Labor group bewails alleged anti-union moves of PNP
Published Jan 25, 2020 12:00 am
By Leslie Ann Aquino
The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition (Nagkaisa) has called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to investigate the alleged anti-union initiative of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Central Luzon.
Nagkaisa Labor Coalition (Facebook)
The coalition said the Police Regional Office in Region III (PRO3) has started setting up offices in special economic and freeport zones in Central Luzon to prevent unions from organizing in factories and other business establishments as it cited the launching of the Joint Industrial Peace and Concern Office (JIPCO).
"Nagkaisa demands an investigation on this initiative. This is clearly intended to curtail the right of workers to form and join trade unions under the camouflage of anti-insurgency," Atty.Sonny Matula, Nagkaisa chairman, said in a statement.
"We urge (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III to investigate this PNP initiative as this is a clear attempt by the state forces to restraint workers who wish to exercise their constitutional rights to self-organization and to peaceful concerted activity," he added
According to Matula, the right to organize unions, association or societies is guaranteed by Section 8, Article III and Sec 3 of Article XIII of the Constitution which was blatantly disregarded and assaulted with alacrity by the launching and establishment of the said anti-union offices.
"The officers in this initiative should be demoted or stripped of their stars for ignorance of the law. They ought to be sent back to the officers' candidates' school to review the constitution and the bill of rights guarranted by the same fundamental law," said Matula.
"We are disappointed with the quality and thinking of these officers. They are so detached from reality and do not probably or are lazy to read their intelligence operatives' dossiers. They need immersion in trade union organizing in the economic zones to know the exploitative situation and actual difficulties of organizing unions in the workplaces," he added.
Matula said the labor chief should call for a meeting on the matter with other government agencies, including the PNP, and request that trade unions be invited to attend it.
Nagkaisa also urged the DOLE, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), PNP, Department of National Defense (DND) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officials to work with workers' and employers' groups to convene and review the Joint Guidelines on the Conduct of AFP/PNP Relative to the Exercise of Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association which was signed by these government agencies with the workers and employers groups in the presence of the International Labor Organization.
Nagkaisa Labor Coalition (Facebook)
The coalition said the Police Regional Office in Region III (PRO3) has started setting up offices in special economic and freeport zones in Central Luzon to prevent unions from organizing in factories and other business establishments as it cited the launching of the Joint Industrial Peace and Concern Office (JIPCO).
"Nagkaisa demands an investigation on this initiative. This is clearly intended to curtail the right of workers to form and join trade unions under the camouflage of anti-insurgency," Atty.Sonny Matula, Nagkaisa chairman, said in a statement.
"We urge (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III to investigate this PNP initiative as this is a clear attempt by the state forces to restraint workers who wish to exercise their constitutional rights to self-organization and to peaceful concerted activity," he added
According to Matula, the right to organize unions, association or societies is guaranteed by Section 8, Article III and Sec 3 of Article XIII of the Constitution which was blatantly disregarded and assaulted with alacrity by the launching and establishment of the said anti-union offices.
"The officers in this initiative should be demoted or stripped of their stars for ignorance of the law. They ought to be sent back to the officers' candidates' school to review the constitution and the bill of rights guarranted by the same fundamental law," said Matula.
"We are disappointed with the quality and thinking of these officers. They are so detached from reality and do not probably or are lazy to read their intelligence operatives' dossiers. They need immersion in trade union organizing in the economic zones to know the exploitative situation and actual difficulties of organizing unions in the workplaces," he added.
Matula said the labor chief should call for a meeting on the matter with other government agencies, including the PNP, and request that trade unions be invited to attend it.
Nagkaisa also urged the DOLE, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), PNP, Department of National Defense (DND) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officials to work with workers' and employers' groups to convene and review the Joint Guidelines on the Conduct of AFP/PNP Relative to the Exercise of Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association which was signed by these government agencies with the workers and employers groups in the presence of the International Labor Organization.