MANILA, Philippines - As the nation prepares to commemorate Labor Day, the Arroyo administration has certainly been busy conjuring artificial solutions to appease the growing frustration and resentment of workers nationwide over its anti-poor and anti-labor policies and programs.
GMA has declared that on May 1, she will be implementing a package of benefits to address workers’ concerns such as tax exemptions for minimum wage earners and provision of non-wage benefits for workers. But these plans barely touch on the real issues confronting the working class, both in the private and public sector.
Wages have never been as unacceptable, unjust and irreconcilable as they are now under the present regime which has indefatigably neglected the cries of workers for decent work, decent pay and decent life for all.
Working conditions continue to deteriorate and not enough decent jobs have been created for the people. Worse, the administration has even promoted the export of labor as a national policy, instead of working towards enhancing domestic employment and investing in human resources development.
We in the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), a national union representing more than 80,000 government workers from national government agencies, local government units, and government-owned and controlled corporations, will not be mislead into accepting quick, artificial solutions which are obviously political stunts meant to cover up GMA’s piling atrocities against all Filipino workers and project an image of a seemingly responsive and concerned president.
We will not be duped into accepting her so-called package of benefits which are merely poor substitutes for genuine decent work and job creation.To adequately address the concerns of government workers and help them cope with the worsening energy and food crises due to rising cost of oil and basic commodities, we workers in the public sector call for the following:
* Increase the salary bracket for tax exemption of government workers (tax exemptions to include at least those receiving Salary Grades 1 to 15)
* Moratorium on withholding the income tax of government employees to increase their take home pay for at least a year
* Instead of the planned 10 percent increase in the salaries of government workers which will hardly impact on their take home pay as it will only be eaten by tax, the government should push for the passage of the proposed Government Classification and Compensation Act—a bill that will not only make salaries of workers in the government comparable to those in the private sector but will also appropriately value work based on performance and a set of identified compensable factors.
It seeks to address the distortions and inequities plaguing the present compensation system and consequently reduce corruption and ease the outmigration of government nurses and teachers that has already led to the closure of several hospitals and health facilities.
* Increase budgetary allocations for basic public services such as health and education
* Condonation of the loan penalties for the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to ease the financial burden of government employees
* Reform of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Transparency and accountability must be brought back to the state pension fund. The gross mismanagement of GSIS must be stopped by instituting a revamp of its current Board of Trustees and sacking its President, Winston Garcia
* Creation of plantilla items for the casual or contractual workers in the government including Barangay Health Workers and Day care workers who are merely recognized as volunteers in the government
* Allocation of funds for the implementation of the different laws covering different sectoral groups in the public sector such as the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers, Magna Carta for Public School Teachers and Magna Carta for Disabled Persons Unless these calls are met, government workers who form the backbone of the bureaucracy will continue to bear the burden of meager and inequitable pay, failing investments in public services, corruption, deteriorating professionalism, and demoralization. This does not bode well for the millions of Filipinos now driven to poverty and dependence on public services.
It is high time the administration institute genuine measures for the sake of the 1.5 million-strong workforce it employs. Government workers will not any more tolerate artificial solutions by an artificial president!
ANNIE ENRIQUEZ-GERON
General Secretary
Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK)
#15 Clarion Lily St., Saint Dominic Subdivision I
Congressional Avenue, Project 6, Quezon City
Showing posts with label Labor Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Labor Day. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Filipinos Celebrate Labor Day With Street Rallies, Protests
MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 01 May) – Thousands of workers and members of progressive groups have staged street rallies Tuesday to mark the celebration of the International Labor Day.
”May Day is an occasion for us to celebrate the fruits of our battle against oppression, the butchery of free-market globalization and the US imperialist-led war of terror.”
“In the same breath, we celebrate our hard earned victories and further intensify the struggle of the working-class against the isolated and much-hated U.S.-Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime,” said Elmer Labog, chairman of the militant group, Kilusang Mayo Uno party, which led the rallies in Manila.
"Arroyo's isolation from the masses is heightening. She will soon find her proper place and the May 14 election is just the beginning of her political annihilation,” Labog said.
KMU is opposed to trade agreements between the Philippines and the United States. It said the U.S. is exploiting the Philippines and other poor countries in Asia to advance its own interests.
In southern Philippines, around 10,000 workers from the provinces of Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental and Davao City also joined street protests and demanded more labor benefits.
"Today is a significant day to the Filipino people. In times of great crisis, the workers and the toiling masses shall exhibit its unceasing and unbreakable spirit of defiance against the attacks of the Arroyo regime," said Omar Bantayan, secretary general of KMU in Southern Mindanao and also vice president of the Anakpawis party list group for Mindanao.
Bantayan said the Arroyo regime is culpable of the destruction of the lives of the Filipino people, as it permitted large-scale capital to exploit labor power and siphon all possible super-profits and consistently denied the workers a significant and reasonable increase in wages.
“Arroyo and her cohorts have sabotaged the passage of the HB345 (Beltran P125 Bill) which would give significant relief to the workers by approximating the depressed wage levels with the projected family living wage. At present, the daily minimum wage in Region XI is pegged at P228 while the daily cost of living is P621.”
“There is no truth to the claim of the Arroyo administration and big business that the P125 wage increase will cause destruction of the people's livelihood," Bantayan said. "A constricted market, unfair competition, lack of finances and regressive taxation are the main causes of retrenchments and closures of small and medium-scale enterprises.”
While militant political groups denounced Arroyo, the President inaugurated on Labor Day a four-storey "workers’ inn" in Manila for “urban workers whose homes are not within convenient commuting distance from Metro Manila.”
Called “Gwapotel: Tulugan sa Bayan,” the dormitory-style bed and bath facility is a joint project of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the National Power Corporation (Napocor), a government statement said.
Strategically located at the former Napocor Building along Bonifacio Drive in Port Area in Manila, the temporary living facility, also dubbed "PGMA’s Workers’ Inn," provides transients affordable rooms to stay.
The President was joined by Metro-Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, National Power Corporation (Napocor) chief Cyril del Callar and Department of Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro in the ceremonial unveiling of the marker and ribbon-cutting activities formally opening to the public the sleeping and bathing facility.
According to Fernando, the 700-bed Gwapotel was conceptualized under the President's pro-poor program of providing clean and affordable living quarters to every Filipino, particularly provincial residents who work in Metro Manila.
Fernando said that under PGMA's Worker's Inn program, the Gwapotel is designed to provide an affordable albeit temporary sleeping and bathing facility for workers whose homes are not within convenient commuting distance to their places of work in Metro Manila.
“Gwapotel will provide relief and added rest time to workers who need to commute daily to and from their residences in the provinces,” Fernando said, adding that it was among the wage benefits the President gave to the Filipino workers this Labor Day.
The dormitory-style Gwapotel is divided as follows: the third and fourth floors are allocated to provide sleeping and bathing facilities for male customers while the second floor is allocated for women clients. (Mindanao Examiner)
”May Day is an occasion for us to celebrate the fruits of our battle against oppression, the butchery of free-market globalization and the US imperialist-led war of terror.”
“In the same breath, we celebrate our hard earned victories and further intensify the struggle of the working-class against the isolated and much-hated U.S.-Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime,” said Elmer Labog, chairman of the militant group, Kilusang Mayo Uno party, which led the rallies in Manila.
"Arroyo's isolation from the masses is heightening. She will soon find her proper place and the May 14 election is just the beginning of her political annihilation,” Labog said.
KMU is opposed to trade agreements between the Philippines and the United States. It said the U.S. is exploiting the Philippines and other poor countries in Asia to advance its own interests.
In southern Philippines, around 10,000 workers from the provinces of Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental and Davao City also joined street protests and demanded more labor benefits.
"Today is a significant day to the Filipino people. In times of great crisis, the workers and the toiling masses shall exhibit its unceasing and unbreakable spirit of defiance against the attacks of the Arroyo regime," said Omar Bantayan, secretary general of KMU in Southern Mindanao and also vice president of the Anakpawis party list group for Mindanao.
Bantayan said the Arroyo regime is culpable of the destruction of the lives of the Filipino people, as it permitted large-scale capital to exploit labor power and siphon all possible super-profits and consistently denied the workers a significant and reasonable increase in wages.
“Arroyo and her cohorts have sabotaged the passage of the HB345 (Beltran P125 Bill) which would give significant relief to the workers by approximating the depressed wage levels with the projected family living wage. At present, the daily minimum wage in Region XI is pegged at P228 while the daily cost of living is P621.”
“There is no truth to the claim of the Arroyo administration and big business that the P125 wage increase will cause destruction of the people's livelihood," Bantayan said. "A constricted market, unfair competition, lack of finances and regressive taxation are the main causes of retrenchments and closures of small and medium-scale enterprises.”
While militant political groups denounced Arroyo, the President inaugurated on Labor Day a four-storey "workers’ inn" in Manila for “urban workers whose homes are not within convenient commuting distance from Metro Manila.”
Called “Gwapotel: Tulugan sa Bayan,” the dormitory-style bed and bath facility is a joint project of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the National Power Corporation (Napocor), a government statement said.
Strategically located at the former Napocor Building along Bonifacio Drive in Port Area in Manila, the temporary living facility, also dubbed "PGMA’s Workers’ Inn," provides transients affordable rooms to stay.
The President was joined by Metro-Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, National Power Corporation (Napocor) chief Cyril del Callar and Department of Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro in the ceremonial unveiling of the marker and ribbon-cutting activities formally opening to the public the sleeping and bathing facility.
According to Fernando, the 700-bed Gwapotel was conceptualized under the President's pro-poor program of providing clean and affordable living quarters to every Filipino, particularly provincial residents who work in Metro Manila.
Fernando said that under PGMA's Worker's Inn program, the Gwapotel is designed to provide an affordable albeit temporary sleeping and bathing facility for workers whose homes are not within convenient commuting distance to their places of work in Metro Manila.
“Gwapotel will provide relief and added rest time to workers who need to commute daily to and from their residences in the provinces,” Fernando said, adding that it was among the wage benefits the President gave to the Filipino workers this Labor Day.
The dormitory-style Gwapotel is divided as follows: the third and fourth floors are allocated to provide sleeping and bathing facilities for male customers while the second floor is allocated for women clients. (Mindanao Examiner)
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Face Off!
MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 25 Apr) – Tatapatan ng tinatayang 13,000 pulis ng PNP-National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) ang dagsa ng mga ilulunsad na kilos-protesta sa Mayo 1.
Bagamat inaasahan ng pulisya na magiging mapayapa ang Labor Day protests sa susunod na linggo, kinakailangan pa rin na maging handa ang kapulisan sa anumang hindi inaasahan.
Sinabi ni PNP-NCRPO spokesman Superintendent Rommel Miranda na maaaring kakaunti lamang ang makikilahok sa mga protesta sapagkat abala ang karamihan sa mga ito sa pangangampanya para sa May 14 elections.
Partikular na dudumugin ng mga raliyista ay ang Liwasang Bonifacio, isa sa itinuturing na freedom park. Nagpulong ngayon ang mga opisyal ng PNP sa Metro Manila upang plantsahin ang mga kaukulang hakbang para sa seguridad ng mga magra-rally sa Martes.
Kabilang na rin sa naturang puwersa ng mga pulis ang nagbuhat sa Central at Southern Luzon. (Juley Reyes)
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