Contractualization, repression behind ‘peaceful’ 2011 labor relations

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno disputed today the Labor Department’s claim that the reduction of work stoppages last year is due to successful arbitration and adjudication efforts by the government, saying contractualization and repression have hampered workers’ efforts to launch strikes.

Calling 2011 “the most peaceful year for industrial relations in the country’s history,” with only two strikes recorded, Department of Labor and Employment Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz praised the “successful and effective conciliation-mediation efforts of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board.”

“There goes the Labor Department’s spin doctors again. They are praising so-called peaceful methods for results that were achieved through repressive means,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“Contractualization has made it difficult for workers to form unions and launch strikes, as it enabled capitalists to easily fire workers. The labor secretary’s assumption of jurisdiction over labor disputes subjects workers to harsh punishment for fighting for their rights,” he added.

“Workers have also been concentrated in special economic zones which have their own, more repressive, labor laws. These zones are enclaves of contractualization, where capitalists and the government actively thwart the formation of unions,” he said.

A challenge

KMU said that it is a challenge to Filipino workers to form more unions and launch more strikes despite severe repression.

“Attacks on workers’ wages, job security and trade-union rights will surely be met with strikes and the formation of more unions. We in the trade-union movement embrace the challenge of launching more strikes and building more unions in the coming years,” Labog said.

“The trade-union movement has been in a similar situation before. Despite severe repression under Martial Law, workers were able to launch a strike movement in the 1980s that strengthened the trade-union movement and weakened the Marcos dictatorship,” he added.

2011 attacks

KMU said 2011 witnessed more attacks on workers’ wages, job security and trade-union rights, with the government’s refusal to implement a significant wage hike, its support for the contractualization in the Philippine Airlines and its assumption of jurisdiction over the labor dispute in the flag carrier.

“Given the worsening condition of Filipino workers, the reduction in the number of strikes is not good news. It points to the intensifying repression that workers are facing,” Labog said.

“The number of strikes may have been reduced, but workers continue to struggle, using various forms of protests. Last year witnessed a growing number of workers joining and supporting street protests,” he added.