MANILA, Philippines—The International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations’ arm for labor concerns, is sending a fact-finding mission to the Philippines to investigate complaints of trade-union rights violations in the country.
The investigation from Sept. 22 to 29 would seek to determine if the Philippines under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been violating its international commitments to respect freedom of association, collective bargaining, and the right to strike.
The government agreed to the ILO mission during the annual International Labor Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, in June.
The mission is in response to complaints of military involvement in union-busting and the killing of labor leaders, among other things, filed by the labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in 2006.
KMU spokesperson Wendell Gumban said ILO representatives from Geneva, in coordination with ILO Asia-Pacific, will interview workers’ organizations and inspect two major manufacturing plants in Central and southern Luzon.
They will also meet with the families of victims and survivors of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and harassment related to labor disputes.
The KMU will launch in Manila today “ILO Watch,” an alliance of civil society groups formed to monitor the high-level ILO mission and to intensify the campaign against labor rights violations.
KMU chair Elmer Labog in a statement scored the Department of Labor and Employment for “bragging” about the general state of “industrial peace” in the country, saying that the trade union movement in the country has experienced its “most severe blows” in recent history.
According to KMU, 92 trade union leaders have been murdered since President-Arroyo assumed office in 2001.
The group suspects the killings were “extrajudicial” hits conducted by military-backed death squads, which indicates the Arroyo administration’s disregard for human rights, including labor organizing rights, it said. –Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer with a report from Marlon Ramos
September 18 –
International Equal Pay Day
“Increase wages now,
more than other cost items.
For widespread, practical equality!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
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September –
5 Sept – Intl Day of Charity
7 Sept – Intl Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies
8 Sept – International Literacy Day
12 Sept – United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation
15 Sept – International Day of Democracy
16 Sept – International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
17 Sept – World Patient Safety Day
18 Sept – International Equal Pay Day
21 Sept – International Day of Peace
26 Sept – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
27 Sept – World Tourism Day
28 Sept – International Day for Universal Access to Information
29 Sept – International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
30 Sept – World Maritime Day
Monthly Observances:
Health, Safety and Sanitation Month
National Clean-up Month
Civil Service Month
National Peace Consciousness Month
Social Security Month
Rule of Law Month
National Teachers’ Month (Sept 5-Oct 4)
Weekly Observances:
Sept 17 – 23:
World Clean and Green Week
Week 2: Education Week
Week 4: Medicine Week
Last Week: National Family Week
Daily Observances:
Third Saturday:
International Coastal Clean-up Day
Third Monday: World Health Day
Last Friday: National Maritime Day
Sept 8: National Literacy Day
Sept 15: Philippine Medicine Day
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