DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 26, 2013) – Five days ahead of Labor Day, at least 30 federated and independent unions from all over Mindanao have called on the Aquino government and employers to put an end to various rights violations in the conduct of exercising their democratic rights to form unions.
During the first-ever Mindanao-Wide Worker’s Summit held on April 25 and 26, workers have reported employer practices of union busting, intimidation, and even militarization to undermine union organizing efforts.
The two-day summit was organized by the Nonoy Librado Development Foundation, Inc., Women Studies and Resource Center, and the Urban Integrated Health Services.
In the Summit’s Manifesto of Unity, workers lambasted the anti-worker provisions of law geared in favor of wealthy capitalists and foreign corporate interests such as contractualization which has denied their rights to security of tenure and continually challenges them to forge greater unity. The workers lamented low wages and call for a P125 wage increase.
“Based on the reports of the unions present, there remains intensified employer opposition to union organizing and rights violations. This is a sad commentary on the state of worker’s rights in Mindanao but with continued worker’s education and organizing, there also have been victories as well as lessons learned among Mindanao workers,” Emma Ricaforte, Executive Director of the NLDF, said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
The NLDF has been implementing a comprehensive program to strengthen trade unions in Mindanao as a way of advancing fundamental freedoms. The program “Workers’ Rights are Human Rights” is a three-year project funded by the European Union through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights or EIDHR. The project is in its third year of implementation.
In a message of support to the 1st Mindanao-wide Worker’s Summit, the European Union recognized that “the project helped increase the awareness of Mindanao-based workers of their rights and we trust that they are now more prepared to proactively respond to human rights issues that will come their way”.
“The struggle to enjoy the right to form unions is painstaking and very difficult. But these rights are worth fighting for and we see that commitment in every worker present here. We thank the European Union for supporting Mindanao worker’s democratic rights to form unions,” Ricaforte said.
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