Showing support for Southern Tagalog workers’ camp-out protests in front of Labor Department offices in Calamba, Laguna and Manila, national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno said today that the protests further belie Pres. Noynoy Aquino’s claims with regard to Labor Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz in his last State of the Nation Address.
The group said the workers’ protests, directed at the agency’s pro-capitalist rulings in many cases and the non-implementation of the decision to regularize the striking workers of Tanduay Distillers, Inc., show that Aquino’s claim that Baldoz is “good (magaling)” is only a lie.
“The Southern Tagalog workers’ ongoing protests highlight that Aquino was lying about the good performance of his Labor Secretary. Baldoz has been consistently anti-worker and that is the reason why she was praised by Aquino in his last SONA,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.
Workers from Southern Tagalog led by the Kaisahan ng mga Manggagawang Iligal na Tinanggal (KAMIT) and the Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK) are calling for the sacking of labor arbiters Enrico Angelo Portillo, Rennell Joseph Dela Cruz, Edgar Bisana, and Napoleon Fernando for dishing out pro-capitalist rulings on labor cases.
They are also calling for the implementation of Department of Labor and Employment Region IV-A’s June 25 decision ordering the regularization of Tanduay workers who were illegally terminated for fighting for their regularization.
KAMIT and PAMANTIK claim that out of the 229 cases filed by members of KAMIT from December 2011 to May 2015, only 60 cases or 26% had decisions that favor workers.
“The Labor Department, especially under Aquino, has unashamedly sided with capitalists even when they violate the country’s labor laws, which are predominantly anti-worker and anti-union. It has intensified the exploitation and repression faced by the country’s workers,” Soluta added.
KMU also criticized Aquino for claiming that industrial relations in the country have improved on the basis of the reduction in the number of strikes, saying workers continue to resist low wages, contractual employment and violations of workers’ rights but are facing greater repression. Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.
Posted By: Lynne Pingoy
