We are a young institute that serves the Philippine workers and wants to assist them to stand up for their basic rights. The vast majority of the Filipino workers are contractual workers, which still believe that having a contractual job is a privilege.
We are workers, labor lawyers, human rights workers and lawyers, labor organizers, one teachers, one doctor and one sister. Our whole professional life we stood up for the rights of the common people, the workers, the farmers consistently to make them vocal.
The institute LARIDE-inc. wil be an expression, a support of these aspirations in the light of a globalized world in which the majority of the Filipino workers are contractualized, with the net effect of becoming cheap, docile labor without livable wages and no security in anyway.
We focus on the rights of the contractual workers. Through the internationalization of trade, labor followed suite. This is specifically translated in the flexibility of labor. Basically you can be deployed anywhere in the world. The reality however tells us that it is the developed world that is looking for cheaper but skilled labor in the less developed countries because their own labor force is depleted. Of course they have a migration problem at hand. They want to hire people to work in their countries without the benefit of full integration. There at least shows that the internationalization and the mondialization is only a stage in the development of monopolization of the world economy in the hands of fewer multinationals. The use of an international labor force through migrant labor partially follows this trend and answers the needs. They definitely prefer contractual labor.
In the meantime in the Philippines as in many other countries there is a huge surplus of labor-force. The transnationals are looking for a production outside the developed countries, as long as the labor is cheap. The third world governments developed a rat race of who can produce cheaper and more docile labor. The flexibility, contractualization schemes became a target in their own. Many forms of open en covert repression are developed to not allow workers to organize themselves, not to become regular workers and reducing the unions in their strength and bargain power.
The focus of the work should be exactly on the flexibility scheme specifically contractual labor in all its forms and it effects on the domestic labor force. The globalization of the economy brings with it the need for flexible and hence contractual labor. In the Philippines we are still coming to terms with this new challenge. As with other third world countries we are being pushed against the wall to accept to deliver cheap, docile and contractual labor. We are ones more at the exploited end of the world economy. The unions are losing very fast their membership through contractualization and Philippine brand of unionism of general unions and CBA negotiations per factory have become a business of the past.
If we further narrow down the initial scope, then we see appear a reality that the majority of the workers in the Philippines, in big and small scale industry, agri-business, agriculture and services are being pushed into a flexible scheme which is called contractual labor, labor only contracting and the wild grow of labor recruiting organizations. This whole scheme is insufficiently investigated and insufficiently protected by the national labor laws.
To underscore the seriousness of the situation we want to doa deep research on the affect of all of these on the lives of the workers and their families.
The majority of the Philippine work force is left to fend for itself.
They can form their own associations, but they do not have the right to form unions. They are not paid the minimal wage, do not get the SSS benefits, official holiday pay or retirement pay. Decent housing is totally out of the picture and social security and wage are pipe dreams, or not?
An important part of the focus will be the struggle for the equal legal rights of the contractual workers as being given to the regular workers.
International Labor Standards on conventions of labor rights are very instrumental challenges in campaigning locally and internationally for decent livable wages, right to self-organize for all and right of collective bargaining.
Labor and local governance. We also want to work on the participation of the workers in local governance. Local governance at the moment is instrumental to recrute workers for the industrialists, making sure the recrutes are docile, not organized and wiling to work at preset conditions. Once the workers will be directly involved in the local governance they can turn the tables and become a demanding party.
The democratic challenge in the first place is directed towards the existing government labor organizations as DOLE, the labor relations commissions, the regional wage boards etc, and if they are really democratic functional organizations and institutions. Or are they staffed with people which loyalty lies with the incumbent government and party political alliances.
The existing unions and federations are being confronted with the internationalization of the economy and the flexibilization, contractualization of labor. They have to come to terms with that specific development, stop the infighting and should join hands in struggling for a labor movement for all.
The state machinery especially the legislative agenda should be geared towards working out labor laws that benefit the total working class and that prevents the further illegalization of the contractual labor.
The state should foresee strong enforcement measures to stop the many illegal schemes and recruitment agencies.
The workers should be fully informed on their rights or lack of them, so that they can intervene to defend or stand up for their legitimate and democratic rights.
The workers should be prepared to participate in national and international struggles in defense of their rights as major participants in the world trade.
The work will initially start in Metro Manila and Cavite. Initially Manila and Cavite, because they are easily accessible and we have established contacts on the union level and the problem of contractual labor is an element of focus. In Cavite we talk specifically of the multinationals and the contractualization of labor, even involving the local government. In Manila we talk of the fisheries in Navotas, Malabon, the local industry in Valenzuela and child labor in those areas. We are also putting up a support system for independent unions, or unions in formation.We are also talking of different labor advocate groups being based in Manila, and labor study groups, congress and senate, labor department, etc.
However will reach out to the whole Philippines. We want to concentrate on research of contractual labor and the direct effcts on the lifes of the people.
We will definitely bring the problem to the international level, because the ILO sets the labor standards on a higher level the national standards, the WTO has a whole different set of standards. Both tend to reinforce one another. The international labor organizations and its trade centers are used to divide the world in the West, the East, the South and the North of the West and they are playing it by regional differences without taking substantial clear positions.
Next to research we want to engage in information and education campaigns, study circles, and vmost important together with the workers and the unions struggle for a revised labor law that matches the International Standards and protects all th workers in the Philippines.
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Labor Rights and Democracy (LARIDE) Tel: 6711415 E-mail: rutger@edsamail.com.ph |
