrada.
The minimum wage remains pegged at P250. This is woefully inadequate compared to the P418 (P501 in Metro Manila) needed daily by a family of six in order to live decently. Never-ending hikes in the prices of prime commodities have further reduced the workers' already measly wages.
Widespread workers' layoffs continue, as in the case of San Miguel Corp. and Toyota. In Central Luzon, more than 10,000 workers were booted out from their jobs from January to March this year. This is three times bigger than the number of retrenchments in the region in the same period last year.
Picket lines are being assaulted without letup, as in the case of Cosmos, Mina's Transit and Yokohama Tires Philippines, Inc. The rights of workers to unionize and freely express their demands are continuously being attacked.
In the People's Dialogue with the NDFP in April, workers, through the Kilusang Mayo Uno, aired their demands. Other sectors and representatives of the Macapagal-Arroyo government participated in the dialogue. The workers proposed that the NDFP include the following demands in the agenda for the peace negotiations:
- Adding P125 to the workers' daily wage and P3,000 to government employees' monthly salaries; abolishing regional wage boards and reestablishing the national minimum wage by scrapping the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989;
- Putting a stop to mass layoffs and reinstating workers who were unjustly and illegally dismissed under the anti-worker Estrada administration;
- Repealing Department Order No. 10 and banning contractualization, casualization, agency hiring and other employment arrangements that deny workers job security;
- Abolishing the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the apprenticeship scheme and all other work arrangements that allow payment of wages below the minimum wage;
- Dismissing all cases filed against unions and against workers and union leaders arrested and charged in the course of exercising and asserting their trade union and democratic rights;
- Respecting the full exercise of workers' trade union and democratic rights (particularly in the country's economic zones); prosecuting government officials, police, military, and goons who violate workers' rights; repealing provisions on free ingress-egress, cooling-off period and other anti-strike and anti-union provisions in the Labor Code;
- Repealing Executive Order 180 and recognizing government employees' rights to self-organize, collectively bargain and strike.
- Scrapping or repealing various laws, orders and resolutions on, and putting a stop to, the collection of excessive fees levied on OFWs that only increase the burden on and intensify the commodification of migrant Filipinos.
- Ratification by the senate and full implementation by the Philippine government of the United Nations Convention for the Protection of Migrants, their Families and their Rights and Welfare.
- Punishing and heavily penalizing all agencies and individuals employing child workers in hazardous industries and those engaged in sex trafficking of Filipino women and children
- Adopting an enabling law to implement the Constitutional principle of non-discrimination in employment; penalizing employers who hire on the basis of gender, civil status, age, religion and political connection; penalizing those who enforce anti-women hiring and human resource management policies;
- Stopping the demolition of the homes of workers and other urban poor unless the security of their domicile and livelihood is assured;
- Scrapping the business-oriented mass housing program of the previous Estrada administration and implementing a planned, comprehensive and sustainable housing program for workers and other urban poor. Repealing the anti-poor provisions of RA 279 or the Urban Development Housing Act (UDHA).
- Ensuring the adequate and low-cost, if not free, provision of vital social services like water, electricity, schooling and hospitalization especially for the unemployed and other urban poor.
- Discarding the antipeasant and anti-farm worker policy of misrepresenting land reform as the voluntary sale of land or corporate shares by landlords. Stopping the arbitrary and unjust displacement of farm workers and peasants due to land-use conversion and outright land grabbing by multinational firms and local businessmen and landlords. Raising the daily wages of farm workers and extending other economic assistance to them.
Workers played a crucial role in ousting the anti-worker Estrada regime. They were at the forefront of struggle even before Estrada's corruption was fully exposed. In January, a large number of workers trooped to EDSA to unite with other sectors against the corrupt president and his cohorts.
Workers and other sectors poured into the country's various cities such as Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Naga, Baguio and others to celebrate International Labor Day. While they expressed their demands, they also assailed the Estrada camp's obstinate attempts to return to power.
On April 12, the "Kalbaryo ng Mamamayan sa Panahon ni Gloria" caravan was launched and participated in by workers and other impoverished sectors. They challenged the new regime to resolve basic problems and recognize the democratic rights of the oppressed and suffering people.
Workers' economic and political struggles are continuously advancing. They are firm in fighting for their immediate and long-term demands. Their struggle advances in the face of a deepening crisis. As the exploitation of workers by capitalists and the regime intensifies, the determination of workers to struggle for their rights and welfare grows ever stronger.
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