Workers urge junking of Assumption of Jurisdiction Order and other repressive labor laws

In a protest action at the Department of Labor and Employment this morning, members of Kilusang Mayo Uno National Capital Region chapter again reiterated their calls for the junking of the Assumption of Jurisdiction Order and other repressive labor laws that continue to restrain legitimate trade union rights of workers in factories and workplaces.

According to KMU Executive Vice President Joselito Ustarez, DOLE have effectively suppressed numerous workers strikes by enforcing the harshest rulings against unions and labor leaders initiating collective actions aimed at uplifting the living and working conditions of workers.
“While DOLE is boasting of achieving the lowest strike incidence last year for the past 26 years, it allowed the most violent dispersal to happen at Hacienda Luisita. For us, lesser strikes mean further brutality and repression towards workers.”

The labor leader said they are firm in demanding for the resignation of Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas from DOLE for her notorious record as the worst Labor Chief in the entire history of the labor movement. “She is even worse than Labor Minister Blas Ople during the Marcos’ dictatorship period. Her anti-worker performance could not compare to any past labor executives. She is an outright advocate of labor migration, globalization, trade union repression, wage freeze policy and other anti-worker policies. The condition of workers changed not for the better but from bad to worse.”

A petition signing campaign calling for the removal of Sto. Tomas from DOLE is circulating among labor unions nationwide. “As soon as possible we will be handing the signatures over to the Congress and Senate Committees on Labor and Employment. We will call for congressional efforts to remove Sto. Tomas from her position.

Ustarez said that workers will launch a protest at Mendiola on Thursday, January 14 to highlight the labor movement’s continuing fight for justice for the victims of Luisita Massacre that claimed the lives of 7 strikers at the Hacienda Luisita picketline last November 16 following a violent dispersal by police and military elements. Last January 5, 2 unionists were shot at the picketline by still unidentified men. The strikers suppose the suspects as thugs of the Cojuangco family.