Catholic Bishops Support Workers' Rights

MANILA, Sept. 3, 2009- Metropolitan bishops led by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales vowed for support to workers in ensuring decent work amidst the worsening global financial crisis. They took this stand at a meeting held last Tuesday morning at the Residencia del Arzobispo in Intramuros, Manila.

"We have given workers the opportunity to meet the bishops and air their grievances," said the prelate.

The Permanent Council of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, according to Cardinal Rosales, asked Metropolitan bishops to meet with the workers first, as most of the labor groups are based in the National Capital Region and nearby provinces.

During the meeting with bishops, the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) reported the second wave of mass dismissal of union leaders at the Cirtek Electronic Corporation at an economic zone in Biñan, Laguna, where eight union leaders- from the acting president to union board members were laid-off allegedly due to the economic recession, while the company is teeming with contractual workers.

Last week, the Cirtek Electronics Labor Union-FFW (CELU-FFW) filed a notice of strike (NoS) before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) Office in Region IV, alleging that Cirtek management is in blatant violation of the right to self-organization, a clear unfair labor practice act in the form of union busting.

"In mockery of the constitutional rights to security of tenure and to self-organization, Cirtek management is illegally laying-off and terminating union leaders and active union members and engaging in prohibited labor-only contracting," opined lawyer Sonny Matula, FFW Vice President.

"Of the more than a thousand workers, 70 percent are contractual workers from three (3) labor-only contracting agencies," said union acting president Vhir Grande of the CELU-FFW.

"Diablo ng Globalisasyon!" This was how Cardinal Rosales referred to the liberalization and economic policies that have affected workers, which has led to the contractualization of labor. He lamented how in this day and age "hindi ginagalang ang bansa, ang pera na lamang (there is no respect for countries, only for money)."

"Hindi maka-tao at walang respeto sa batas ang Cirtek management, inuna nilang tinangal kaming regular na manggagawa dahil aktibo sa unyon, (Cirtek management is inhumane and shows no respect for the law, they fired regular workers first because we are active in the union)" added Aninia Santos, acting vice president for external affairs.

During the first quarter of this year, all the elected union officers were terminated by Cirtek management.

"The Department of Labor should seriously look at this clear violation of trade union and human rights especially since the Philippines is under scrutiny by the International Labor Organization on its compliance with and adherence to ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on the Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining, " added Matula, who is also the union counsel.

The meeting was attended by Bishops Deogracias Iñiguez of Kalookan, Antonio Tobias of Novaliches, Jose Oliveros of Malolos, Francisco San Diego of Pasig, Leo Drona of San Pablo, Pedro Arigo of Puerto Princesa and Auxiliary Bishops Broderick Pabillo of Manila, Franciso De Leon of Antipolo and Infanta Bishop-Emeritus Julio Xavier Labayen.

Other labor groups represented in the meeting were Partido ng Manggagawa, Alliance of Progressive Labor, National Union of Bank Employees, Laborem, Association of Major Religious Superiors, Philippine Employer-Labor Social Partnership and the Archdiocesan Ministry for Labor Concerns. (Julius H. Cainglet)