The Pinoy Worker in a Flat World, part two

There's an interesting article written by Isagani de Castro Jr. about the Philippine labor movement. In his article (published at http://www.abs-cbn.com, look for it in the article archive section), de Castro wrote why the movement right now is very weak. He interviewed many analysts, including Rene Magtubo of the Partido Manggagawa and found that there's a decrease in union membership (from a high of 3 million or 10% of the work force to about 1.8 million in 2006) as well as labor activity.

Magtubo says unions are slowly beginning to shift tactics, from militancy to conservatism. He says that some union members are convinced that militancy is not the way to go to demand higher wages or improvements in labor standards.

Meanwhile, labor expert Rene Ofreo believes that the changing economic landscape is the prime factor for the decline in the labor movement. Ofreo says that companies have relied more on contractual or temporary workers instead of hiring full-time employees, thereby, avoiding the dangers of unionism. This, I think, violates the labor code of the Philippines. The government discourages contractualization. Probably government's laxity in enforcement can be attributable to the dismal economic state of the country, which Ofreo agrees.

Yesterday's rally shows you how fragmented RP's labor movement is right now. You see one side demanding for higher wages and more non-wage benefits while another calls for a systems-change. Such a discordant lot. It has been a while since we saw a labor movement that agrees on just one platform.

A fragmented labor movement impacts on the overall struggle of the people for change. It exposes Pinoy workers to the dangers of abuse. Unions are supposed to protect the rights of workers against abusive labor practices. Yet, how can it do so when its beginning to lose its direction and concomitantly, its membership?

Losing constituency means less means to lobby. Less means to lobby means more points for companies. More points for companies means more abusive and repressive tactics against Pinoy workers.

Furthermore, I think the deeper split within the labor front can be traced as far back as 1989 when the CPP-NPA-NDF broke into two (2) factions. This split created a serious rift also in the labor front. Likewise, the death of such fine labor leaders like Filemon "Popoy" Lagman and others created a serious vacuum in leadership that surviving labor leaders still struggle to fill in.

What the Philippine labor movement needs right now is inspiring leadership. Labor groups should train their young cadres to fill responsible positions in the unions. Instead of fielding them in national organisations such as Bayan Muna or Sanlakas, there is a need for more political work in the labor front. Should they fail to do so, we will see a further decline in the numbers. When that happens, these national organisations will also lose a valuable base of support which they have relied on since the 1960's.