Posts tagged with labor

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May 15, 2010

Labor Day in Manila 2010

Thousands of workers marched on the streets of Manila together with hundreds from other sectors of society to commemorate Labor Day

More than two weeks ago, I marched in my third Labor Day rally in Manila, together with thousands from different sectors of society, to commemorate international workers’ day. Being the last Labor Day celebration under the Gloria Arroyo government, the theme of the mobilization was centered on ensuring her departure from the Malacanang, her nine-year regime having been characterized by record high unemployment, depressed wages and grave abuses of workers’ rights, and on ensuring the people’s commitment to prosecute her for her administration’s sins and failures. Being a few days before the national elections, the celebration was also an opportune time for various sectors to demand from all the candidates a pro-people and nationalist labor platform, a discussion of which has been all but silenced with all the shallow and petty mudslinging that characterized the three-month campaign period.

Reps. Liza Maza & Satur Ocampo marching with leaders of workers' unions and other sectors

Rainier Sindayen, Chairperson of the University of the Philippines Diliman student council, leads the chants as the thousands marched through Quezon Boulevard onto Liwasang Bonifacio

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August 24, 2009

Kabataan proposes employees’ day-off for voters’ registration

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today proposed a ‘day-off with pay’ for employees to allow them to register for the 2010 elections. (see House Resolution 1336)

“Employees who work during office hours do not have time to register. By the time their shift ends, government offices conducting voters’ registration have already closed. Companies should give their employees one day-off on or before the deadline for voters’ registration to ensure that they will be able to participate in the 2010 polls, especially since most first-time workers are also first-time voters,” Palatino said.

Palatino cited the 100% Employee Voters Registration Program of Nexus, a Business Process Outsourcing Company, as an example of such an initiative. “While there are companies that launch voters’ registration programs, it would be better if all companies are mandated by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to give their employees a whole day off for them to register,” he said.

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August 18, 2009

The Call of Call Center Agents

Privilege Speech of Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino
Delivered on August 17, 2009

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, I rise on behalf of fellow young Filipinos denied of their dreams and were forced to enter the illusory world of call centers.

The tale of Filipino youths setting aside their childhood dreams to enter the call center industry is fast becoming a common story. More and more young Filipinos are being lured into working in a call center regardless of their educational background. A starting salary of P15,000 on average is indeed attractive, not to mention the signing bonus and incentives for good work performance.

As the global financial crisis sweeps ominously into Asian shores, the Philippine government has continuously promoted and relied on the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry to provide opportunities to millions of jobless Filipinos. The number of jobs generated grew robustly from 99,000 workers in 2004 to 372,000 workers in 2008, most of them in their 20s.

For the government, the BPO sector is a major contributor in terms of revenues and employment generation. From $350 million in 2001, revenues generated from the BPO sector surged to $6 billion in 2008. The government was quick to conclude that the BPO sector is poised to benefit from the global recession.

This has prompted both the administration and the vanguards of globalization to brand the BPO sector as the “sunshine industry.”

But there is a need, Mr. Speaker, to bust the myth surrounding the so-called sunshine industry. For behind the seemingly innocuous statistics and improving figures lie tales of exploitation, false hopes, and dim working conditions inside the call center.

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September 23, 2008

On the Kowloon Restaurant Workers’ Strike

Kowloon Restaurant’s greasy pancit canton is a actually a favorite of mine but I would now have to hold back to help compel the restaurant’s owners to make amends for the exploitation of their workers.

[Re-posted from Anton Dulce's Multiply site]

Before June of this year, the Kowloon management refused to pay the minimum wage which was mandated by law. In fact, it did not follow the three most-recent wage hikes, amounting to 82 pesos. As a result, while other workers were already receiving at least P382 a day, the workers of Kowloon only got home P300.

To pressure management into giving them something which the law already mandated as theirs yet which management refused to give, the workers wore black ribbons at work in a single day last June. But instead of listening to the workers, management instead reprimanded them, especially the union leaders.

Afterwards, they decided to hold a “picket protest” after their work hours and away from any locations that would result in disruptions in operations. Afterwards, management decided to hold negotiations with the union. But secretly, they filed a case of “illegal strike” against the workers at the NLRC (National Labor Relations Commission). So when management did agree to raise their wages to P377 a day, the workers only enjoyed this wage hike for one pay day. Why? Because the other Saturday, all 73 members of the union were fired.

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