15 a Hostile Environment for Labor Under the Arroyo Administration - Prof. Regent Judy M. Taguiwalo

8/9/2019 15 a Hostile Environment for Labor Under the Arroyo Administration - Prof. Regent Judy M. Taguiwalo

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A Hostile Environment for LaborUnder the Arroyo AdministrationProf. Judy M. Taguiwalo


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Outline Introduction Failure in Promoting Employment Violation of Basic Labor Rights

ContractualizationAssumption of Jurisdiction Power (AJ)

Culture of Impunity Against Labor RightsViolations

Conclusion


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Section 3. The State shall afford full protection tolabor, local and overseas, organized andunorganized, -and promote full employment andequality of employment opportunities for all.

It shall guarantee the rights of all workers toselforganization, collective bargaining andnegotiations, and peaceful concerted activities,including the right to strike in accordance withlaw. They shall be entitled to security of tenure,

humane conditions of work, and a living wage.They shall also participate in policy and decisionmaking processes affecting their rights andbenefits as may be provided by law.

(Article XIII,Section 3, 1987 Philippine Constitution)


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Conservative estimates place almost threemillion Filipinos were without jobs whilealmost seven million were underemployed in2009.

IBON places at 11.2% the averageunemployment rate for the period of 20012009, which it cites as the countrys worst

nineyear period of sustained highjoblessness in over half a century.

GMAs Failure to Promote

Employment


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Tim e Period AverageUnem ploym ent Rate

1956-1960 8.0%1961-1970 7.3%

1971-1980 5.4%

1981-1990 10.2%

1991-2000 9.8%

2001-2009 11,2%

Average Unemployment Rate over

the decades

Source: Ibon Foundation, Yearend 2009: Economic Shocks,

Political Ambitions and Challenges for the People in 2010, January

14, 2010, p.14


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A Social Weather Stations survey just lastOctober 2009 reported that one of every twopeople or fiftyone percent consideredthemselves as poor.

Two out of every five (or 40 percent) said thatthey did not have sufficient food on theirtables (PDI Editorial, January 22, 2010).


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Daily cost of living vs. minimum wage

NCR Jan 2001 Now

DailyCOL

P509 P917 (Sep 08)

Min.Wage

P213 - 250 P345 - 382

Shortfall P259 -296 P535 -572


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Contractualization: Making Labor Cheap andMalleable

Assumption of Jurisdiction Power (AJ): VirtualBan of Strikes


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DOLE Order No. 1802 which essentiallylegalized contractual labor.

Instead of the regularization of workers aftersix months, employers now hire and rehirecontractual workers after five months.


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The combined share of casual, contractual, and parttime workers in total enterprisebased employmentreached 21.1% in the late 90s. This means that one ofevery five enterprisebased worker is a temporaryworker. By the mid2000s, under the GMAadministration, the ranks of contractuals in the laborforce have steadily increased.

In a tuna canning factory in General Santos, 96% ofthe workers are contractuals. A plastic manufacturingfirm in Southern Metro Manila has 78 contractuals

out of the 100 employees. Data from the 14 Unionsin the National Capital Region -that belong to thelabor group Kilusang Mayo Uno indicate that as highas 67% of the workforce in their factories are casuals.


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Based on the 2003 admission of Donald Dee,President of Employers Confederation of the

Philippines (ECOP), 7 out 10 firms in the countrypractice contractualization. Some of the worstcontractualizers among companies are also amongthe biggest, such as Eduardo Danding CojuangcosSan Miguel Corporation (SMC) conglomerate (1,100

regulars out of its 26,000 total workforce); Henry SysSM Shoemart (1,300 regulars of 20,000); and MannyPangilinans Philippine Long Distance TelephoneCompany (4,100 of 10,000).[1 ]

[1] EILER, The Philippine Labor Situation, July 2008.http://barangayrp.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/thephilippinelaborsit, accessed, January 31, 2010.
http://barangayrp.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/the-philippine-labor-situation/http://barangayrp.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/the-philippine-labor-situation/


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In the public sector, Republic Act No. 7430 or the AttritionLaw which prohibits the fillingup of positions vacated byreason of resignation, retirement, dismissal, death or transferto another office ushered in the practice of widespreadcontractualization in the bureaucracy.

GMAs Administrative Order 103, Directing the ContinuedAdoption of Austerity Measures in the Government issued inAugust 31, 2004, reiterates the provision of RA 7430. [1]

In the University of the Philippines, more and more of jobsrelated to maintenance and security, which previously werepart of regular items in UPs plantilla, are now beingcontracted to the agencies. Regular administrative staffpositions in the system, which was over 9,000 in 1999, havenow been reduced to less than 8,000.[2]

[1]http://www.ops.gov.ph/records/ao_no103.htm [2] The lower pay and reduced benefits of contractual workers in the university is exemplified by the case of the security

guards of Bolinao Security and Investigation Service Inc. as reported by the Philippine Collegianhttp://collegiannews.multiply.com/journal/item/403/Mababang_sahod_katiwalian_ibinunyag_ng_ilang_guwardiya?utm_source=

cp&utm_medium=twittercp&utm_campaign=collegiannews
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The power of the Labor Secretary to assumejurisdiction (AJ) over a labor dispute was firstinstituted by then President Marcos duringMartial Law.

The AJ, in practice, however, has often beenused to quell legitimate strikes even in

industries that are unlikely to harm thenational interest.


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The practice of using AJ to quell legitimate worker grievanceis never more -true than in the nine years of the Arroyoadministration.


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The effects of AJ orders on workers rights is best elucidatedby the Hacienda Luisita massacre.


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the intricate relationship between the protection of laborrights and the rising incidence of poverty.


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Since Arroyo assumed power in 2001, 92labor leaders, members and organizers havedied due to governmentinstigated violence,according to data from the KMU.

The blatant violation of workers rightsthrough the policies of contractualization andthe use of the AJ powers to quell strikes are

also hallmarks of the same culture ofimpunity that characterizes thisadministration.


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Whereas a century of struggle for labor rights havebrought about legal recognition of basic rights thatevery single worker should enjoy, the antilaborpolicies ushered in by a globalized economy andmade even more systematic by the neoliberal labor

policies under GMA have brought us back to the ageof early capitalism.

Workers, as Marx and Engels described them in 1848, must sell themselves piecemeal once again andthey are commodities like every other article of

commerce, and are consequently exposed to all thevicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations ofthe market.


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Prolabor constitutional provisions are notsufficient to guarantee the rights of labor.History tells us that advancing labor rightsand welfare depends primarily on thecapacity of labor to organize and fight forthem.


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While the 2010 national elections provide anopportunity to demand from candidates theirstand on labors legislative agenda, theworking classes have no illusion that a new

administration shall hand to them on a silverplatter social justice and human rights. It is still a militant, organized and vibrant

workers movement, comprised of regular,

contractual and unemployed workers, whichis key to the protection and promotion of therights of labor in the country.

15 a Hostile Environment for Labor Under the Arroyo Administration - Prof. Regent Judy M. Taguiwalo

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