Labor groups push for ‘just transition’ in March for Climate Justice

Echoing the view of global trade unions that a shift to lower carbon economy is not just necessary but inevitable to address the worsening climate crisis, the coalition of labor groups Nagkaisa marched with multisectoral groups in the March for Climate Justice held in Quezon City this morning.

The group denounces corporate greed for spawning both a humanitarian and environmental crisis as manifested in the intensification of exploitative working conditions and the acceleration of climate change.

“When corporations rule under the framework of unlimited greed, workers endure the worst kind of exploitation. And when climate crisis worsened as tons of carbon are emitted into the atmosphere by oil and energy companies, mining and other hard industries, everyone suffers the brunt most particularly the poor people living in most vulnerable countries like the Philippines,” said Nagkaisa in a statement.

The group pointed out that while the country is less in carbon emission, her position of vulnerability can generate a powerful voice for demanding climate justice during negotiations.

“Unfortunately our government tailgated weakly behind the US position of simply having Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) process instead of playing hardball in pressing a return to binding cuts based on science and common but differential responsibility and which will limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” lamented Nagkaisa.

The group said that even with INDC process and actual submissions, the UNEP still anticipates a 4-6 degrees Celsius, rendering the COP ineffective.

Workers were also apprehensive of the fact that while governments are active in climate negotiations, the next one in Paris next week, most of them didn’t have a clear framework on how to fine-tune this transition to lower carbon economy in a manner acceptable to the people.

Nagkaisa is pushing the framework for a ‘just transition’ which promotes social justice and employment, requires active government intervention, and demands proportionate responsibility from all stakeholders, including business.

“The Philippines, for instance, has not explicitly declared a timeline to when fossil-fuelled power plants are finally phased out so that the transition is clearly plotted in favour of renewable energy and the creation of climate jobs,” the group said.

The coalition believes further that thousands of climate jobs can be created in the country in the shift to renewable energy, disaster response and building climate resilient communities that includes resettlement in climate-proof buildings and housing projects, as well as the greening of mass transport system.

“Funding is main requirement for this shift. In climate negotiations, the rich industrial nations must be made responsible in funding the transition of most vulnerable nations,” the group added.

Meanwhile, Nagkaisa said transition policies should not, in any way, transgress into the framework of decent work since regular job and social security help build the resiliency of many people against the wrath of Mother Nature.

COALITION OF 49 LABOR GROUPS URGES PUBLIC TO BOYCOTT LUCIO TAN OWNED PHILIPPINE AIRLINES

The Nagkaisa (United), the biggest labor coalition of labor groups and workers organizations from private and public sectors is urging the public to boycott businessman Lucio Tan owned Philippine Airlines (PAL) for embarking on another round of mass layoff, this most recent involve 117 employees working at domestic airports across the country.

It can be recalled that in 2011, more than 2,000 PAL employees lost their regular jobs when Lucio Tan implemented his outsourcing program. PALEA members resisted the outsourcing program until the labor dispute was finally resolved through a Settlement Agreement in 2013. Said Agreement has yet to be fully complied by PAL.

“We are urging our fellow countrymen travelling locally, our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), balikbayans and our friends in all non-government organizations and civil society organizations to boycott Lucio Tan’s Philippine Airlines (PAL) and temporarily cease patronizing its international and domestic passenger and cargo services until he recognizes the sanctity of PAL’s collective bargaining agreement as well as the settlement agreement with Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and respect for its workers’ rights,” Nagkaisa said in a statement.

The newly retrenched employees were called to a meeting on September 2 and handed on the spot their termination papers and told not to report for work anymore and were immediately replaced by agency-hired workers. This prompted PALEA members to hold mass mobilizations the following week at PAL main office at the PNB Building in Macapagal Boulevard, Pasay City and at its various offices around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in protest of the layoffs.

During its annual stockholders meeting held August 27 last month, management reported that PAL earned a total comprehensive income of US$20.4 million for the year 2014. Its main expenses were the purchase of more aircrafts and cost of jet fuel.

The same report said that in 2014 PAL ferried 9.6 million passengers on 73,685 flights during the year compared to only 5 million in 2013 while cargo also largely contributed to the income by carrying 162 million kilograms compared to 94.3 million kilograms in 2013— with increased domestic international flights from the US, Canada, Asia and the Middle East.

“Mr. Tan wants to improve his margin of profits further immediately upon wresting majority ownership of PAL from San Miguel Corporation in September last year by laying off anew its workers and their livelihood. But the coalition of labor groups within Nagkaisa will not allow Mr. Tan’s cruel disregard of PAL workers’ right to security of tenure and his brazen disrespect to its agreement. The coalition vows its full support to affected PALEA members and to all other PAL workers. We enjoin with the union’s fight for regular jobs and respect for collective bargaining agreement,” Nagkaisa said.

The coalition said the call to boycott PAL services is a peaceful and strong way of the general public’s expression of outrage over the anti-labor practice of Mr. Tan. It is also to remind Mr. Tan that firing company regular workers without due process is grave injustice and backing out from agreement is serious moral and legal misconduct.

NAGKAISA labor coalition calls on creation of a tripartite labor laws compliance inspection task force

The lives and the scathing injury of KENTEX workers are the heavy price for the complete breakdown of government’s labor laws enforcement and for the employers’ patent disregard to the mandatory laws on wages, social protection benefits and the statutory basic workplace safety guidelines.

The KENTEX factory workers’ deaths depict the abominable culture of indifference among many public servants and profit-oriented employers to enforce existing guidelines that uphold workers’ basic rights and well-being.

Therefore, we, the undersigned convenors of the NAGKAISA Labor Coalition, collectively call on Labor Secretary Baldoz to establish a tripartite “Task Force Valenzuela” (TFV) to undertake a surprise sweep and unannounced inspection of factories and plants in the City of Valenzuela to crack down on sweatshops.

In the light of the tragedy that befell our fellow workers in KENTEX, we believe that it now becomes imperative to verify employer compliance with all existing labor laws and safety standards, fire and building structure standards and to determine compliance with all other city requirements for the issuance of business permits and operational licenses.

Justice must now not just be for the KENTEX dead and their families but also for the countless workers nationwide who labor under the same pakyawan system (piecework basis) or through unregistered and unregulated labor manning agencies, to be deployed without any statutory benefits, least of all minimum wages, into firetraps where their lives are sacrificed on the altar of profits. Disposable lives and in the case of the KENTEX workers, thrown away.

We strongly believe that the immoral and illegal activities of the KENTEX owners are actually widespread in Valenzuela, and the inspections should begin in the very factory neighborhood where the fire occurred and with those firms also serviced by the unregistered manning agency. The inspections should also cover those firms that undertook voluntary self-assessments of their labor standard compliance. It is never the best way to enforce labor or safety standards by relying on the mere “say-so” of a very self-interested employer and factory owner.

This proposed crackdown in Valenzuela will have national resonance and will hopefully, by making an example of those who will be caught, ensure that labor standard compliance will be honored more in the practice, rather than in its breach.

We urge the DOLE to seize the historical opportunity to render justice not just for the KENTEX workers but to finally break the widespread culture and practice of corporate irresponsibility that made the loss of the workers lives not just immoral but evil and criminal.

– NAGKAISA Labor Coalition

Nagkaisa seeks justice for Kentex workers, blames partial privatization of labor inspection

#Justice4KentexWorkers! Justice for the #72workers killed at the Kentex fire!

Partial privatization of labor inspection, weak certification process and the endemic problem of corruption down to the local levels have consigned workers to precarious working conditions, including unnecessary deaths and accidents, the labor coalition Nagkaisa said in a statement.

The statement was issued in reaction to the statements made by the lawyer of Kentex Corp. and the labor department that the company has been compliant with safety standards.

Also this morning, members of Nagkaisa such as the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Sentro ng Nakakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro), Partido Manggagawa (PM), and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) offered flowers as an expression of sympathy and solidarity for the dead workers at the Kentex factory in Valenzuela City.

In a protest rally held afterwards, labor groups reiterated their call that aside from compensation, criminal liabilities be exacted among the perpetrators of this terrible crime, including the violation of other labor standards at Kentex.

According to Nagkaisa convenor Josua Mata, the relaxation of labor inspection through “self-assessment” under DOLE’s Department Order No. 57-04 has rendered toothless the supposedly tough safety standards required in workplaces.

The conduct of self-assessment, according to Mata, is voluntary and is based from a labor standard checklist conducted by representatives of employers and workers.

“This partial privatization of labor inspection promoted evasion rather than voluntary compliance, while self-assessment conducted by the management in generally non-unionized workplace simply won’t work,” said Mata.

This self-assessment, according to TUCP, is followed by a weaker compliance certification process under the jurisdiction of DOLE’s regional offices.

On his part, Partido Manggagawa (PM) chair Renato Magtubo noted that the DOLE’s “Labor Laws Compliance System” (LLCS) inaugurated in 2013 and the hike in the number of labor inspectors to almost 600 is still not working. An audit by the International Labor Organization in 2009 revealed that with only 193 labor inspectors to inspect 784,000 companies, an establishment gets inspected only once every 16 years.

“A big loophole in the so-called LLCS is the focus on ‘voluntary compliance’ and ‘self-assessment’ by employers. Voluntary compliance and self-assessment means that the government is asking the wolf to guard the sheep. No wonder the sheep get slaughtered,” Magtubo lamented.

BMP President Leody De Guzman averred that endemic corruption at all levels aggravates the problem of compliance.

“Regulatory capture has always been the antidote to strict compliance to regulation in this country,” said De Guzman.

Labor groups call for thorough investigation on Valenzuela fire that killed dozens of workers

PHOTO by RADYO INQUIRER 990AM/ERWIN AGUILON

A coalition of labor groups offered sympathies to the victims of a deadly fire in Valenzuela City as it called on concerned government agencies to conduct a fair, speedy but thorough investigation on this tragedy that caused death and injury to at least 60 workers.

“The high death toll from this inferno strongly indicates a complete breach of safety protocols required for industries. Life certainly matters, but justice for this kind of catastrophe goes beyond legally required compensation. Factory owners and industry regulators must be held criminally-liable for this tragedy,” said Renato Magtubo of Partido Manggagawa (PM), one of Nagkaisa! convenors.

Josua Mata of Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro) suggested that investigations do not just determine the cause of fire but must dig deeper into why dozens of workers were fatally trapped in the second floor of the factory building.

“The country’s occupational safety and health standards (OSHS) do not only require workplaces to be safe from hazardous and flammable substances but also must be equipped with necessary infrastructures that address emergencies like contamination, fire or explosions,” said Mata.

Initial reports said the fire came from the stock of chemicals in the first floor of the building where a welding work is also being done.

Alan Tanjusay of ALU-TUCP, on his part, said: “this tragedy could have been prevented had government agencies, which include the labor department and local government units, strictly enforced the OSHS requirements in workplaces.”

Leody De Guzman of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) advised the families of victims of Valenzuela fire to organize themselves and press charges against the owners of the footwear company.

The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) likewise called on concerned government agencies to extend the necessary financial and legal assistance to the victims.

The National Confederation of Labor (NCL) believed a substantial number of establishments all over the country are not compliant with occupational health safety standards because of corruption in government agencies.

Meanwhile Annie Geron of PSLINK, a confederation of public sector unions, bewailed the fact that quality public service, which include ensuring the safety of all workers at all times, remains missing or stuck in a state of downgraded priority in the government bureaucracy.

Workers to PNoy: Labor justice needs powerful execution, not endless dialogue

A big march to Malacanang with simultaneous actions in other cities nationwide marked today’s celebration of Labor Day as workers protested the government’s failure to address their bottom line issues such as jobs and job security, living wage, trade union rights, and decent working and living conditions.

In Manila, thousands of workers from different federations and labor organization comprising the Nagkaisa! coalition marched from Mabuhay Welcome Rotonda to Mendiola under the theme, “Hustisya sa Manggagawa at Sambayanan.”

The cry for justice, according to Nagkaisa!, is labor’s summation of failed engagement with President Aquino, whom the group insisted, “never stood on the side of labor since the PAL dispute in 2011” despite the rhetoric of ‘tuwid na daan’.

“President Aquino should have learned a valuable lesson from his last minute intervention on Mary Jane’s case. That in order to move a quixotic boulder up the mountaintop, a firm decision and solid determination is needed — a resolve he never had in addressing labor problems during the last five years in office,” said Partido Manggagawa (PM) chair Renato Magtubo and one of Nagkaisa! convenors.

The group disclosed earlier that none of labor’s bottom line issues such as contractualization, low wages and power rates reduction have been addressed by Malacanang after four years of dialogues.

“During the last five years we didn’t ask President Aquino to produce miracles. Yet a simple certification of pro-labor measure such as the Security of Tenure bill to regulate contractualization did not even warrant his attention,” said Frank Mero, President of Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro), another convenor of Nagkaisa!

Labor justice, he added, needs a powerful execution not an endless dialogue.

Another convenor, Annie Geron of the Public Services Labor Confederation (PSLINK), public sector unions are disappointed that the President was not even aware of the fact that the government bureaucracy itself is implementing a widespread and worst kind of contractualization called ‘job orders’.

However, Nagkaisa! conceded that President Aquino has earned credits for saving the life of Mary Jane Veloso. But the group said that won’t change the fact that beyond his buzzer beater intervention on Mary Jane’s behalf, many labor issues that translate into social problems like human trafficking and the exodus of Filipinos to foreign lands persist.

“Filipino are hopelessly enmeshed in an unchanging political system serving the affluent elite and betraying the destitute millions. They sense that no one is fighting for them,” said Gerard Seno, Vice President of Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)-Nagkaisa!

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) President accused the Aquino administration of perpetuating the old system of elite rule.

“PNoy has resolutely protected controversial allies and lifted no fingers on political dynasties. But never had he shown a grain of disposition for the working class,” said De Guzman.

Other than Manila, labor marches were also held in the cities of Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, General Santos, and in Cavite and Laguna provinces.

Protesters vs MRT-LRT fare hike go full blast, to file TRO at Supreme Court today

Protest against the fare hike at LRT 1, LRT 2, and MRT 3, 5 January 2015. PARTIDO NG MANGGAGAWA FACEBOOK PAGE

MANILA - Protesters against the fare hike at the Metro Rail Transit and the Light Rail Transit train lines on Monday went full blast in their protest actions, including going to the Supreme Court to file a petition against the fare hike.

“Today we fight back,” said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), which is spearheading the protests, in a statement.

Protest actions are planned at various MRT stations. Partido Manggagawa (PM), Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and Federation of Free Workers (FFW) will lead the protest at Pasay-Taft station, while Sentro and other members of the labor coalition Nagkaisa! will take the North Avenue (Trinoma) Station, and the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) will have its protest action at the Cubao Station.

Tagging the fare hike as “Aquino’s Great Train Robbery,” Bayan called on commuters and taxpayers to “resolutely oppose” the fare increases for the MRT3, and the LRT 1 and 2 train lines.

“These added burdens, treacherously announced and implemented during the holidays, are without legal basis and are patently anti-commuter. These increases merely serve the profit interests of the private stakeholders in the train system while justifying government’s abandonment of its responsibility to provide affordable and efficient mass transportation for the people,” Bayan said.

The multisectoral group said the 50% to 87% fare hike will take P2.1 billion from at least 1.3 million commuters who use the three train lines every day.

“Today and in the coming days, we will stage mass protest actions to air the people’s outrage over the unjust fare increases. Today, we file a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the Supreme Court seeking a stop to the fare hike,” it said.

A broad array of groups and individuals united to challenge the fare hike before the High Court and seek a temporary restraining order.

Petitioners include Bayan, represented by its secretary general Renato Reyes Jr., activist and former lawmaker Teodoro Casiño, former LRT Administration chief Melquiades A. Robles, Kilusang Mayo Uno chair Elmer C. Labog,

RILES Network spokesman Sammy T. Malunes, Courage chairman Ferdinand R. Gaite, Anakbayan chair Vencer Crisostomo, Alliance of Health Workers president Jossel I. Ebesate, Kadamay chair Gloria G. Arellano, businessman Herman Tiu Laurel, Myrleon E.Peralta,

SSS union president Amorsolo L. Competente, commuter advocate Elvira Y. Medina, commuters Maria Donna Grey Miranda and Angelo Villanueva Suarez of Tren, labor leaders Atty. Jose Sonny G. Matula of the FFW and David L. Diwa of National Labor Union, journalist James Bernard E. Relativo of TREN and Giovanni A. Tapang of Agham.

“The fare hike is without legal basis. The DOTC and its secretary cannot be the fare hike proponent, approving body, and implementor all at the same time. The fare hike cannot be valid without a proper public hearing where the proponents present all the bases for the fare hike and the public is given the opportunity to oppose it,” the group said.

The protesters said the fare hike only seeks to benefit the private stakeholders of the train system.

“It has nothing to do the improving the services of the trains. Congress already appropriated some P9.3 billion for the improvement and rehabilitation of the train system. Why increase fares when Congress has already allocated increased budget?” it said, quoting Senator Francis Escudero, head of the Senate finance committee.

The group explained that the fare increase is due to the privatization scheme being upheld and implemented by the Aquino government.

“The MRT 3’s Build-Lease-Transfer Agreement entered into under the Ramos government had guaranteed the private stakeholders of MRTC a 15% return on investment. This is where the bulk of government subsidy goes, to ensuring the profits of private companies,” the group said.

“It is the same case with LRT 1 whose operations have been privatized in favor of the Ayala Corporation and Metro Pacific. They are now entitled to collect and utilize the fares as a part of a P65 billion privatization deal. The LRT2 is also up for privatization and the same will apply,” it added.

The Aquino government has so far guaranteed the profits of a few while guaranteeing the misery of millions of low and middle-income commuters who depend on the train, it said. Aquino invokes the neo-liberal notion of “users-pay” where the public is forced to spend more while government cuts back on subsidy.

“It is time to stop this unjust fare hike dead on its tracks. It is time to put the brakes on the privatization of the train lines. We will not be run over by a callous and anti-commuter regime,” the group said. - InterAksyon.com

Workers to PNoy on MRT, LRT fare hike: ‘Penalize private contractors not us’

The government must penalize the private contractors who messed up the operation of the MRT system instead of running after the meager income of workers who use the metro rail system regularly.

Labor groups under the coalition Nagkaisa! made this call as they kicked off the first working day of the year with protest actions against the MRT and LRT fare hike implemented by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) last Sunday.

Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) President and Partido Manggagawa (PM) Vice Chair Gerry Rivera, who led the protest action today at the MRT-Pasay Taft station said, “Liabilities borne out of an onerous contract should not be passed on to consumers penalizing them in effect as in the case of the Build-Lease-Transfer (BLT) contract with the Metro Rail Transit Corporation (MRTC) that built the MRT3 in 1997.”

He added that an ordinary worker who use the MRT will have to shell out at least P8,000 to cover the rate increase of 87% (from P15-P28) in one year. Total annual cost of the adjusted MRT rate will be at least P17,000.

Rivera lamented further that instead of penalizing the private concessionaires for messing up with its contract to efficiently operate and maintain the system, “the government is rewarding them with steady flow of income from the fare hike shouldered by lowly-paid workers.”

On his part, Josua Mata, Secretary General of Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) who led the protest action together with Public Services Labor Conferederation (PSLINK), PM and other members of Nagkaisa! at MRT’s North Avenue station, said the government should finally rescind the contract and take over the operation of the entire system so that the concept of ‘subsidy’ does not become a misnomer anymore for the take-or-pay contract.

Mata argued, “When the government takes money from commuters through a fare hike and transfers that money to fraudulent hands of private companies, that is not subsidy. That's malady.”

He noted that the fare hike is not meant for service upgrade but for debt payments to a private concessionaire.

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) which led the protest action at MRT-Cubao station likewise believes that the fare hike is the bitter fruit of a failed privatization program of the country’s mass transport system.

Nagkaisa! vowed to conduct more protest actions this month against the fare hike.

Unang araw ng pasukan ng 2015 sinalubong ng protesta ng manggagawa laban sa pagtaas ng pasahe sa MRT at LRT

Balik trabaho ang milyun-milyong manggagawa sa Kamaynilaan at kasabay nito, sinalubong naman ng protesta ng grupong Nagkaisa ang ipinapatupad na pagtaas ng pamasahe sa MRT at LRT.

Mahigit kalahati mula sa dating singil ang nadagdag sa pasahe sa MRT3 at LRT 1 & 2.

Pinangunahan ng Partido Manggagawa (PM), PALEA at Federation of Free Workers (FFW) ang protesta sa kabilang dulo ng MRT sa Pasay-Taft habang ang grupong Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa o Sentro, PSLINK, PM, at iba pang kasapi ng Nagkaisa sa dulong istasyon naman ng North Avenue sa Trinoma. Ang Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) naman ang nanguna sa Cubao station.

Bukod sa pagtuligsa sa ipinapatupad na pagtaas, hinihikayat din ng grupo ang kapwa manggagawa na personal na ipahayag ang kanilang protesta sa pamamagitan ng ibat-ibang paraan gaya ng ‘selfie’ at ‘groufie’, pagsali sa mga petisyon at pagsama mismo sa mga aksyon laban dito.

Tinututulan ng manggagawa ang pagtaas ng pamasahe sa MRT at LRT sa 4 na dahilan:

§ Mahihirap na manggagawa ang nakikinabang sa subsidyo at murang pasahe sa MRT at LRT;
§ Ang pagtaas ay hindi mapupunta sa maayos na serbisyo dahil nakalaan itong pambayad sa madaya ngunit garantisadong kita ng private concessionaire na MRTC;
§ Tinatanggal ng gubyerno ang subsidyo sa MRT at LRT pero nilalakihan naman nito ang travel budget ng mga opisyal ng pamahalaan;
§ Ang fare hike ay insentibo sa pribatisasyon ng MRT at LRT.

Nanawagan ang Nagkaisa! sa Malacanang na bawiin ng desisyon sa dagdag na pasahe dahil ang rehabilitasyon nito ay pinondohan na sa loob ng 2015 National Budget.

Nagbabala pa ang grupo na lalo lang magagalit ang mananakay ng tren dahil wala silang makikitang pagbabago sa serbisyo nito sa kabila ng dagdag na singil.

Hindi aniya patas na maginhawa ang byahe ng mga opisyal ng pamahalaan dahil sa lumalaking travel budget ng mga ito habang parusa ang pasalubong ng bagong taon sa milyun-milyong manggagawa.

Nagbabala rin ang grupo na maglulunsad pa ng mga susunod na protesta hangga’t hindi ito itinitigil ng pamahalaan.

4 reasons why workers oppose LRT, MRT fare hike - labor groups

MANILA - What are the four basic reasons why workers, who make up the bulk of LRT and MRT commuters, oppose the fare hike?

The labor coalition Nagkaisa! names these reasons as:

• Fare hike is not meant for service upgrade but for debt payments to a private concessionaire.
• Most of train riders belong to lowly-paid workers and cannot afford the increase.
• Government is cutting MRT/LRT subsidy but hiking travel budget of public officials.
• Fare hike is a move towards privatization.

In a joint statement, Nagkaisa! also asked LRT and MRT riders, who also include a majority of students, to express their opposition to the fare hike through:

• Taking selfies or group pictures holding mini posters and posting them on their social media accounts with the hashtag, #MRTprotest
• Joining online petitions addressed to the DOTC, Malacanang, and Congress
• Seeking remedy from the courts
• Joining scheduled mass actions

The Nagkaisa! coalition, which includes various labor groups, plans to hold various protect activities on Monday.

Members of Partido Manggagawa (PM), Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), and Federation of Free Workers (FFW) will be leading the protest at the MRT Pasay-Taft station while the Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro), Public Sevices Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), PM and other members of Nagkaisa! are taking the MRT North Avenue station. The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) is taking the Cubao station.

Aside from the mass action, Nagkaisa! will be distributing leaflets explaining why commuters should oppose the fare hike.

‘First oppressive policy of 2015’

“The fare hike is the first oppressive policy of the year, the first assault by government on workers’ living condition. Workers were first to pay their taxes but they were also the first to carry the burden of budget cuts and other unjust policies by government,” said PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza.

He added: “Sa daang matuwid, manggagawa ang tinitipid (on the straight path, workers are shortchanged).”

For his part, PALEA President Gerry Rivera lamented that while fares in other modes of transportation, including airlines, are dropping significantly because of the sharp drop in oil prices, fares in the MRT and LRT are rising by as much as 87 percent.

SENTRO Secretary General and Nagkaisa! convenor Josua Mata said, “The true logic of removing the MRT subsidy is the government shifting to the role of shameless facilitator to the transfer of public money to private hands. In this particular case, the commuters are subsidizing the guaranteed returns of private investors.”

In a series of dialogues with the President, Nagkaisa! has called for a cost-effective and efficient mass transport system since the heavy traffic has been eating up a lot of the workers’ productive hours.

“The PNoy administration has not only failed to address the traffic mess, it is shamelessly adding a three-fold burden to workers who will have to shell out more for their own train fare and that of their children who go to school,” said Julius Cainglet of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW).

The Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) proceeded with the implementation of the rate hike Sunday, amid oppositions from labor, commuter groups and legislators.

Hundreds of thousands of people use each of the metro lines every day.

Workers up against ‘assault on labor’ on first working day of 2015

Labor groups under the coalition Nagkaisa! are set to welcome the first working day of 2015 with a protest against what they consider as government’s assault on workers’ living condition – the implementation of fare hikes in the MRT and LRT system.

The Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) proceeded with the implementation of the rate hike yesterday, amid oppositions from labor, commuter groups and legislators.

Based on surveys, lowly-paid workers and students make up the bulk of regular train riders.

Members of Partido Manggagawa (PM), Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) will be leading the protest at the MRT Pasay-Taft station while the Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (SENTRO), Public Sevices Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), PM and other members of Nagkaisa are taking the MRT North Avenue station. The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) is taking the Cubao station.

Aside from the mass action, Nagkaisa! will be distributing leaflets explaining why commuters should reject the fire hike and how they can express their protest.

In opposing the fare hike Nagkaisa! contends that:

· Fare hike is not meant for service upgrade but for debt payments to a private concessionaire;
· Most of train riders belong to lowly-paid workers;
· Government cutting MRT/LRT subsidy but hiking travel budget of public officials;
· Fare hike is a move towards privatization

The group said commuters can express their opposition in various forms including:

· Making selfies or group pics holding mini posters and posting it on their social media accounts accompanied by #MRTprotest hashtag;
· Joining online petitions addressed to the DOTC, Malacanang and Congress;
· Seeking remedy from the courts; and
· Joining scheduled mass actions

“The fare hike is the first oppressive policy of the year, the first assault by government on workers’ living condition. Workers were first to pay their taxes but they were also the first to carry the burden of budget cuts and other unjust policies by government,” said PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza.

He added: “Sa daang matuwid, manggagawa ang tinitipid.”

On his part PALEA President Gerry Rivera, lamented that while fares in other modes of transportation, including airlines, are dropping significantly because of the sharp drop in oil prices, but fares in the MRT and LRT are rising by as much as 87%.

SENTRO Secretary General and Nagkaisa! convenor Josua Mata said, “The true logic of removing the MRT subsidy is the government shifting to the role of shameless facilitator to the transfer of public money to private hands. In this particular a case, the commuters subsidizing the guaranteed returns of private investors.”

The Nagkaisa in a series of dialogues with the President has called for a cost-effective and efficient mass transport system since the heavy traffic has been eating up a lot of productive hours of workers.

“The PNoy administration has not only failed to address the traffic mess, it is shamelessly adding a three-fold burden to workers who will have to shell out more for their own train fare and that of their children who go to school,” said Julius Cainglet of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW).