5 months contract ang melagro ni Cory ug ni Herrera... Capitalists have intensified their oppression of the workers in the last several decades. Aside from paying them slave wages, they have subjected the workers to varous forms of “legal” exploitation through repressive laws like Republic Act 6715, better known as the Herrera Law. These laws have worsened the workers and their families’ miserable state and darkened their futures. On March 2, 1989, under the regime of Corazon Aquino, the Labor Code of 1974 was amended by the Herrera Law. The law was named after its proponent, former Sen. Ernesto Herrera, also the erstwhile leader of the yellow Trade Union Congress of the Philippines. The law expanded the system of contractualization. Previously confined to the economic zones, it has spread to other factories, resulting in the widespread massacre of jobs and massive layoffs of workers at the start of the 1990s. The Herrera Law allowed various forms of contractual employment, including the currently widespread system of employing workers through layers upon layers of agencies. More than 90% of currently available jobs in the Philippines are contractual in nature. As a result of contractualization, workers have been desprived of their right to job security and have become vulnerable on a daily basis to more intense exploitation by the capitalists. Among the first to be hit by this law were the workers of the Philoppine Long Distance Telephone Company. From 16,000 regular employees in 1995, PLDT now has only about 3,000. Worst hit by the Herrera Law were the workers of Shoe Mart (SM) in the 1990s when 92% of its workers became contractuals. The same fate befell the workers of San Miguel Corporation in the first half of the 2000s. From 26,000, SMC now has only a little more than 1,000 regular workers. The latest case was Philippine Air Lines where the remaining 2,600 regular employees were fired in December 2011. They were rehired as contractual workers by agencies owned by PAL president Lucio Tan and made to work in various departments within PAL. Just weeks after the passage of the Herrera Law, the Corazon Aquino regime likewise approved RA 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act, which granted “regional wage boards” the power to determine minimum wages. Its objective was to divide the workers’ national unity and undermine their ability to demand minimum wage hikes on a nationwide basis. Contractual workers also receive very low wages compared to regulars. Most of them are not covered by collective bargaining agreements (CBA) for higher wages and other benefits. Neither are they given overtime and vacation pay. According to a study by Ibon Foundation, in April 2011, the country had a 41-million strong labor force with up to 10.9% or 4.5 million of them unemployed. This was almost double the official government estimate of 7.2% or 2.9 million jobless workers. Union and strike busting Aside from institutionalizing low wages and the lack of job security, the Herrera Law also undermines unions. When it was enacted in 1989, there were 2.79 million unionized workers. After 23 years, the number is down to only 1.79 million. There are now only more than 200 registered unions from the previous 627. The law also weakens the strike movement. From 197 strikes in 1989, there were only two recorded in 2008. The law has further suppressed existing unions due to DOLE Department Order 10 issued during the Ramos regime which fotbids contractual workers from joining unions or other groups. The order also calls for hiring to be coursed through agencies or subcontractors, relieving companies of responsibility for providing benefits and services to workers. The decline in the number of regular workers and their replacement by contractuals slowly weakened existing unions or led to their eventual demise. The Herrerra Law pevents workers from exercising their right to strike. It gives powers to the DOLE secretary to assume jurisdiction over existing conflicts between unions and companies in the event of a strike. The Herrera Law also strengthens DOLE’s powers to rescind the results of any CBA negotiation that do not favor management. In fact, some of the nost significant cases of union and strike busting have been recorded since the Herrera Law was implemented. Some examples include the destruction of the unions at Shoemart, Light Rail Transit, PLDT, Me-ralco, ABS-CBN Internal Job Marketers, Triumph International (Philippines) and the Ever Gotesco Mall. Picket lines were dismantled at Nestle, San Miguel, Lepanto Consolidated Mining, Toyota Nissan, Honda, Yokohama, Phil. Jeon and Hacienda Luisita, among others. Violence against workers and trade union leaders Sixty-seven workers have been killed and 16 forcibly disappeared in the past 11 years. The most notorious cases involve the murders of Nestle Philippines leader Diosdado “Ka Fort” Fortuna in September 2005; Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union chair Ricardo Ramos in October 2005; National Federation of Sugar Workers leader Armando Dolosa in Negros Occidental in June 2008; and seven workers of Hacienda Luisita on November 16, 2004 in Tarlac. On the other hand, despite the Herrera Law’s continued onslaught, workers continue to resist it. They have not relented in asserting their rights to regular employment, decent wages and job security, and their right to unionize and to strike. Their resistance enables them to assert their crucial role in production and raise their class consciousness and awareness of their duty to society.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 04:58:06 +0000
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