Partido Manggagawa (PM)

The partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) dared presidential candidates to propose policy steps to follow through on their commitment to stop contractualization. In a televised presidential debate last night, all five candidates promised to “end endo.”

“It is obvious that the presidentiables played to the crowd by declaring their intent to end endo but it was all too clear that they gave no concrete proposals on regulating much less eradicating the epidemic of contractualization. Either they have a shallow or erroneous understanding of the roots of contractualization,” averred Rene Magtubo, chair of PM and also its first nominee for the partylist elections.

“In deeds not by words should the presidentiables be judged on the issue of contractualization,” insisted Magtubo. PM, along with other labor groups, have been campaigning for the passage of the Security of Tenure bill that has languished in Congress for nearly a decade. The bill seeks to regulate contractualization by setting a cap on the number of non-regular workers and amending provisions of the Labor Code on subcontracting and outsourcing.

The group noted that none of the presidentiables who are solons pushed for the Security of Tenure bill while those who are local executives employ job order workers, the equivalent of contractual employees in the public sector, in their city halls.

“Mar Roxas deserves special mention for countenancing the outsourcing of Philippine Airlines employees in 2011 while he was cabinet secretary and threatening to file economic sabotage against PALEA members who fought contractualization in the national flag carrier,” stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and also PM partylist nominee.

He added that the “Contrary to the misconception of a few presidentiables, contractualization is expressly allowed by the law and is merely regulated but not prohibited. Moreover, lax inspection and enforcement by the Department of Labor and Employment worsens the situation.”

“This stems from the view of government that employers have to be encourged to invest and shifting from regular to contractual labor is part of the package. Thus it is worrisome that even as the presidentiables profess desire to end endo, in the same breath they want to placate employers by providing more incentives. We won’t be surprised that whoever becomes president will simply cave in to the employers’ lobby on the alibi that contractualization is necessary to generate more investments,” Rivera elaborated.

April 25, 2016

The workers of Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC), a subcontractor for big US electronics companies and is based in the Philippines’ biggest export zone, are once more facing a fight in their exercise of freedom of association. After 18 workers earlier dismissed for union activities were reinstated as part of an agreement to end a five-day strike, the management of SYTIC is pushing through with the shutdown of the company. Last April 25, management filed for permanent closure.

The SYTIC labor union , which comprise a majority of the workers and is in the process of being certified as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent, asserts that the closure is illegal because it is intended to subvert the exercise of freedom of association and bust the union.

In response, the SYTIC union has called for negotiations with management about the impending closure and the reported takeover by its customer C-Pak Pte Ltd, a Singaporean company. Moreover the SYTIC union is calling for the absorption of the present employees into the new company, should the takeover push through. C-Pak Pte Ltd is owned by the group Dou Yee of Singapore.

The Labor Department has called for a conciliation meeting on April 28 in an affort to resolve the brewing labor dispute. In the meeting, the union will table its twin demand of absorption of the present employees and their participation in the transition talks between SYTIC and C-Pak. The union’s call to participate in the transition talks is in line with the provision of the Philippine Constitution that workers shall be afforded the right to participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits.

April 26, 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY

April 27, 2016

Contact: Dennis Sequena @ 09301803072

DOLE mediates brewing dispute

as Cavite EPZA factory workers restive anew

WHAT: Mediation meeting called by DOLE between union and management of Korean-owned factory

WHEN: Tomorrow, April 28, 2016, 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: NCMB Imus @ MYP GBY Building, Bayan Luma 7, Aguinaldo Highway

DETAILS: With just a few days to go until Labor Day, a new labor dispute is brewing in the Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC), an electronics subcon in the Cavite EPZA. The Department of Labor and Employment is convening a meeting between the union and management to avert another strike.

After 18 workers earlier dismissed for union activities were reinstated as part of an agreement to end a five-day strike two weeks ago, the management of SYTIC is pushing through with the shutdown of the company on May 4.

The SYTIC labor union, which comprise a majority of the workers and is in the process of being certified as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent, asserts that the closure is illegal because it is intended to subvert the exercise of freedom of association and bust the union.

A factory in the Cavite EPZA, the country’s biggest export zone, which supplies parts for big US electronics companies is on the verge of another strike as workers voted to authorize a work stoppage. A majority of the union members at the Korean-owned Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC) voted yes in the strike ballot yesterday.

Just after participating in the Labor Day commemoration held by the militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) in the town of Rosario, a stone’s throw away from the Cavite EPZA, SYTIC workers authorized the holding of a strike in response to union busting and illegal closure by management.

An earlier five-day strike in April by SYTIC workers ended in a victory with 18 workers, who were illegally terminated for union activities, reinstated back to work. However, the company later filed for permanent closure which the union is contesting is a union busting scheme.

“In the conciliation meeting called by the Department of Labor and Employment last Thursday, it was manifested by management that SYTIC has orders from its multinational electronics customers for the next several months and thus there is no valid reason to shutdown. It is as clear as the summer sun that closure is a maneuver to break the newly-formed union. We won the first round of the fight. We will win the second as well,” averred Frederick Bayot, president of the SYTIC Workers Association.

“Management is offering a separation package and then rehiring of the present workforce as contractuals for the succeeding months of operation. SYTIC workers are now dealing with the complex crime of union busting and labor contractualization,” Bayot eleborated.

Rene Magtubo, PM chair and partyist nominees, added that “Would the presidentiables who all promised to end endo offer their help to the SYTIC workers facing the threat of contractualization? Sino ang may tapang, may puso may talino at may malasakit para sa mga manggagawang bagong biktima ng epidemya ng kontraktwalisasyon?”

In the commemoration of Labor Day by the PM chapter in Cavite yesterday, some 1,000 factory workers and urban poor assembled to demand regular jobs, a living wage, lower prices and decent social services. The four workers’ demands is dubbed by PM as “Apat na Dapat.”

Cavite EPZA workers who participated in the Labor Day activity pledged support for the “round two” of the fight of SYTIC workers. “Ang laban ng SYTIC workers ay laban ng lahat ng EPZA workers,” insisted Magtubo. The former union president of Fortune Tobacco Corp. committed to mobilize solidarity from the labor movement in the country and abroad.

SYTIC manufactures plastic products that provide protection to integrated circuits and electronic components from physical and electrostatic discharge during storage and shipping. Its three biggest customers are ON Semiconductor Philippines Inc. in Carmona, Cavite, Analog Devices General Trias Inc. in the Gateway Business Park in General Trias, Cavite and Texas Instruments factories in Baguio and Clark ecozones. All are local subsidiaries of US multinational companies. ON Semiconductor is a spinoff of Motorola. SYTIC also supplies to Cavite-based factories of local subsidiaries of US electronics companies Maxim Integrated and Cypress. It exports part of its production to C-Pak Cergas in Malaysia.

May 2, 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY

May 2, 2016

Contact: Dennis Sequena @ 09301803072

Mediation tom to avert strike in Cavite EPZA factory

WHAT: Mediation meeting called by DOLE between union and management of Korean-owned factory

WHEN: Tomorrow, May 3, 2016, 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: NCMB Imus @ MYP GBY Building, Bayan Luma 7, Aguinaldo Highway

DETAILS: The Department of Labor and Employment is convening a meeting between the union and management to avert another strike at the Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC).

Yesterday a majority of the SYTIC union members voted yes in a strike ballot. The union, which comprise a majority of the workers and is in the process of being certified as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent, asserts that the closure is illegal because it is intended to subvert the exercise of freedom of association and bust the union.

The restive workers of an electronics subcon in the Cavite EPZA, the country’s biggest export zone, have once more setup a picketline in protest at the lockout of union members and union busting. The Seung Yeun Techonology Industries Corp. (SYTIC) was supposed to have shutdown yesterday but starting last night, non-union workers went back to work at the factory.

“We want our jobs back as regular workers. Management has admitted in a conciliation meeting that SYTIC has existing orders to fulfill from its multinational electronics customers for the next several months and thus there is no valid reason to shutdown. The closure of SYTIC is feigned not real, is temporary not permanent. It is just a maneuver to bust the union, deny us our regular jobs and continue its violations of labor standards on payment of wages, overtime pay, health and safety, and illegal deductions,” averred Frederick Bayot, president of the SYTIC Workers Association.

The SYTIC workers are demanding the reopening of the factory, their return to work as regular employees and recognition of the newly-formed union. They are manning a picketline round the clock to protest the illegal lockout and guard against an attempt to runaway shop.

Management announced that there was no more work at the SYTIC factory starting yesterday. However, SYTIC union members refused to accept the separation pay offered by management and were escorted out of the factory while non-union workers were later allowed back to work in the night.

Bayot added that “We suspect that management will try to transfer machines and tools to a non-union location. Management has already shipped out half-finished goods to a warehouse where scabs will work on them for the next few days.”

“We won the first round of the fight. We will win the second as well,” he insisted. An earlier five-day strike in April by SYTIC workers ended in a victory with 18 workers, who were illegally terminated for union activities, reinstated back to work. However, the company later filed for permanent closure which the union is contesting is a union busting scheme.

Cavite EPZA workers who participated in the Labor Day mobilizaton pledged support for the “round two” of the fight of SYTIC workers. “Ang laban ng SYTIC workers ay laban ng lahat ng EPZA workers,” insisted Rene Magtubo, chair of the militant Partido Manggagawa and its partylist nominee. The former union president of Fortune Tobacco Corp. committed to mobilize solidarity from the labor movement in the country and abroad.

May 5, 2016

The labor dispute at an electronics subcon in the Cavite EPZA, the country’s biggest export zone, esacalated further with locked out workers barging in today and occupying their factory. The workers had been picketing the factory of Seung Yeun Techonology Industries Corp. (SYTIC) for the last two days.

“We want our jobs back as regular workers. Management is planning to replace its regular, unionized workforce with agency workers who are contractual and non-union,” averred Frederick Bayot, president of the SYTIC Workers Association.

The sit down protest at the SYTIC factory is in response to the illegal lockout and runaway shop perpetrated by management. SYTIC was supposed to have shutdown two days ago but starting Wednesday night, non-union workers went back to work at the factory.

Bayot added that “The alleged closure of SYTIC is feigned not real, is temporary not permanent. SYTIC has existing orders to fulfill from its multinational electronics customers for the next several months and thus there is no valid reason to shutdown. It is just a maneuver to bust the union, deny us our regular jobs and continue its violations of labor standards on payment of wages, overtime pay, health and safety, and illegal deductions.”

“We will stay in the factory to make sure that the machines and tools are not transferred by management to a non-union location. Management has already shipped out half-finished goods to a warehouse where scabs can work on them,” Bayot explained.

The SYTIC workers are demanding the reopening of the factory, a return to work as regular employees and recognition of the newly-formed union.

In support of the SYTIC workers fight against contractualization and the right to unionize, members of the partylist Partido Manggagawa (PM) picketed the main gate of the Cavite EPZA. “Ang laban ng SYTIC workers ay laban ng lahat ng EPZA workers. Ang laban kontra endo ay laban ng lahat,” declared Dennis Sequena, a PM provincial coordinator.

May 6, 2016

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) is urging incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to set off his anti-‘endo’ campaign to a good start by rectifying a grave injustice committed by outgoing President BS Aquino against the Filipino workers.

According to PM Chairman Renato Magtubo, that injustice -- a mistake known to all -- was President Aquino's cold-blooded approval of PAL’s outsourcing program in 2011.

The program, the labor leader said, altered from regular to contractual the employment status of 2,600 PAL employees.

Members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), for more than two years, stood firm in opposing the program by building and sustaining a massive protest camp at PAL’s In-Flight Center near the Terminal 2. The campaign call, “Ang laban ng PALEA ay laban ng lahat,” had since then become the battle cry of organized labor against the policy of contractualization.

In September 2013, the union and the PAL management entered into a Settlement Agreement (SA) which provides for a compensation and re-employment package for some 600 members of PALEA who remained opposed to the outsourcing program. PAL has not fully complied with the agreement particularly on PALEA 600 re-employment as regular workers.

“Mr. President, this injustice does not require three or six months to fix and rectify. It is simply an implementation of a binding agreement between the union and the management which you were made aware of during a meeting with PALEA officers before you finally decided to run as President,” said Magtubo.

Added Magtubo: “Once justice is served to the PALEA 600, a clear direction is presumed to have been set for a serious anti-endo campaign of the new administration. We do expect a non business-as-usual approach to this issue.”

Ending endo or the industry practice of hiring workers on contractual basis was one of the main platforms of President-elect Rody Duterte. The policy is seen as a plague that perpetuates the problem of poverty and inequality in the country as it undermines workers’ right to decent work and life of dignity.

The labor group, however, is worried that the 8-point economic agenda of the President didn’t set out a “bagong daan” framework to indicate a new era or a new beginning.

Peace

Meanwhile, PM said it is also supportive of Duterte’s plan to open peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as well as with other revolutionary forces in the country.

“Ending the people’s war will not necessarily mean the ultimate settlement of class conflicts in the country. That won’t happen in the next six years or more under capitalism and the system of elite rule. But aiming for momentary or long-term peace based on social justice is a better agenda than prolonging the war to an indefinite conclusion,” said Magtubo.

Duterte’s peace charm with CPP is coupled with a surprising offer of four cabinet positions to its nominees for DOLE, DAR, DSWD and DENR.

23 May 2016

Workers of the biggest garments factory at the country’s largest export zone are preparing to go on strike to break a deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations. The union of workers at Faremo International Inc. in the Cavite ecozone filed a notice of strike yesterday after bargaining talks remained inconclusive last Friday.

“Workers are asking for just a little more than 5% of the net profit on a per capita basis of Faremo’s mother company yet the company refuses to budge on our just demands. The union has patiently negotiated for the last four months but management has been intransigent. It has even showed bad faith in bargaining for withdrawing a previously agreed upon offer of paid leaves,” explained Jessel Autida, union president of the Faremo International Inc. Workers Association.

Provisions on retirement pay, paid leaves and other monetary benefits remain pending at the bargaining table. On Wednesday, the Department of Labor and Employment is calling a mediation hearing in a bid to resolve the bargaining dispute and avert a strike.

Despite years on the job, almost all workers at Faremo are paid just the regional minimum wage of P315 plus P25.50 in allowances. A handful of so-called pioneer workers are paid wages P1 higher than the minimum. Workplace grievances like low pay impelled the formation of a union at Faremo last year.

“Management keeps on saying that Faremo was in the red for the past several years and only showed a small profit last year. The union believes this is simply due to the magic of transfer pricing. Faremo sells its products at low prices to its mother company Hansoll and thus the profit is reflected in the latter not the former,” Autida insisted.

In its website, Hansoll proclaims that it has revenues of USD 1.23 billion and a target net profit of 5% on sales by year 2017.

There are more than a thousand workers at Faremo, some 800 of whom are regular and represented by the union. Faremo is a subsidiary of the Korean multinational Hansoll and exports to the US and Europe for global garments brands.

Yesterday Faremo workers started wearing red ribbons to symbolize their demand for a decent collective bargaining agreement. More mass actions are planned to highlight the plight of workers at Faremo.

May 24, 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY

May 25, 2016

Contact Bong Palad @ 09165740596

Start of renewed campaign to end endo:

PALEA to picket PAL Inflight Center tom

WHAT: In the picket, PALEA will demand the reinstatement of regular workers and implementation of settlement agreement

WHEN: Tomorrow, May 26 (Thursday), 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: PAL Inflight Center, near NAIA Terminal 2

DETAILS:To jumpstart the campaign against endo or contractualization at the Philippines Airlines (PAL), the union Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) will picket PAL’s Inflight Center. The renewed actions are spurred on by the promise of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to end endo.

Last year, just before Duterte run for president, he met leaders of PALEA in Davao and expressed his opposition to contractualization. PALEA and the militant group Partido Manggagawa are now asking the president elect to make good on his promise to stop contractualization at PAL and other companies.

PALEA is calling on PAL to implement the settlement agreement forged in 2013 and re-employ some 600 workers terminated in 2011. In September 2011, some 2,600 PAL regular workers were terminated and outsourced to become agency workers. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute of 2011 yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.

To jumpstart the campaign against endo or contractualization at the Philippines Airlines (PAL), the union Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) picketed the company’s Inflight Center (IFC) near the NAIA Terminal 2. The renewed actions are spurred on by the promise of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to end endo.

Last year, just before Duterte run for president, he met leaders of PALEA in Davao and expressed his opposition to contractualization. PALEA and the militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) are now asking the President elect to make good on his promise to stop contractualization.

Some 100 PALEA members held a rally on the road leading to the Terminal 2 for about one hour and then marched on to the PAL Nichols office to continue the protest until noon. Later in the afternoon, PALEA officers attended at mediation hearing at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board regarding the pending labor dispute with PAL.

Bong Palad, PALEA national secretary said that “PALEA is calling on PAL to comply with the settlement agreement they offered to PALEA and forged by the two parties in 2013. Specifically PALEA demands the implementation of the re-employment provision in the agreement.”

In September 2011, some 2,600 PAL regular workers were terminated and outsourced to become agency workers. After a two-year fight, PALEA and PAL forged a deal to settle the labor dispute of 2011 yet some 600 retrenched members have not been re-employed as provided for in the agreement.

PM also challenged on Duterte to prove that “change is coming” by rectifying the injustice committed by outgoing president Benigno Aquino who approved the PAL outsourcing scheme and later threatened an economic sabotage case against PALEA for launching a protest that paralyzed flights.

PM chair Rene Magtubo argued that “A clear and determined path to end endo will be set if the contractualization scheme and scam at PAL is reversed. by implementation of the settlement agreement with PALEA.”

Photos of the rally can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/jerry.bagsic/posts/1133381940025534

May 26, 2016

Kudos to the workers of garments factory Faremo International Inc. in the Cavite EPZA for winning their remaining demands and concluding a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) after days of protests and the threat of a strike.

"What we failed to achieve in more than three months of bargaining at the table, we won with the help of three days of mass protests by union members who wore red ribbons at work to express their fervent demand for a decent CBA and were determined to go on strike if necessary," explained Jessel Autida, president of the Faremo labor union.

He added that "Salamat sa pagkakaisa at pagkilos ng mga manggagawa ng Faremo, member man ng unyon o hindi. We owe this victory to their unity and action."

The Faremo workers won their demand for retirement pay, paid leaves and other monetary benefits. These issues were previously unresolved and caused the deadlock in the CBA negotiations.

Last Monday the Faremo union filed a notice of strike due to CBA deadlock and workers also started tying red ribbons in their shirts or around their heads. The ribbon protest continued until last Wednesday when the DOLE/NCMB called for a factory level mediation hearing to resolve the strike threat.

While the negotiations proceeded, hundreds of workers who clocked out of work stayed just outside the factory gate to show support for the union panel. The conclusion of the CBA negotiations was met with joy by the Faremo workers. The notice of strike has been withdrawn by the union while the draft CBA will next be submitted for formal ratification by the union members.

Faremo is a subsidiary of the Korean multinational Hansoll and produces for global garments brands Gap, JC Penney and Kohl's. Aside from the Philippines, Hansoll has factories in Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

May 27, 2016

A labor group on Wednesday finds itself uncomfortable with the proposal of incoming labor secretary Silvestre Bello to rename the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to Department of Labor and Management or of Employers, purportedly to provide employers the ‘comfort zone’ in doing their business in the country.

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) Chair Renato Magtubo said, “It is, on the contrary, the workers who feel uncomfortable dealing with DOLE because of its perceived industry capture. Renaming it to reaasure business of government protection is another way of portraying the agency as partisan to labor or of labor being a recalcitrant industrial partner condoned by government.”

Magtubo added: “It is performance and not the name that defines DOLE. If workers are not happy with the department because of rampant labor law violations then business is assumed to be more comfortable with the current setup that allows unbriddled exercise of management prerogative.”

The labor leader meanwhile urged Bello to facilitate the holding of a labor summit or to sitdown with different labor groups so he can hear the side of workers.

“The new government has already met and made economic commitments with business CEOs in Davao. Now it’s time to hear the soldiers of industry who are the workers and laborerers doing the actual production on the ground.”

21 June 2016

On the first day of the Duterte administration, the Church-Labor Conference (CLC) is urging it to start the work on implementing the campaign promise of ending endo.

The CLC, an aggrupation of labor and church groups in the country, is pressing the new set of labor officials to begin the process of stamping out ‘endo’ practices in many industries in close coordination with the trade union movement as well as with other labor dignity advocacy groups around the country.

The call was made during the #EndEndo #WalkTheEndoTalk action initiated by the CLC at DOLE offices in Intramuros this morning where newly-appointed labor officials render their first day in office.

Established during the height of the global financial crisis in 2009, CLC has become an active member of the Technical Executive Committee (TEC) of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC). CLC is co-chaired by Partido Manggagawa (PM) Chair Renato Magtubo and Manila Auxillary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

In a statement the CLC expressed its full support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s commitment to stop labor contractualization in the country. It also welcomes the appointments of Sec. Silvestre Bello III and Joel Maglungsod to head the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

“Contractualization of labor, specifically the practices of unscrupulous employers that directly violate or circumvent labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment are arguably the gravest threat to our workers’ right to security of tenure,” said CLC.

Contractualization, the group added, is a problem that renders futile the exercise of workers’ other constitutional rights to freedom of association, bargain collectively, concerted action, and living wage.

“Like the menace of illegal drugs and criminality in the country, it must be stopped! Otherwise, we will become a nation of endos where workers are deprived of their constitutional rights to gainful and productive employment,” stressed the group.

The CLC, however, concedes that addressing contractualization of labor is not that simple as it requires complex and sustainable solutions. But the group believes that cooperation and the strong resolve of like-minded stakeholders is very important in getting rid of the endo menace.

As a starter the CLC has submitted its 10-Point recommendations for the new DOLE leadership:

(1) Conduct a nationwide labor consultation of workers in the private and public sector aimed at (a) threshing out employment schemes workers have encountered during employment that violates and/or circumvents labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment; (b) generating proposals to address violation and circumvention of labor laws and regulations; and (c) establishing mechanisms to encourage workers’ participation to President Duterte’s campaign to end contractualization of labor.

(2) Work for the certification by President Duterte of anti-endo bills that are going to be filed in Congress that will strengthen workers’ security of tenure in the private and public sector.

(3) Launch a massive and sustained information and education campaign to workers and employers on the present labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment.

(4) Conduct a nationwide and sustained inspection of all labor contractors and service providers registered with the DOLE and other government agencies aimed at (a) finding out whether they are compliant with the existing labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment; and (b) filing cases to violators.

(5) Conduct a nationwide and sustained inspection of all factories and establishments inside and outside of the private and public industrial estates and/or zones aimed at (a) finding out whether they are employing contractual workers and as such compliant with existing labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regular employment; and (b) filing cases to violators.

(6) Formulate policies and guidelines to speed-up resolution of cases under the DOLE quasi-judicial bodies on violations of labor laws and regulations pertaining to labor contracting and regularization of employment.

(7) Urgently resolve pending cases and labor disputes related to contractualization.

(8) Establish a separate mechanism comprised of among others representative of unions, the DOLE and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) that will assess and address rampant use of contractual or other forms of non-regular employment in the public sector.

(9) Train and deputize labor leaders to become part of the DOLE pool of inspectors who are mandated to conduct inspections and provide reports and/or recommendations on violations of labor laws and regulations.

(10) Institutionalize the role of tripartite formations in the country as partner of the DOLE in accomplishing President Duterte’s campaign promise to end contractualization of labor.

Church-Labor Conference

July 1, 2016

On the occasion of the opening of the new Congress and the SONA speech of President Rodrigo Duterte, the workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the government to wage a vigorous war against contractualization and poverty. At the same time, it urged that human rights and due process be respected in the war on drugs in the wake of hundreds of extra-judicial killings since the new President was elected.

PM members from Metro Manila and Calabarzon are joining a multisectoral mobilization from various militant groups. They will assemble at 1:00 pm along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and then march towards Batasang Pambansa.

“Ikulong ang mga tulak ng endo at contractualization lords. Buhayin wag patayin ang human rights. Ito ang panawagan ng mga manggagawa,” urged Rene Magtubo, PM chair.

PM is also leading a mobilization of workers and poor in Cebu today to urge the administration to deliver on its campaign promise of ending contractualization. At the same time, PM in Cebu is calling for a stop to the wave of extra-judicial killings. Yesterday, the spouse of one PM-Cebu leader was killed by police.

“Every Filipino deserves their day in court. Instead hundreds of poor people are being massacred in the course of the war on drugs,” declared Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

“Contractualization, just like drugs, destroys lives, wreaks families and ruins the future of the youth. How can a decent life for a family be sustained when breadwinners are endos who are paid poverty wages without benefits and who lose their jobs after five months? We would like to see big time pushers of contractualization, among whom are the richest capitalists, be penalized as criminals,” exclaimed Magtubo.

Last July 1, PM and other labor and church groups held a rally at the Department of Labor and Employment and presented a 10-point proposal to end endo in a bid to engage the new administration on the contractualization issue.

The group’s SONA mobilization today is part of its anti-endo contractualization. PM vowed to escalate the campaign against endo and win pending labor dispute such as the outsourcing row at Philippine Airlines.

July 25, 2016

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to conduct an inspection of all existing labor contractors in the wake of a directive released last week ordering the suspension of registration of new subcontractors.

“We welcome the DOLE Department Order 162, Series of 2016 and Labor Advisory 10, Series of 2016 as the new administration’s cautious first step in ending endo. But we call on the DOLE to make the bold next move of reviewing all prevailing subcontractors to ensure compliance with laws and regulation,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “Should existing service contracts and subcontracting schemes be found in breach of labor laws and regulations, especially the so-called control test, then the contractual workers must be given justice and made regular employees.”

Dated July 25, 2016, DOLE Department Order 162, Series of 2016 and Labor Advisory 10, Series of 2016 suspended the registration of new contractors, reaffirmed the prohibition on labor-only contracting, and reiterated the visitorial and enforcement powers of the Labor Department.

Magtubo insisted that “We are 100% sure that a big number of present subcontracting arrangements are epic fails, that is they violate Department Order 18-A which regulates subcontracting arrangements. All it takes is the Duterte administration’s political will and the DOLE’s vigorous use of its inspection and enforcement powers to make this brave new step.”

PM had challenged the administration to wage a war on contractualization as intensely as the war on drugs. On the first working day of the Duterte administration and the new DOLE officials, PM and allied labor and church groups coalesced under the Church-Labor Conference (CLC) held a rally at Intramuros to present its proposals on eradicating contractualization.

“DO 18-A, issued in 2011 in the wake of the outsourcing dispute at Philippine Airlines which remains pending to this day, already outlaws the pernicious practice of the laying off contractual workers before six months but lax implementation by the DOLE has allowed the worst forms of contractualization to continue. But DO 18-A is itself worthy of review and must be superceded by stricter regulation should the Labor Code be amended once the Security of Tenure bill is enacted,” argued Magtubo.

Aside from the inspection of existing registered contractors, among the proposals submitted by PM and CLC are the certification by the president of the Security of Tenure bill, urgent resolution of all pending labor cases and disputes involving contractualization, deputization of labor unionists as labor inspectors, information drive among workers and employers on labor rights especially security of tenure, and consultation with labor groups to forge cooperation on ending endo.

August 1, 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY

August 1, 2016

Contact: Dennis Sequena @ 09301803072

WHAT: Protest by a hundred Meralco meter readers to coincide with mediation meeting called by DOLE

WHEN: Tomorrow, August 2, 2016, 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: NCMB Imus @ MYP GBY Building, Bayan Luma 7, Aguinaldo Highway

DETAILS: Meralco meter readers employed by its subcontractor Calapar Services Inc. are gearing up for a strike by holding a protest action tomorrow. The rally coincides with a mediation meeting called by the DOLE between the management and union. Some one hundred Calapar employees and their supporters are expected to participate in the protest.

The collective bargaining negotiations at Calapar is presently deadlocked over the issue of wage increases and the notice of strike filed by the union expired yesterday. The last remaining requirement for the holding of a work stoppage is a strike vote by union members.

Calapar services Meralco customers in the whole province of Cavite and the cities of Las Pinas and Paranaque. Meter reading was formerly done by Meralco employees but were outsourced to contractors like Calapar in the mid-1990's.

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asked President Rodrigo Duterte to run after the biggest endo lords in the country and naming them in public might be a good step in pushing the endo war down at the ground level.

“Maybe the most respected endo lords can be shamed into stopping their abusive contracting schemes once they are named by the President. It is common knowledge that endo is the norm among the malls, airlines, hotels, restaurants, shops, factories and even plantations,” explained PM chair Renato Magtubo.

He added that “We appreciate the President’s belligerent warning against endo lords as the signal fire in a war against contractualization. But we hope to see endo lords end the practice not because they are just afraid of the 'bully' President but mainly because the workers were demanding decent work as a matter of entitlement or human rights."

In response to Duterte’s statement against contractualization, the labor group called on workers to organize and mobilize to win the war vs endo. PM had called on the administration to wage a war on contractualization as vigorously as the war on drugs. PM along with the coalition Church-Labor Conference has presented a set of concrete proposals to combat contractualization in a rally of hundreds of workers last July 1.

Magtubo clarified though that “Still the last thing we want is for firms to close and instead we aim for contractual workers to become regular employees. Firms employing contractuals should not be shutdown but reformed so that workers can enjoy decent wages, benefits and working conditions. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has the enforcement powers to ensure this and political will is all that is missing.”

PM has urged the DOLE to inspect all existing subcontractors as the next step from its latest order suspending the registration of new contractors. The group believes that many of the current subcontracting arrangements violate provisions of the DOLE Department Order 18-A which lays down regulations on contractualization.

“We expect DOLE Regional Directors to be just as combative as President Duterte and use their inspection and enforcement powers to the fullest. However, in contrast to the President’s belligerence is DOLE-7 Regional Director Exequiel Sarcauga’s lackadaisical stance that existing service contracts of subcontractors are to be respected. He conveniently forgets that the latest order stipulates that service contracts may be revoked if found in breach of laws and regulations,” Magtubo insisted.

Issued last week, DOLE Department Order 162, Series of 2016 and Labor Advisory 10, Series of 2016 suspended the registration of new contractors, reaffirmed the prohibition on labor-only contracting, and reiterated the visitorial and enforcement powers of the Labor Department.

August 2, 2016

Labor rights are under threat at an electronics parts supplier to Apple and car companies Delphi, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Lamborghini, among other big companies. The bosses at NT Philippines Inc., a Japanese-owned company in the biggest export zone in the Philippines, are trying to bust the newly formed union.

The union president has been removed from the factory and assigned to a sister company located miles away. Other union officers have been transferred to another plant of the factory in a bid to isolate them from fellow workers. Workers are being harassed and intimidated, and told that the company will close once its customers know of the unionization.

The labor union at NT Phils. calls for solidarity from its brothers and sisters in the international workers movement. Likewise it calls upon Apple, Delphi and other electronics and automobile manufacturers that source parts from NT Phils. to uphold their supply chain code of conduct and commitment to freedom of association.

In response to union busting, the union has initiated a complaint at the Labor Department and is demanding the return of the union president and other officers to their former assignments, and a stop to the campaign of harassment and intimidation.

Workers formed a union in order to better their working conditions and have a voice in the workplace. But they now face a concerted effort by the bosses to derail unionization to keep wages cheap, jobs insecure and workers docile.

This is the first serious test of freedom of association under the new administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippines has recently come under scrutiny by the International Labor Organization for violation of Conventions 87 and 98 on the right to organize and bargain collectively.

NT Phils. Inc. has some 900 regular workers but including contract employees, has a total workforce of more than 1,000. It is located at the Cavite Economic Zone, the largest state-administered export zone in the Philippines.

The factory produces flexible printed circuits for use in cellphones, spark plugs and other car parts. The mother company is Nampow Trading Company of Osaka, Japan. NT Phils. exports to China, US, Japan and Korea.

Among the direct customers are:

Flextronics of Singapore, US-owned, one of largest electronics contract manufacturers, supplies to Apple;

Jabil Circuit of US, a global electronics manufacturer and service provider; supplies to Apple

Delphi of UK, one of the world’s largest automotive parts manufacturer;

Valeo of France, a multinational automotive supplier, among them Mitsubishi;

Yura of Korea, an automotive electronics parts supplier, among them Hyundai;

NGK of Japan, the world biggest supplier of spark plugs;

Visteon of US, a spinoff of the Ford Motor Company;

TRW Automotive of US, a parts supplier now owned by ZF Friedrichshafen AG of Germany;

Midtronics of US, a battery management company;

Zollner Elektronik AG of Germany, a top electronics contract manufacturer;

Hella of Germany, an electronics and lighting company;

Temic of Germany, an automotive electronics manufacturer;

Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc., part of the Ayala Group of Companies in the Philippines.

August 3, 2016

The workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to deputize union officers as labor inspectors to assist in the campaign to end endo. “By deputizing labor leaders, the number of inspections of establishment using subcontracting schemes can be multiplied overnight, enforcement can be strengthened immediately, and hundreds of thousands of contractual workers can be regularized as a result,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chairperson.

PM also supported the proposal of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines to criminalize violations of laws and regulations on contractualization. “Still employers and their contractors must first be found guilty of violations and thus we urge the deployment of union officers as labor inspectors to level up the enforcement and compliance system,” Magtubo argued.

He added that “If Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello’s target of reducing contractualization in half by the end of the year, then the present cadre of some 600 labor inspectors must be beefed up by trained and motivated volunteers from the workers movement.”

In response to employers’ opposition to the criminalization, the group finds nothing controversial about jailing violators of labor laws and regulations. “Former Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz already proposed criminalizing breaches of occupational health and safety standards in the wake of the Kentex fire that killed at least 72 workers and employers did not threaten to relocate to Vietnam or Cambodia to evade incarceration,” Magtubo reminded.

He explained that “Let us not forget the lessons of Kentex. The Valenzuela factory was found compliant after three site inspections by a DOLE labor inspector who mechanically followed a checklist but did not go beyond it, like for example verifying if the manpower agency used by Kentex was duly registered, which in fact it was not. A determined union officer deputized as labor inspector would not make the same mistake.”

According to the DOLE, in October 2011, a month before the issuance of DO 18-A which regulates the practice of subcontracting, there were 200,000 contractual workers under 2,624 registered subcontractors. “Needless to say, this data is grossly incorrect and patently underreported to put it mildly. In a succeeding 2012 survey by the Bureau of Labor and Employment, 30.5 percent of total employment of 3,769,259 (based on establishments with 20 or more workers) or more than 1 million are non-regular workers, meaning apprentices, probationary, seasonal, casual and project-based workers. In the same survey, one third of factory workers were found to be contractual. DOLE’s labor inspectors alone would be overworked to finish inspecting the working conditions of more than one million contractual workers.”

“We call on DOLE to train union officers in the labor inspection and enforcement process and then accredit them appropriately,” Magtubo added

August 5, 2016

Presidentiables dared to offer policy steps to end endo

SYTIC workers fight continues as company plans to shutdown

Advisory: DOLE mediates brewing dispute as Cavite EPZA factory threatens closure

Cavite EPZA electronics subcon on verge of strike anew

Advisory: Mediation tom to avert strike in Cavite EPZA factory

Cavite EPZA workers picket factory anew to protest lockout

Cavite EPZA workers occupy factory, demand regular jobs

Workers urge Duterte to rectify ‘endo’ injustice committed by PNoy against PALEA

Cavite EPZA workers preparing for strike

Advisory: PALEA to picket PAL Inflight Center tom

PALEA calls on Duterte to keep “end endo” promise in a rally near NAIA Terminal 2

Cavite EPZA garments workers conclude CBA after days of protests

Renaming DOLE uncomforting - labor group

Church-Labor Conference urges new labor officials to walk the endo talk

Workers call for war vs endo; respect for human rights in war vs drugs

PM calls for inspection of existing labor subcontractors in the wake of suspension of registration of new ones

Meralco meter readers to hold protest as notice of strike matures

Group asks Duterte for big names of endo lords in the country

Stop union busting at an electronics parts supplier to Apple and car companies

PM wants union officers deputized as labor inspectors for endo campaign