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1 May 2003
Tens of thousands of workers
belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) together with the
broad alliance called Task Force May 1 marched in the streets of Manila,
Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao to commemorate the centennial anniversary
of Labor Day in the Philippines.
A hundred years ago, the Union Obrera Democratico de Filipinas (UODF)
spearheaded the rally of hundreds of thousands of men and women workers,
peasants, fisher folks, and other toiling Filipinos in front of Malacañang,
to insist, among others, trade union rights, just wages, eight hours work
per day, the recognition of May 1 as the International Labor Day and the
country’s freedom from US colonial rule.
“After a hundred years,
we are still confronted by wholesale attacks on workers’ and trade union
rights as the country’s sovereignty is still being undermined,”
Daniel l. Edralin, APL Chairperson said.
APL workers held a mass die-in in Mendiola to dramatize the impact of all
policies that undermine workers’ rights and the country’s sovereignty. The
war in Mindanao; the country’s continuing commitment to the free trade
policies of the WTO; the government’s irresponsible support for US
military aggression; the 10-year strike moratorium proposed by certain
sections of the employers; and the “Terror Bills” now pending in Congress
are but some of major issues raised by the workers.
During the program in Mendiola, the workers also vowed to fight the “new
labor code” which considers workers’ rights – the right to organize,
collective bargain and to strike – as “market rigidities” that must be
eliminated.
“We will continue to press government to reorient its policies away from
its discredited economic agenda that caused massive loss of jobs,
plummeting real wages and skyrocketing water and power rates,” Josua Mata,
APL Secretary General, said.
The APL, together with Task Force May 1, will hold a series of mass
actions in Congress and Malacañang to realize its demands.
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