Statement on the World Day of Decent Work

Today, the workers of the Philippines join hands with the workers of different countries in our collective fight against precarious work.

This day, more than 300 workers marched near the presidential palace in Manila to express solidarity with the 2,600 workers of the Philippine Airlines who were laid off from work as a result of the company’s contractualization via outsourcing scheme. We condemned the collusion among President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, big capitalist Lucio Tan and yellow union leaders for the implementation of this anti-worker scheme.

This struggle is not only the fight of the PAL workers, but the fight of the Filipino workers and people who are facing mass layoffs, contractualization, and attacks on trade-union rights.

We also mourn the deaths today of the yet-unidentified number of workers of Keppel (Philseco) shipyard in Central Luzon. We condemn the company for their grave violation on occupational health and safety standards. This morning, the shipyard workers were crushed to death when a 42-ton ramp collapsed and fell on them. The national media reported five people dead and eight wounded. Local union organizers estimate, however, that the casualty is twice of that number. KMU and other trade union organizations are now preparing for a fact-finding mission in order to have an independent investigation of the accident.

In Philex Mining, a worker was trapped in a cave today. His co-workers were able to rescue him. Although the past two storms that hit Northern Philippines loosened the soil there, the monopoly-capitalist mining company should be blamed for putting workers in extreme danger.

The corporate greed of imperialists and big local capitalists as well as local governments’ hands-off policy perpetrates precarious work. They press down workers’ wages, attack job security and trample on trade-union rights to boost profits. They have become more rapacious and brutal with the explosion of the current grave economic crisis. Under a system dominated by them, workers in the Philippines and around the world are always risking our lives to feed our families.

As we join our fellow workers around the world in fighting for decent work, we vow to fight for justice for the recent victims of precarious work in the Philippines. We uphold the need for workers to build genuine unions and for us to unite with other sectors so that we can protect and advance our rights and interests.

Struggle for decent work!

No to contractualization!

Justice for victims of precarious work!