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Martes, Abril 18, 2017

Workers at the gates - from Business Mirror


Opinion
Workers at the gates
By BusinessMirror - April 18, 2017

Last Friday (April 7), we organized a picket at the very gates of MalacaƱang, going farther than the traditional protests at the foot of Mendiola Bridge, to ask President Duterte to issue an executive order that would scrap the latest Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) order on contracting, and subcontracting and enact a prohibition against contractualization.

Dozens of workers dared to pass through Palace security all over the San Miguel district of the City of Manila; in a defiant display of resolve against a more-than-two-decade scourge that has wreaked havoc to the rights and welfare of Philippine labor. It was also a desperate reminder to Duterte that his promise of “contractualization must stop” and his mandate of “change is coming” remain unfulfilled.

Ten months have passed in this populist administration that rode on the people’s disgust over neoliberal policies, such as contractualization. Yet, nothing has changed, especially in the sphere of employer-employee relations.

Workers are becoming restless. To the proletarian millions who voted him into power, the presidential rhetoric to end contractualization is turning out to be a mere Dutertean electoral gambit to win the presidency. No wonder his approval ratings at the surveys are falling!

Presidential Spokesman Ernie Abella is proclaiming the recent DOLE order (DO174) by Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III as the fulfillment of Duterte’s commitment to end contractualization, a scheme that the Chief Executive once described as “antipoor”. However, Bello’s DO174 runs counter to Duterte’s public position against contractualization.

It merely regulates, not prohibit, the contracting out of labor—even those that are “usually necessary or desirable” in the normal operations of a business. It also strengthens trilateral employment relationships, which has now dominated the workplace as opposed to the previous practices of direct hiring and regularization.

Bello may argue that DO174 is for regularization, because agency workers could now be regularized under their contractors and subcontractors. He even described it as a “win-win” solution to the problem. But what kind of tomfoolery is this?! Regular workers in entities that have temporary contracts with principal employers! It is not only a contradiction in terms. It is a unanimous approval of an antiworker scheme, which is patently designed to create a cheap and docile labor force!

Allow us to explain how parties in trilateral-employment schemes interrelate with each other:

Who needs labor? The so-called principal employers. They need the labor of workers to create goods and services that have higher value than its nonmaterial inputs (materials, depreciation). Labor created such value-added, from whence comes profit, rent, interest and taxes. They are the buyers of labor.

Who has labor? The property-less masses. They do not have any means of subsistence. They only have their brawn, brains, talents and skill. Because most of their needs and wants are commodities, they are in constant need for money. They sell their labor in exchange for wages to the propertied and moneyed few.

What is the role of contractors and subcontractors in the transaction between the buyer and seller of labor? Nothing but to be a rent-seeking leech! They act as a “middleman” between the two but pretend to be the employer of these workers. Their service is to provide cheap labor by denying seniority benefits for workers upon regular status with the “principal employers”. Their other purpose is to create a docile labor force that is perpetually terrorized by unemployment via termination of contract, a threat that hangs over their heads like the proverbial sword of Damocles.

Furthermore, Bello’s alibi that on the “legality” of trilateral-employment relationships is not only misleading but also unacceptably stupid. Duterte should remind his alter ego in the labor department that Article 106 does not only provide for the regulation of contracting and subcontracting schemes. It also gives to the labor secretary the choice to prohibit such schemes in order to protect the workers’ rights and welfare.

But since it is being made to appear that the hand does not do what the brain is telling it to do, with Secretary Bello unable to fulfill the presidential promise to end contractualization, it is but logical that an executive order be enacted to prohibit contractualization, in accordance to Article 106 of the Labor Code, and if there is an iota of sincerity and seriousness in the words of President Duterte.

We urge the readers of this good paper to join us in this reasonable and just demand.

Leody De Guzman
National President
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino

Biyernes, Abril 7, 2017

Workers’ Picket at the Palace Gates

PRESS RELEASE
April 7, 2017
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)


Workers’ Picket at the Palace Gates:
Labor demands DU30 to issue Executive Order
to scrap DO#174 and prohibit contractualization

WORKERS from various companies in Luzon – from Metro Manila, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite and Bulacan – held a picket at the very gates of Malacanang Palace on Friday morning to ask President Duterte for an Executive Order to end contractualization, in line with his electoral promise last May elections.

Nasaan ang pagbabago? Tuparin ang pangakong wawakasan ang kontraktwalisasyon!

The protest, which went farther than traditional rallies at the foot of Mendiola Bridge, sought to “highlight the determination of the labor movement in battling a scourge that has wrought havoc on the rights and welfare of Filipino workers”. It likewise “challenges the ‘Change is coming’ mandate of the present regime and the promise of ‘contractualization must stop’ by no less than President Duterte himself”.

BMP national president Leody de Guzman said, “On the tenth month of this populist regime that rode on the people’s disgust over neoliberal policies such as contractualization, nothing has changed especially in the sphere of employer-employee relations. Nasaan ang pagbabago? Mananatili bang pangako ang pagwawakas sa salot na kontraktwalisasyon? Was it just a Dutertean electoral gambit to woo the votes of millions of Filipino workers?”

Executive Order to Scrap DO#174 and Prohibit Contractualization

De Guzman explained, “DOLE Secretary Bello’s Department Order 174 runs counter to the President’s commitment to end exploitative labor contractualization. We are here today to ask the President to act decisively on this pressing concern. We want him to issue an Executive Order to scrap Bello’s DO174 and, once and for all put an end to the menace of contractulization, a promise he has yet to keep”

“Secretary Bello is playing politics by trying to appease both sides – labor and business. His alibi that DO#174 is ‘legal’ is not only misleading. More so, it is unacceptably stupid. Digong should remind his alter-ego in the labor department that Article 106 does not only provide for the regulation of contracting and subcontracting schemes. It also gives power to the labor secretary to prohibit it in order to protect the rights and welfare of workers,” he added.

“After more than two decades of contractualization, we now have a cheap and docile labor force that could not defend itself against unjust practices of abusive employers. Contractual workers are cheap because they are denied seniority benefits that should by enjoyed by employees upon regular status. They are likewise docile because of the perpetual threat of unemployment via termination of contract, which hangs over their heads like the proverbial sword of Damocles,” the socialist labor leader clarified.

“But since it appears that the hand does not do what the brain is telling it to do, as Sec. Bello is unable to fulfil the presidential promise to end contractualization, it is but logical – if there is an iota of sincerity and seriousness in the words of President Duterte – that an Executive Order be enacted to prohibit contractualization, in accordance to Article 106 of the Labor Code”, de Guzman concluded. #

Martes, Abril 4, 2017

Pakikiisa ng BMP sa pagkakatatag ng ORIANG

Pakikiisa ng BMP sa pagkakatatag ng ORIANG

Maalab na pagbati at pagpupugay ang ipinaabot ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) sa liderato at kasapian ng ORIANG – ang bagong tatag na kilusan ng kababaihan sa bansa. 

Tunay ngang hindi lalaya ang lipunan sa diskriminasyon, karahasan, kahirapan, kaapihan at pagsasamantala ng tao sa tao kung hindi lumalaya ang kababaihan. Kaisa niyo kami sa paninindigang ang umiiral na sistemang kapital at ang patriyarkal na kaayusan ang siyang ugat ng mga suliraning kinahaharap hindi lamang ng kababaihang manggagawa – na kalahati na kabuuang pwersa ng paggawa – kundi maging ng lipunan sa kabuuan. 

Ang patriyarkal na mga istruktura sa lipunan – mula sa larangan ng ideya hanggang sa kongkretong realidad – ay hadlang sa pagpapanday ng pagkakaisa ng manggagawa “bilang uri”, na esensyal na sangkap sa pagtitipon ng mapagpalayang pwersa para baguhin ang lipunan at palitan ito ng lipunang tunay na nagsisilbi sa lahat ng kasapi ng sosyedad. 

Sa hanay ng manggagwa, panahon na para iwaksi ang mga naagnas at makalumang mga kaisipang tinatanaw ang kababaihan bilang “pambahay lamang”, “mahinang kasarian”, “pang-aliw”, “mga puta”, atbp. Lahat ng ganitong ideya ay tahasan nating idinedeklara bilang mga reaksyonaryong pananaw na kumakalawang sa pinapanday nating ganap na pagkakaisa ng uring manggagawa. 

Wasto rin ang inyong pagsusuri sa ugat ng kahirapan – ang pribadong pag-aari sa mga kasangkapan sa produksyon (at reproduksyon), na nagdulot ng pagsasamantala ng tao sa tao. Tama lamang na balikan ang istorikal na ugat ng kaapihan sa kababaihan, nang malusaw ang primibo komunal na lipunan at kinamkam ng mga amo ang mga alipin bilang kanilang “pag-aari”, kasama ang mga kababaihan na siyang “unang pribadong pag-aari” para tiyakin ang ipamamanang pag-aari ng mga naghaharing uri.

May 1, 2013 rali

Das Kapital published on 14 Sept 1867

Das Kapital published on 14 Sept 1867

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