Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

As the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) opened today in Manila, at least 5000 workers from the Philippines and other countries in every region of the world came together in one of the broadest labor mobilizations ever organized in the entire history of the global trade union movement.

Foreign leaders of global unions around the world joined the Workers March in solidarity with the Solidarity Action of Labor against GFMD (SALAG), the first national labor formation created to respond to issues on migration and development. SALAG which led the rally includes the Labor Alliance for Better Order and Reform (LABOR), the different national public sector unions that are members of the Public Services International (PSI) in the Philippines, and the Solidarity of Union and Labor Organization for New Government (SULONG).

The Workers March started off at the Liwasang Bonifacio and later on advanced towards the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC)—the venue of the GFMD.

“We workers marched today to collectively express our indignation over the GFMD and the agenda it represents—an agenda that seeks to promote the export of labor and the sidestepping of workers rights. We march for the workers and migrants who have been excluded in the process that claims to speak for them!” said Josua Mata, one of the spokespersons of SALAG.

“For us the GFMD has lost any legitimacy and meaning when it slammed its doors to the migrant workers,” Mata said.

The GFMD is an annual consultative, non-binding and government-led process which will be attended by representatives from governments in around 150 countries. It has become the venue to discuss issues related to migration and development. The first GFMD took place in Brussels, Belgium in 2007.

This year the Philippines is host to the 2nd GFMD which will be held on Oct 27-30.

The workers held the march to condemn the GFMD for failing to ensure protection and promotion of migrant workers rights in the migration and development discourse. The streets to PICC turned into a sea of black with 5000 workers marching together in black shirts carrying the slogan “Movement of Workers, Unions without Borders.”

SALAG attacked the GFMD for merely focusing on remittances, temporary movement of workers, and securing bilateral agreements for exchange of labor between countries. Further, SALAG pointed out how the GFMD has become “a space for governments to construct an unsafe and unjust environment for migrant workers.”

“The GFMD is about creating borders to keep the ‘odd workers’ out,” said Mata. “These are the “undocumented workers or those workers that governments and recruiters would like to dispose off as soon as they have outlived their use. All in all the GFMD really is a hypocritical process to promote the agenda of worker-hungry private employers and recruiters who treat migrant workers as commodities and virtual slaves,” said Mata.

SALAG also slammed the state for marketing the Philippines as a model country in terms of managing labor migration in the 2^nd GFMD.

“The Philippines is not the model country in labor migration. We are instead the living testimony to the failure that is the remittance-driven development strategy,” claimed Annie Enriquez-Geron, spokesperson of the public sector unions under SALAG.

“In fact, they shouldn’t even be talking about migrant workers’ remittances. They dont have the right to talk about migrant workers’ money!” she added.

The GFMD is held at a time when countries all over the world are anguishing from the global financial crisis.

In response to the global economic slowdown, the Philippine government has just recently set up an emergency program worth P 1 Billion to help migrant workers who will be affected by the crisis. However, SALAG believes this is just a manoeuvre to cover up the real agenda of the government.

“It is absolutely wrong to think that the government with its P 1 Billion emergency program will bail out our OFWs,” Enriquez-Geron said.

“In fact, it would be the other way around. It will be the workers who will bail out the government out of the financial crisis as the state will surely push more of its workers out of the country to save its fragile economy that relies mainly on remittances sent by migrant workers.”

“No wonder then that the government is more than happy to announce that the deployment of OFWs has increased and even breached the one million mark in just the first nine (9) months of this year despite the global economic slump,” explained Enriquez-Geron.

SALAG believes that at its current state, the GFMD is just an expensive but pointless exercise.

“Come to think of it we don’t really need the GFMD when the only thing that the governments really have to do is implement the already existing ILO and UN Conventions on human rights and workers rights,” said Renato Magtubo, spokesperson of SALAG.

“We believe GFMD is merely a forum to advance the export of labor. It is a forum meant to legitimize a remittance-driven development strategy. And we workers do not believe in such a strategy. Workers are not commodities that are to be traded but human beings with fundamental rights,” Magtubo said.

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Solidarity Action of Labor Against GFMD (SALAG)

SALAG is the first broad and independent national labor formation in the Philippines created to respond to issues on migration and development. SALAG includes the Labor Alliance for Better Order and Reform (LABOR), the different public sector federations affiliated with the Public Services International, and the Solidarity of Union and Labor Organization for New Government (SULONG).

SALAG represents the voice of Filipino workers—whether they are here in the country or working abroad. It is a platform that will strive to protect and defend the rights of our OFWs—their right to decent work and pay, their right to organize into unions and associations, and their right to bargain and negotiate for better working conditions and pay. SALAG also serves as the platform that will resist any attempts to curtail these rights in a bid to promote a development paradigm solely motivated by profit or so-called remittances. Consequently, SALAG is a direct action of labor against the biggest fraud by governments against migrant workers rights that is the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD).

Global Unions

Global unions are international trade union organizations working together with a shared commitment to the organize workers, defend human and workers rights, and promote promote trade unionism. There are eleven established global unions organized along industry / sector lines. These are the following: Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), Education International (EI), International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Union (ICEM), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), International Trasnport Workers’ Federation (ITF), International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF), International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), Public Services International (PSI), Union Network International (UNI), International Arts and Entertainment Allianc (IAEA).

Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong and from other countries are here in Manila to confront the Philippine government on its labor export policy and the inhuman working conditions the domestic workers are subjected to in their workplaces. The organized Filipino domestic workers from Hong Kong are here in Manila in time for the opening of the 2^nd Global Forum on Migration tomorrow, 27 October 2008.

Hundreds of Filipino domestic workers supported by local and international trade unions will troop to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay on 27 October 2008, at 2:00pm. Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong will lambast the government’s policy of exporting migrant workers like commodities while living off on the hard-earned remittances of migrant workers. “Kinakalakal kami ng gobyerno na parang mga saging at pinya upang magtrabaho sa ibang bansa at pinakikinabangan ng gobyerno ang perang pinapadala namin sa bansa”, says Maryjane Forendo, Filipino Domestic Workers Union-APL. The more than US$15 billion remittances coming from Filipino migrant workers is keeping the country’s economy afloat especially at this time of global financial crisis.

Sending workers to work abroad was initially a temporary policy during the Marcos period to ease the pressure of unemployment in the country. At present, labor migration has become a huge industry in the country with millions of Filipinos dependent on foreign remittances. It has become the main employment strategy of the country.

Domestic workers likewise bewail the inhuman working conditions in their countries of work. Domestic foreign workers in Hong Kong and in other countries work as long as 24 hours while others are systematically abused by their employers. “Domestic work is work, not slavery. Hindi kami pumunta sa ibang bansa at iwanan ang aming mga pamilya para magtrabaho at hindi maging alipin,” Lori Brunio, Chair, Filipino Community Services and Information Network, vehemently asserts. Most countries have no legislations on standard working hours and minimum wage for domestic work. Some domestic workers are even deprived of basic human freedoms such as movement, adequate living conditions and humane treatment. “This is not only violation of core labour rights but abuse of human rights!”, states Balotte Mirafuentes, organizer of domestic workers in Hong Kong for the Alliance of Progressive Labor.

The Filipino, Indonesian and Thai domestic workers in Hong Kong are now organizing into trade unions to avail of the basic core labor rights for decent work and protection of their human rights. The organized domestic workers are demanding protection because even their employment contracts are violated. The domestic workers demand the respect of their rights as workers and their rights unionize. Specifically, the organized domestic workers are demanding standardized employment contracts; a just living wage; good working conditions; protection from unscrupulous recruiters; institute criminal sanctions against illegal recruiters; and social security policies from the governments. As the governments meet to discuss the future of migration in development on the GFMD, domestic workers demand decent work and equal treatment. “Domestic workers are human beings. We are not robots or commodities that are just traded among governments”, Lori, a Filipino domestic worker, said.

The Filipino domestic workers organized by APL are here in Manila in time for the 2^nd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) from 27-30 October 2008 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). The trade unions in the Philippines such as the Alliance of Progressive Labor and the various migrant organizations here and abroad are critical of the GFMD where government officials are expected to participate. The civil society groups, after being prohibited to conduct parallel events in Manila, perceive that the government meeting will not result to any substantial change to the plight of migrant workers. “The GFMD is nothing but a futile exercise and a talkshop for government officials ignoring migrants’ rights and welfare,” says Josua Mata, Secretary-General of the Alliance of Progressive Labor.

Domestic migrant workers based in Europe are also here in Manila to express their solidarity with the Asian migrant workers as well as to decry and oppose the new EU Directive on migration. The EU Directive on expulsion of irregular migrant workers working in Europe is practically seeking to criminalize the labor migration the European fortress.

The international and local domestic workers’ organizations will collectively march to the Department of Foreign Affairs at 2pm, 27 October 2008.

Signed:

Alliance of Progressive of Labor (APL)

Filipino Domestic Workers Union-APL

Filipino Community Services and Information Network (FILCOMSIN)

RESPECT Network in Europe

Workers are set to pour out into the streets of Manila tomorrow, October 27, to denounce the biggest fraud being concocted by governments against migrant workers rights – the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD).

At least 10,000 workers, including 200 representatives of Global Unions from around the world, are expected to march from Liwasan Bonifacio to the PICC where they intend to deliver the labor movements’ position on migration, development and human rights.

The Solidarity Action of Labor against GFMD or SALAG will lead the rally.

Leaders of SALAG questioned the existence of the GFMD process. Apart from developing international instruments enforceable by the labor movement, the workers believe that all that is needed is for governments to ratify and implement the ILO core conventions and the UN conventions on human rights and development.

The GFMD has no right to talk about migration, development and human rights when migrant workers themselves are not present in this forum.

According to SALAG leaders, the GFMD is a forum meant to legitimize a remittance-driven development strategy. This is a flawed strategy has not redounded to national development and instead has resulted in grave social costs and has led to massive “brain drain” and even “brain waste”. As a means of job generation, it has become a sorry excuse for government to abandon the goals of full employment and local industrialization.

With the clear and present danger of the financial meltdown and economic recession in the US going global, the weakness of labor export strategy is further exposed as the rights and welfare of the migrant workers of the world are imperiled once more.

SALAG reiterates that workers are not commodities that are to be traded but human beings with fundamental rights! Thus instead of labor export policy, governments should promote full employment through sustainable development.

The rally organizers promised that tomorrow’s march will be festive.

SALAG is a broad labor formation in the Philippines created to respond to issues on migration and development. SALAG includes the Labor Alliance for Better Order and Reform (LABOR), the different Philippine public sector unions affiliated with the Public Services International, and the Solidarity of Union and Labor Organization for New Government (SULONG).

Member Organizations of SALAG

Labor Alliance for Better Order and Reform (LABOR)

· Partido ng Manggagawa

· National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE)

Public Services International Affiliates in the Philippines

· Alliance of Filipino Workers (AFW)

· Alliance of Government Workers in the Water Sector (AGWWAS)

· Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU)

· Manila Water Employees’ Union (MWEU)

· Maynilad Water Supervisors’ Association (MWSA)

· NAPOCOR Employees Consolidated Union (NECU)

· Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA)

· Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK)

Solidarity of Union and Labor Organization for New Government (SULONG)

· Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

· Association of Genuine Labor Organizations (AGLO)

· Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)

· Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Pilipinas (KPMP)

· Liga ng Manggagawa

· Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN)

LABOR groups from across the political spectrum are likely to set aside their differences at least for the meantime if the government and employers continue with the plans to formulate a “restrictive” implementing rules and regulations of the Republic Act No. 9481, which will water down its pro-union provisions, and to push Congress to weaken this law by amending it or even to repeal it outright.

This was emphasized by the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) in the wake of growing concerns from various trade union organizations that statements from top officials of both the Department of Labor and Employment and several powerful business groupings are pointing to one common direction: To “dilute” if not covertly undermine the still unfinished IRR of RA 9481, and thus to “mitigate” its alleged “adverse effects.”

Twisting RA 9481: `Widening the decent work deficits’

Any attempt to “distort” the spirit and intent of RA 9481 would even be more unfortunate amid the launching today, Oct. 13, of the “The Philippine Common Agenda (2008-2010) on Narrowing Decent Work Deficits.” This will be a tripartite activity comprising of representatives from the government, business and labor, including the APL and the Manila office of the International Labor Organization.

In fact, several RA 9481 provisions are among the long list of recommendations on freedom of association that was propounded by the ILO to a succession of Philippine governments, including in the ILO’s 2007 Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR).

Incidentally, the Philippines has ratified as early as Dec. 29, 1953 both the ILO Conventions 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, 1948) and 98 (Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, 1949).

“It would indeed be a shame for the Philippine government to renege on its obligation to follow and fully implement the said internationally recognized ILO Conventions by altering and sabotaging RA 9481,” APL asserted.

Key provisions

Hailed as a breakthrough for the sluggish trade union movement, RA 9481 - “An Act Strengthening the Workers’ Constitutional Right to Self-Organization” - is the latest of the many revisions to the Labor Code of the Philippines, from the original Presidential Decree No. 442 in 1974.

RA 9481 has relaxed and lessened the once too strict and complex prerequisites for union recognition and the grounds for its cancellation as well as the accreditation of labor federations. Likewise, while still grouped within their own separate unions, the rank and file and supervisory workers are now permitted to join the same federation.

This new law has also hastened union organizing of federations or national unions by simply allowing them to issue charter certificates to their prospective local chapters. In addition, RA 9481 could now put a stop to the management’s much abused dilatory and disruptive tactics against union formation and recognition, and collective bargaining efforts - endless appeals, petitions and motions for reconsiderations to the DOLE and the courts; and harassing, blackmailing, bribing or firing from work the identified local union leaders.

For instance, even a petition for revoking union registration, which was habitually resorted to by management, “shall (no longer be able to) suspend the proceedings for certification election (CE) nor shall it prevent the filing of a petition for certification election (PCE),” the first formal step in establishing a union.

To thwart the usual witch-hunting of management versus local leaders during the early and critical organizing stage in both “organized and unorganized establishments,” RA 9481 has authorized that “(i)n cases where the (PCE) was filed by a national union or federation, it shall not be required to disclose the names of the local chapter’s officers and members.” Of course, the chapter should have a charter certificate, has submitted to the DOLE other pertinent documents, and all the union members will eventually be known
either during or after the CE.

As an added assurance that employers will find it difficult to disrupt at will, like before, the organizing process, RA 9481 has a specific provision that describes their participation in the PCE-CE route as a “bystander.” Hence, “(i)n all cases, whether the (PCE) is filed by an employer or a legitimate labor organization, the employer shall not be considered a party thereto with a concomitant right to oppose a (PCE).”

The employer’s role “in such proceedings shall be limited to being notified or informed of (the) petitions.; and submitting the list of employees during the pre-election conference should the Med-Arbiter act favorably on the petition.”

Other significant provisions that removed unwarranted bases for canceling union registration include the incompetence (non-submission of reports, etc.) and misdeeds of certain union officials, and the inclusion as union members the employees outside the collective bargaining unit or CBU.

In both cases, under RA 9481, union registration will no longer be invalidated by law: The offending union leaders will be punished accordingly and individually but without dragging down the entire organization; while those mistakenly included in the CBU will merely be “automatically deemed removed from the list of membership of said union.” “By eliminating unreasonable grounds for the cancellation of union registration,
unionization drives are strengthened and the ability of the employers to unjustly avoid unionization will decline,” the APL said.

Hard-fought and well-deserved gains

The legislative bill from which RA 9481 evolved formally became a law 30 days after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo neither vetoed nor signed it, which allowed the bill to become a law “by default” on May 25, 2007.

Though unabashedly pro-capitalist, Arroyo’s seeming “inaction and disinterest” here actually reflects the wishy-washy character of her regime, as confirmed by the later statements of then Labor Secretary Arturo Brion, the APL revealed.

The former DOLE chief and now a Supreme Court justice was quoted then as saying that the government let the bill to “lapse into law” so as not to disturb the “(industrial) peace” that the country supposedly “enjoys.”

He added that if Arroyo had vetoed the bill, it could “incur the ire of all shades of unions and give them common cause against the administration.” Conversely, if Arroyo had signed the bill into law, the employers will undoubtedly rise as one in opposing an “anti-business” measure.

But the APL warned that the “true stand” of the Arroyo regime and what it is now “brewing” regarding this issue could be seen in what Brion described as that the impasse - where there is still no IRR and therefore the law has no clear guidelines yet - has given Malacañang the opportunity to rectify the “flaws” of RA 9481, most probably through a priority bill in the current 14th Congress to either amend or repeal the said law.

Responding to the accusation of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) that the RA 9481 was enacted in a “questionable and sneaky manner,” the APL - the leading advocate of that measure in both chambers of Congress - said that the bill has actually undergone long and tedious process, starting as early as the 11th Congress as a house bill (HB 1351) and later a Senate version was adopted (SB 2466) but only in the 13th Congress.

The APL clarified that numerous and open labor committee hearings and other public forums were held prior to the passing of a unified House-Senate bill.

More importantly, the APL declared that “coming at a time when workers are drowning in a sea of continuing repression and political-economic uncertainty, at a time when workers continue to endure falling living standards and skyrocketing prices, a law that strengthens the workers’ right to organize and unionize is indeed timely and absolutely justifiable. After all, unions remain the primary and collective instrument of workers to defend and advance their rights.”