DAVAO CITY, Philippines — For the first time since 1989, three major labor federations march alongside each other in the streets here on May 1 to denounce President Rodrigo Duterte’s failure to fulfill his campaign promise to stop any form of labor-only contracting in the country.
About 800 union members under the Kilusang Mayo Uno Southern Mindanao, Partidong Manggagawa-Nagkakaisa, and Sentro Nagkakaisa marched the streets of Davao City under one banner bearing calls to end contractualization.
They conduct a program at the Orcullo Park along Roxas Avenue here on Tuesday morning.
The groups claim that at least 80 percent of the companies in Davao City along are hiring contractual workers.
In the afternoon, the KMU led another march protest from Magsaysay Avenue to Roxas avenue here.
READ: Labor Day protests go on despite highway checkpoints
Around 3,000 workers and supporters join the rally despite the delayed arrival of some workers held in several police and military checkpoints before entering Davao City.
Plantation workers from Compostela have staged a barricade along the national highway Nabunturan town after authorities prohibited them to join the rally.
Here are some photos during the Labor Day rally in Davao City, the president’s hometown:
Workers under various labor groups hold their placards bearing calls to stop contractualization during the unified protest on Tuesday morning. (Kath M. Cortez/davaotoday.com)
Workers under different labor federations march together in a march protest against any form of labor-only contract on Labor Day. (Mark Joy G. Basallajes/davaotoday.com)
Union members of the Coca-Cola FEMSA join the march rally against contractualization. Labor group SENTRO-Nagkakaisa claimed that bottling company has less than 40 percent regular workers. (Medel V. Hernani/davaotoday.com)
Davao Holcim Employees Workers march along with other unions during the Labor Day rally. SENTRO-Nagkakaisa said that seven of ten employees in Holcim Philippines are contractual workers. (Medel V. Hernani/davaotoday.com)
Leaders of the three major labor federations lead the Labor Day rally program at the Orcullo Park in Davao City on Tuesday morning. (Medel V. Hernani/davaotoday.com)
Kilusang Mayo Uno Southern Mindanao spokesperson, Carlo Olalo, signs the unity statement of three major labor federations during the Labor Day program at the Orcullo Park in Davao City. (Kath M. Cortez/davaotoday.com)
Three major labor federations, Kilusang Mayo Uno Southern Mindanao, Partidong Manggagawa-Nagkakaisa, and SENTRO-Nagkakaisa issue a unity statement denouncing the Duterte administration’s failure to fulfill its promise to end ‘endo’. (Mark Joy G. Basallajes/davaotoday.com)
Labor groups led by Kilusang Mayo Uno in Southern Mindanao (KMU-SMR) bring an effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte as they march from Magsaysay Avenue to Roxas Avenue in Davao City during the commemoration of Labor Day on Tuesday, May 1. The labor group said the effigy portrays the economic and political repression against workers under the Duterte administration. (Medel V. Hernani/davaotoday.com)
Students of the University of the Philippines Mindanao join the Labor Day protest in solidarity with the workers fight against ‘endo’. (Kath M. Cortez/davaotoday.com)
A member of the Kilusang Manggagawa laban sa Coca-cola-Kilusang Mayo Uno (KIMACO-KMU) joins the rally to demand the regularization of more than 100 contractual workers. The group staged a strike last April 2 after 72 of their member were terminated by their labor agency. (Mark Joy G. Basallajes/davaotoday.com)
Kilusang Mayo Uno set up pictures of the philosophers Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong during the 132nd commemoration of the International Labor Day. (Mark Joy G. Basallajes/davaotoday.com)
A commotion between activists and police forces ensues during the protest after authorities prohibited the activists from burning the effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte. The protesters continued with the burning of the effigy after the police left. (Mark Joy G. Basallajes/davaotoday.com)
The Kilusang Mayo Uno burns an effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte called “Duterthreat” during the Labor Day rally at Freedom Park in Davao City which condemns Duterte’s failure to end ‘Endo’. ( (Mark Joy G. Basallajes/davaotoday.com)
