MANILA — Apart from the threat of massive retrenchment, global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s buyout of rival Wyeth would also result in higher drug prices as the giant firm would further control the drug industry. This was the contention of Wyeth workers and the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), who recently held their seventh picket-protest at Wyeth’s…
Category: Labor & Employment
Questions Linger on Murder of Attaché
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Finardo Cabilao was known for investigating allegations of abuses committed against OFWs in Malaysia. He often went out on a limb for these OFWs. Relatives, friends and nongovernment groups believe that Cabilao was brutally murdered because of this.
As Workers Reel from Layoffs, They Find Enemy – Not Ally – in Labor Department
By MARYA SALAMAT
The massive layoffs in the Philippines brought about by the global financial crisis and the increasing appetite of companies for more profit have exposed yet again the Arroyo regime’s sympathy not for workers but for capitalists. And instead of ensuring that workers’ rights are protected, the Department of Labor and Employment has become an even more willing tool by companies to satisfy their greed.
News in Pictures: ‘Defend Job Philippines’
Workers hold a picket on Wednesday to call attention to the growing number of those who lost their jobs and livelihood due to the global financial crisis. The workers, who marched to the labor department in Intramuros and later to Mendiola, are members of a movement called “Defend Job Philippines,” an alliance that promises to…
As Wyeth-Pfizer Merger Looms, Workers in Philippines Fret Over Their Jobs
By MARYA SALAMAT
Hundreds of workers at Wyeth, the pharmaceutical giant, have been holding protest pickets to seek guarantees for their jobs and the survival of their 50-year-old union as the company sets to merge with Pfizer.
Arroyo’s Claim of ‘8 Million Jobs Created’ a Statistical Hocus-Pocus
In her recent State of the Nation Address, President Arroyo claimed to have created eight million jobs, or an average of a million jobs per year in the past eight years. But where exactly did this figure come from? A closer look at the government’s own data yields a statistical distortion.
Peasants and Workers in Long March for Land, Decent Jobs
Days before the Sona, thousands of farmers, workers, students and activists braved the heat and the rain as they marched from the provinces of Southern Tagalog to Commonwealth Avenue. The march, called Lakbayan, is their way of fighting the regime’s abuses and asserting their basic rights.
Sick Filipina Maid, 6 Others, ‘Hostaged’ by Employment Agency in Middle East
In February, Maribel Figaroa and several other Filipino women went to Oman to work as domestic helpers. Instead of gainful employment, they ended up being abused and exploited by the placement agency that brought them there.
Sona 2009: “Arroyo’s Presidency Is an Extended, Cruel Joke”
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA — “Support Con-Ass. Cha-Cha is good for you. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a good president. Send it to 20 of your friends and within two days, you will lose all of your friends,” said a text joke read by lawyer Remigio Saladero in a forum held by progressive labor activists and…
Majority of New Jobs Created Non-Earning, Low-Paying, Part-Time Work
MANILA — Some 1.3 million or the overwhelming majority of the supposedly 1.5-million new jobs created since last year are actually non-earning, poorly earning or otherwise insecure jobs including part-time work, according to research group IBON. In April 2009, 540,000 of the jobs created were either unpaid family work (394,000) or domestic household help (146,000).…
News in Pictures: Workers at KFC Matalino Up in Arms Vs Management
Workers at the KFC branch along Matalino Street in Quezon City hold a picket in front of the fast-food chain to protest unfair labor practices by the management. Among their complaints are contractualization. (Photo by Raymund Villanueva / bulatlat.com)