Continuing layoffs, distorted gov’t priorities render GDP growth data senseless

For workers who continue to suffer massive job cuts, depressed wages and poor employment opportunities, the recent data on economic growth is just another bad joke by the Arroyo regime, according to labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno.

KMU said the reported 1.5 percent GDP growth from April to June contrasts with the waves of retrenchment during the same period, the most striking case of which is the massacre of 18,000 jobs in export-processing zones.

“Public funds were poured into huge construction projects, which definitely failed to soothe the hunger of millions of Filipinos and which indicate that the regime is preparing for the elections, for infrastructure projects are known for their vulnerability to corruption,” said KMU Chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog.

“Workers have no reason to be happy with the news of slight growth in the previous quarter. Whether there is economic growth of not, the labor sector continues to suffer the same abject plight. Instead of recognizing our situation, the regime has again chosen to show us Disneyland.

“It is simply meaningless for us who continue to bear the brunt of the global economic downturn even as corporate profits increase,” he added.

Labog said the Arroyo regime’s pump-priming measures should never be credited for the supposed growth since it only bloated the growing number of Filipinos who are “employed” in low-paying, temporary and poor-quality jobs while draining public funds from much-needed social services.

“In the face of the worsening crisis, the Arroyo regime has chosen to construct grand infrastructure projects instead of prioritizing food, healthcare and other social services for the poor. This is simply a distorted approach to the crisis, clearly indicating Arroyo’s subservience to crisis prescriptions of the IMF and the World Bank to create better infrastructure for attracting foreign investors,” he said.

“And with the continuing wave of retrenchments, there can be no ‘economic rebound’ that workers will feel, contrary to what Finance Secretary Teves is claiming. We, instead, are bound to suffer far worse conditions with the Arroyo regime’s sheer inaction on our demand to stop layoffs and massive contractualization,” he added.

KMU cited the threat of massive retrenchment of North Harbor port workers with the port’s privatization, as well as the looming layoff of thousands of workers in Wyeth and Pfizer amid the buyout. ###