DAVAO CITY – On the second month of the factory fire that claimed the lives of almost 100 workers, labor organizations said they want “war against contractualization.”
Rea Alegre, spokesperson of All Workers’ Unity said contractualization is an employment scheme that is a “wholesale violation” of labor rights.
AWU, a campaign network against contractualization, said the scheme “violates workers’ and employees’ rights to a living wage, to job security, to the free exercise of trade-union rights, and even to safety in the workplace.”
“What happened at Kentex shows us that contractualization kills, either slowly or immediately. We declare war against contractualization in memory of the workers of Kentex and for the future generation of workers and employees,” said Alegre.
Alegre said they would fight for contractualization by “calling for the regularization of workers at the company or agency level to fight for the banning of contractualization as a government policy.”
“Contractualization has not always been the norm that it is today. Workers and employees from both the private and public sectors should wage war against this attack in order to push it back,” Alegre said.
In a move reminiscent of the Katipunan’s declaration of war against Spain, the workers and employees marched in Mendiola Monday and tore up pieces of paper with the words “ENDO,” short for “end of contract” and “Kontraktwalisasyon” written across them.
“We urge workers and employees to speak up against contractualization through various means. We urge them to get in touch with us and other pro-worker, pro-employee groups so we can help each other in fighting contractualization,” Alegre said.
All Workers’ Unity also said they “condemn the managements of media giant GMA-7 and rhum-maker Tanduay Distillers, Inc. for refusing to implement rulings from the National Labor Relations Commission and the Department of Labor and Employment Region IV respectively that regularize a significant section of the company’s workers.”
“It is only through workers’ and employees’ collective action that we can effectively fight contractualization. The country’s courts will not issue rulings for regularization and companies will not implement such rulings without such action,” Alegre said. (davaotoday.com)
