By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA — In their concluding press briefing early this month, the high-level mission from the International Labor Organization expressed appreciation for the “full cooperation and extensive information provided to it” by the Philippine government, its agencies and the workers’ and employers’ organizations. Now, the battle between the “contradictory statements concerning violence…
Tags: Kilusang Mayo Uno
In Proposals, ILO Puts Burden of Respecting Workers’ Rights on Arroyo Regime
By MARYA SALAMAT
A high-level team of the UN’s International Labor Organization has proposed, among others, trainings and “continuing education” for the Philippine police, military, the judiciary and the labor department on how to respect union rights and uphold labor laws.
Sidebar: Responses to ILO High-Level Mission
Reyes, Nograles, Mikey on oil price hike: All bark, no bite
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, House Speaker Prospero Nograles and Congressman Mikey Arroyo seemed to have their roles down pat by now. When the big three oil companies raised oil prices yet again this Oct. 20, despite the disaster-wracked times and despite charges of persistent overpricing thrown their way, these three government officials just continued their role – speak like they want to change the situation but allow the oil companies to have their own profitable way in the end.
As Philippines Reels from Calamity, ‘Big Three’ Hike Oil Prices; ‘Greed’ Denounced
By MARYA SALAMAT
While the government bears down on small businesses and producers, warning them against profiteering in the wake of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, it has allowed Shell, Caltex and Petron to increase oil prices at will.
News in Pictures: Workers Demand Justice for Slain, Arrested Unionists
Carrying the pictures of their loved ones, relatives of slain and arrested union leaders and unionists demanded justice for workers who suffered “state-sponsored” repression under the Arroyo regime during a protest march to Mendiola last Sept. 18. The said protest, led by Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), was part of the campaign to highlight violations of…
News in Pictures: KMU Urges Gov’t to Pay PhilHealth Arrears
Members of the Kilusang Mayo Uno hold a protest outside the Philhealth’s office in Pasig to demand that the Arroyo regime pay its P19.2 billion in arrears to the health-insurance agency. (Photos courtesy of KMU)
Apart from Layoffs, Higher Drug Prices Feared in Pfizer Buyout of Wyeth
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…
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.
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.
For Triumph’s Workers, a Bleak Future Made Worse by DOLE’s Complicity
The employees at Triumph International who are about to lose their jobs are wringing their hands over what awaits them in these difficult times. They are likewise upset that the labor department, instead of helping them, has been assisting the German company in its machinations to get rid of its workers.
Wilson Baldonaza: Philippine Progressive Labor’s Great Educator, Leader
Ka Wilson was a dropout from a poor family in Tarlac. But that did not stop him from becoming one of the most intelligent and passionate leaders of the progressive labor movement in the Philippines. Not even his sickness, to which he succumbed this week at the age of 55, prevented him from pursuing the Filipino workers’ struggle that he waged all his life.