A big labor group on Monday said that it was ending its annual regular dialogue with President Benigno Aquino III, saying there is nothing more that can be expected from the remaining 14 months in his administration.
Nagkaisa, the country’s largest coalition of trade union federations and labor organizations, said it will no longer meet with the President on Labor Day, May 1, an annual tradition practiced since 2012.
“No more breakfast or luncheon meeting with the President this coming May 1. The last three years of engagement satisfied the form but produced no substance,” the Nagkaisa said in a press statement.
Partido Ng Manggagawa spokesperson Wilson Fortaleza said that various labor groups will concentrate on Labor Day all its forces for the big March to Malacanang to seek justice for the 40 million workers whose fight for jobs and job security, living wage, trade union rights and decent working and living conditions remain unheeded.
Nagkaisa said that since 2012, the group has sincerely pursued dialogues with the Palace, hoping that issues brought directly to the President might speed up the resolution of age-old problems besetting labor.
“We have proven otherwise that while the Palace doors are open for dialogue, the people in power inside maintains a close mind with regard to proposed changes on policies being pursued by labor,” the labor group said.
These changes include Nagkaisa’s demand for the President to certify as urgent the Security of Tenure bill to address the plague of contractualization that destroys job security and union rights.
The Palace played deaf on this demand while maintaining a ‘kid gloves’ policy in dealing with big companies as well as the proliferation of manpower agencies and cooperatives involved in outsourcing and labor-only contracting activities, Nagkaisa said.
The labor group said that Aquino has also failed to raise workers’ wages from the barest minimum despite record growth in the economy.
“The combined wealth of the country’s richest businessmen has grown by ten-fold yet workers’ wages remained at starvation levels,” said Nagkaisa.
The real value of the NCR minimum wage of P466 is P354 only while a family of five need more than a thousand pesos living wage to enjoy a decent life.
Nagkaisa likewise demanded a reduction in power rates with concrete proposals on how to do it. But Malacanang stood powerless in the face of private power.
There is no dramatic change in the unemployment rate under PNoy, said Nagkaisa. In fact, the unemployment rate of 7.5% in 2014 is higher than the unemployment rates of 5.2% in 1976, 6.7% in 1986, and 7.3% when PNoy assumed office in 2010.
Unemployment is also highest among youth (52% in SWS survey) while participation rate of women in the labor force remained flat for half of its population of 15 years and above.