By Leslie Ann Aquino
Thousands of workers from different labor centers under the banner of the “United Workers’ SONA” will march on July 22 to condemn what they called Duterte’s anti-worker government and also assert their demands for regular jobs, living wages, and respect for labor and human rights.
(Photo from Kilusang Mayo Uno Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
In a statement, Elmer Labog, chairperson of the militant trade union center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) lamented Duterte's continued failure to fulfill his promise to workers to end contractualization, to raise wages and protect workers from unsafe working conditions.
"Instead of regularization, Duterte’s failed promise led to mass termination of contractuals. Workers have exhausted all legal processes under Department Order 174 and Executive Order 51 to assert their status as regulars, yet the inhumane and anti-worker practice of contractualization remains,” he said.
Labog said workers of a detergent company and multinational banana corporation Sumifru, which held a protest action at the DOLE office in Intramuros on Thursday, show the true state of labor under Duterte.
The workers’ unions are on strike due to unfair labor practices.
Labog accused the government of conniving with capitalists in ensuring that workers remain contractuals, while those who fight for their rights as regular workers to unionize, collective bargaining and to strike, have been terminated and brutally attacked.
President Duterte will deliver his Fourth State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City on Monday, July 22.