New alliance unites Philippine labor

A new alliance of some 40 major trade unions and labor federations have united to advance trade union and workers’ rights in the Philippines.

Aptly called NAGKAISA (united), the newly-established network of labor organizations vowed to fight labor contractualization, advocate for security of tenure and fight for an across-the-board increase in workers’ pay.
“After a series of in-depth discussions, we, the leaders and members of major labor and trade unions and workers’ organizations in the country have mutually decided to be united by embracing our diversity,” said the group in a statement during a media conference in Manila today.

Philippine labor has been generally regarded as fragmented, but NAGKAISA is bent on changing that impression and ushering in a new era in Philippine labor.

“In the face of the prevalent anti-worker environment and given our diverse ideologies, methodologies and approaches, our unions have continued to champion workers’ right to organize, to collectively bargain, to hold strikes and to engage government in social dialogue, but with limited success. We believe that the Filipino workers can be empowered again by, first and foremost, united action among unions and workers’ organizations.” NAGKAISA said.

“We are forming the coalition called NAGKAISA, which will consistently and passionately work towards restoring the right to full protection and the chance to live a decent and dignified life for all Filipino working men and women—whether formal or informal, private or public, here or abroad,” the group added.

NAGKAISA is challenging deregulation and other policies that lead to perpetual increases of oil prices and cost of food, electricity and other utilities and basic services such as education, in order to provide immediate relief to the economic burden of workers.

“Workers’ struggle for decent work is being defeated by greedy employers’ blatant assault on their rights. Their chances to it are being deprived by the Philippine government’s labor, social and economic policies that always function in favor of local and foreign businesses,” NAGKAISA said.

The group is also pressing for the ratification of ILO Convention 189 or the Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention.

NAGKAISA, as one voice of labor, will actively engage industry and all branches of government at all levels in meaningful and progressive social dialogue to improve the plight of workers.
“If necessary, NAGKAISA will be holding decisive mass actions to bring these issues closer to and wield support from the people,” the group said.

NAGKAISA is composed of the following trade unions/labor alliances/labor organizations:
• AFW • AIWA • ALU (METAL, PSU, TEXTILE, TRANSPORT) • APL • APSOTEU • ATU • BMP • CIU • CLASS • FCCU • FFW • KAMAO • KILUSAN • KKKP • LIBO • MAKABAYAN • MARINO • NABU • NAFLU • NAMAWU • NCL • NCTU • NUPP • NUWHRAIN • PALEA • PEUP • PGEA • PILLU • PIPSEA • PM • PMA • PSLINK • PTGWO • SENTRO • TESDA-ACE • VIMCOMTU • WSN •

Declaration of Unity Sentro ng Progresibong Manggagawa

The capitalist system had died, but it has risen once again like a profit-hungry zombie sucking the blood of the working class, especially of poor nations.

Neo-liberal capitalism and its twin elite democracy have died many deaths in the uprisings of the working class around the world – In the sandstorms of the Arab Spring, the cyclones of the Occupy Movement in First World countries, and the grassroots eruptions in Europe.

But in countries like ours, the marriage of capitalism and elite democracy, continues to wreak a century-old reign of poverty, misery and untold suffering into the lives of its poor citizens.

Capitalism is dead. The promises of progress and development shattered by its own implosions – the recessions and stock market crashes that have sent economies around the world into a deathly spin.

But it has risen, with virulent cruelty, and banal forms of exploitation — contractualization, decreasing real wages, and increasing costs of utilities and public services as a result of privatization and deregulation.

It has risen because the financial glitches that sent it tumbling down, and the economic mismanagement that continue to plague its global reign, are continuously rejuvenated thru State bailouts. Meanwhile workers are left with massive unemployment and the proliferation of low quality and migrant jobs. Women and the youth continue to swell the ranks of the unemployed and underemployed.

It has risen, and continues to haunt us like the horrific undead, not because they are strong. But because we, the workers, continue to be weak and fragmented. Workers have been forced to compete against poorer workers around the world thru the free traffic of cheap migrant labor. Workers have been pushed to fight against workers here in our country thru medieval labor laws and primitive institutions. This, and the incessant repression against organized labor, has decimated our ranks. And through the promotion of a new technologically-enhanced capitalistic dream world – new generations of workers refuse to see themselves as members of a working class, and thus, remain unorganized.
Yet, we, the downtrodden, battle weary, homeless and exploited, must now recognize that we are the many, made as batteries of the economy that feeds the greedy few.

We — by our toil in strange deserts and far away lands, bowed in farms and factories, employed in all kinds of services — are the true creators of our nation’s wealth.

And we must begin to effectively and consistently attack this systematic enslavement today, or the next generations, our offsprings, will suffer a heavier, more backbreaking and dehumanizing yoke.

We must begin to realize our powers as collective creators of wealth, who feed our families and send our children to school, and by that, we start to recognize that our power increases exponentially as we become more organized and swell our ranks.

We, the Filipino working class, must vow to reverse this reign of blood-sucking terror of a failed system, that only continues the concentration of wealth and political power amongst the elite big business, both foreign and local, and their political henchmen.

We must commit ourselves to the inclusion of non-employed working class, the unorganized in both the public and private sectors, the small entrepreneurs in the underground economy, the marginalized women who remain invisible, the growing ranks of young brainworkers in the digital industries and the migrant workers.

We must forge a new consciousness of working class identity and power through solid organizing and enlightened education.

We must be instruments of unity within our ranks, enhancing our skills as union managers and public leaders, and reach out beyond our organizational lines, to other workers’ groups, and to the unorganized. We must deepen democracy thru consensus and collaborative multi-form struggles.

We must not only defend, but also expand, our collective rights towards a more enhanced and pluralist democracy and greater economic power. We must recognize the different formations of power and exploitation in all levels of our lives – learn to utilize these powers thru collective action and vanquish all emanations of subordinations and dehumanization.

We must help rejuvenate the labor movement through industry and sectoral unionism and intensify our struggles, not only in every shop floor where we toil, in every community where we eke our lives, but also in every country where migrant workers grind away to earn a better life.

We must be leaders not only of our unions, but also of our communities. We must realize thru consistent action, that power, ultimately resides in the many. And we are the many.

On this day, the 12th of April 2012, the leaders and members of the following workers’ organizations and labor unions, vow to pursue these causes and collective missions, and by this, makes the first step among many, to forge, and strengthen the unity, goals and principles of the Sentro ng Progresibong Manggagawa hereby known as SENTRO.

Philippine Domestic Workers` Bill up again for Congressional Committee Discussions

Supported by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the DomWork-TWG concluded on Monday a Writeshop on Kasambahay Bill otherwise known as “An Act Instituting Regulatory Policies for the Domestic Service Industry Thereby Establishing Standards of Protection to Promote the Welfare of Domestic Workers“ at The Bayleaf Hotel in Intramuros, Manila. The group is composed of the tripartite actors involved in the advocacy towards the immediate ratification of C189 in the Philippines that includes the domestic workers` association Samahan at Ugnayan ng mga Manggagawang Pantahanan sa Pilipinas, Inc. (SUMAPI), Visayan Forum Foundation, Inc., Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), DOLE, the Employers` Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and the three major labor centers and confederations namely, the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and Trade Union Confederation of the Philippines (TUCP). These groups, together with the Labor Education and Research Network and Global Network-Asia, also played a major role in the holding of the 2011 Asia Regional Conference on Domestic Work, which had as its central theme the immediate ratification of C189 in Asia.

The fundamental subjects and issues discussed during the writeshop include the following:

• Inclusion of the “control test“ principle in the definition of an employer;
• Compromise on leave benefits or entitlements such as Service Incentive Leave (5 days annually), Sick Leave and Paid Annual Leave (14 days annually);
• Prohibition on hazardous employment;
• Prohibition on the employment of minors as domestic workers provided that all domestic workers below the minimum age presently employed shall continue their employment as such within a period of three (3) years from the effectivity of the act and shall be entitled to the minimum wage and all the benefits prescribed therein;
• Medical assistance and appropriate rest period during recovery from injury or illness;
• Setting of the normal hours of work based on a previous 10-hour civil code stipulation as opposed to an international standard of 8-hour work a day if only to define the terms of “overtime“;
• Professionalization of domestic work through skills upgrading and training as certified and facilitated by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA);
• Fixing of minimum wage at Php 3,500 per month for domestic workers based in NCR, Php 3,000 for those in chartered cities and first class municipalities and at least Php 2,000 in other municipalities;
• The role of the Katarungang Pambarangay and DOLE Regional Offices in the settlement of disputes regarding domestic work;
• Provision of a “one-stop shop“ or unified payment mechanism as to social protection remittances involving the Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), and Pag-Ibig (Home Development Mutual Fund);
• Granting domestic workers the right to join and form trade unions aside from associations, NGOs and CSOs;
• DSWD`s role in accrediting NGOs and associations representing domestic workers;
• Creation of a Domestic Workers Council that will be mandated to monitor and facilitate the implementation of the law;
• Allotment of a 50 Million-peso budget for the eventual implementation of the law; and
• Proposed additional contents or features of an employment contract such as termination of employment by employer in case of insolvency or financial incapacity, “productivity“ pay or increases in terms of additional skills and training, period of probation, “overtime“ rate and holiday entitlements.

The finalization of the consolidated version of the House Bill is a fitting follow-up after several congressmen made a promise to offer the “Kasambahay“ Bill as a Christmas gift and urged the DOLE to expedite the endorsement of C189 as a treaty. Seen in another light, it may well be considered as a response to the complaint of SB 78 main author and sponsor Senator Jinggoy Estrada that “the passage of the bill is already long overdue.“ The delayed process is definitely hindering the Philippine Senate`s ratification of the domestic work convention as the process requires the passage of a counterpart law at the national level.

Last year, the Senate version of the bill already passed on third reading. Now, as DOLE Undersecretary Hans Cacdac is saying, the DomWork-TWG has to work hard to fast track the process of sub-committee deliberations and immediately reach for the mother Committee on Labor and Employment. The TWG cautioned that significant safeguards might be altered fundamentally if the bill has to pass the sub-committee level in a prolonged period of time, which would take several meetings to finish.

In spite of the apparent concessions and compromises reached by the group, the APL however believes that domestic workers should not be forced to surrender the “equal treatment“ principle that they have fought for and earned with the passage of C189 last June this year. “Domestic workers as workers should enjoy the same rights and privileges as their counterparts in the formal sector have,“ Josua Mata, APL Secretary General said. For instance, the normal period of work should be made at par with those of formal sector workers, that is, a maximum of 8 hours per day.

Also, Mata believes that the P3,500 provided in the proposed bill is nowhere near the regional minimum wages even if board and lodging expenses for live-in domestic workers are accounted for. As such, that is another provision that needs improvement.

Today, there are more than 1 million domestic workers in the Philippines who are still regarded as part of the informally employed as the practice of domestic work is generally unregulated. Aside from their immediate families and loved ones, they are the ones who will greatly benefit from the eventual enactment of the “Kasambahay“ Bill into law.

Asian Domestic Workers hold Regional Conference on Domestic Work Convention 2011 (C189) in Manila

With the major theme “Advocacy towards the Ratification and Implementation of ILO Convention 189 and Recommendation 201 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers,“ the regional conference had delegates who come all the way from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, East Asia and South Asia. Around 50 participants from the Philippines also attended. Secretary Baldoz of the Department of Labor and Employment delivered the keynote speech in behalf of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to formally open the regional conference and reiterate the Philippines` commitment to recognize and protect the rights of domestic workers.

Last June 16, 2011, the adoption of the ILO Convention 189 and its supplementary Recommendation 201 (R201) by the majority of ILO member countries and delegates to the 100th ILC session held in Geneva, Switzerland culminated the long struggle and sacrifice of various domestic workers` groups, trade unions, and civil society advocates. The Philippine government had been one of the leading countries that supported the Convention and lobbied for its eventual adoption. In fact, the Philippines is one of the two countries that signified their immediate ratification of C189. It is for this main reason that trade union groups as well as networks of domestic workers and migrants decided to conduct this year`s post-ILC seminar in the Philippines to further urge the Aquino Administration to facilitate the immediate ratification by the Philippine Senate of C189 and together with it set in motion the passage of the “Kasambahay“ Bill. This action at the local level will send a strong message to the other member-states of the ILO to do the same. At the global level, the seminar aims to continue the C189 supporters` joint efforts in ensuring decent work for about 53 million local and migrant domestic workers in the world, 23 million of whom are based in Asia alone. The international lobbying and advocacy efforts began in Hong Kong in 2008 and 2009, in Manila after the 2010 ILC, in Jakarta in 2010, and in Singapore before the 2011 ILC. At this level, Asia has been very vocal on domestic work issues with the Philippines` lead considering that the country is one of domestic workers` leading countries of origin.

C189 provides the framework and governing rules for the recognition of domestic work as work and equal rights for all domestic workers in the world. It is the first international treaty that recognizes the need to protect the human and labor rights of ALL domestic workers. Now that domestic workers have a convention, the challenge is to translate its contents into reality. The Convention for Domestic Workers needs to be ratified by the member countries of the ILO in order for it to take effect and become binding.

One of the main outputs of the conference was a detailed Plan of Action varying across all participating countries. The proposed activities laid out by the conference participants revolve around these general actions:

• Support the “12 in 12“ ITUC Plan of Action, which targets 12 ratifications in 2012 plus labor law reforms to cover domestic workers, 12,000 newly organized domestic workers and 12 stronger domestic workers unions;
• Support domestic workers in forming, joining and sustaining their own trade unions, organizations and networks;
• Submit petition letters to governments, embassies and consulates as well as senators and legislators to ratify C189;
• Get the support of key political actors at the national and local levels;
• Continue popularizing, raising awareness and educating people about C189 through the production and dissemination of solidarity statements, posters, primers, leaflets, videos, reports, petitions, flyers, journals and other publications; holding of press conferences, rallies, meetings and forums; and launching of Mass Media coverage on issues, online and social networking sites postings and advocacy and signature campaigns;
• Do research and gather data and statistics on domestic workers and their situation;
• Sustain dialogs and interactions with government officials, bureaucrats and employers` groups regarding the passage of laws concerning domestic work and reforming existing labor laws to cover domestic workers;
• Continue to strengthen and sustain the alliance with trade unions, civil society organizations, social movements, migrant workers` organizations, and include women`s groups, informal workers in other sectors, and human rights organizations in the process.

This year`s Asia Regional Conference was organized by the International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN), Global Network – Asia, Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), International Trade Union Confederation in the Asia and the Pacific (ITUC-AP) and the Technical Working Group (TWG) for Domestic Work in the Philippines in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO).