Where did that gadget come from?

We go out to the mall. We are entranced by countless displays of the latest models of laptops, mobiles and iPods. With a little push and persuasion from the salesperson, we buy these gadgets with reckless abandon. This consumerist hedonism has prevented us from stopping to think about the social consequences of the entire process of electronics production. To every Filipino techie, we ask: what is the story behind that gadget? This, at least, was the question that AGHAM and the Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU) felt was needed to be answered after a small group discussion on information and communication technology (ICT) and the electronics industry in the Philippines.

Organized by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), a non-profit Dutch research and advisory bureau focused on labor conditions in the global south, and their local partner, the Workers Assistance Center, the conference aimed to disseminate their research on labor practices and the workers in our country’s Export Processing Zones, or EPZs, most of which are involved in the manufacture, assembly and export of electronics and electronic parts.

The results of SOMO’s research serve to concretize the long-standing problem of the state of the Filipino workers especially in the EPZs. There remains a huge disparity between the workers’ minimum wage and the daily cost of living of families in the Philippines, which pushes workers to work overtime just to get by. The trend towards contractualization continues to grow as a standard practice, where companies hire expendable contractual workers, saving them money that would have been spent on the seniority pay, bonuses and premiums of regular workers.

EPZ workers in particular, according to SOMO, are among the most vulnerable under the context of the global economic crisis, given the export-oriented nature of the industries involved. As per October 2008, 72 percent of the 926 companies engaged in the electronics industry are foreign-owned. In the first quarter of 2009, sales and shipment statistics indicated how the global PC market was seriously hit, which sets the tone for massive lay-offs.

Workers have little to protect themselves from these practices. There are no genuine efforts on the government’s part to enforce labor codes and to promote workers’ welfare, allowing schemes such as “no union, no strike” policies to scare workers from joining and organizing unions, their only means of collectively bargaining with the management and upholding their rights. Lack of workers’ education and misinformation on the management’s part are also contributive to the workers’ vulnerabilities.

It is telling of the sad state our nation’s economy and society that the productive forces are the ones who benefit the least from the government’s alleged economic growth. Even more distressing is the fact that efforts from the grassroots to clamor for their democratic rights is met with state violence, with 92 trade union leaders killed since 2001 according to labor group Kilu-sang Mayo Uno (KMU).

Indeed, the ICT sector generally appears to be such a clean industry with skilled employees earning decent wages that consumers do not stop to think about the story behind every gadget that hits the shelf. Consumers can play a part in pushing for labor reforms not only in buying electronics from socially responsible producers, but also in actively participating in labor rights campaigns.

Scientists and technologists also play a huge part in advancing the workers’ causes. Our technical various know-how and skills can be utilized as a supplement to sustain their struggles. Instead of outsourcing our scientific and technological knowledge to foreign global companies, we should direct it instead to improving working conditions in the short term, and in advocating for and building a national industrialization policy in the long term. In the final analysis, addressing the need to have self-sufficient industries that address the basic needs of the people is what both workers and professionals aspire for.

This coming September 22, the International Labor Organization (ILO) will be conducting a high-level fact-finding mission here in the Philippines to investigate the worsening labor conditions here. We believe that only in the collective, multisectoral efforts of the Filipino people to help ourselves will we achieve genuine economic growth and social welfare. Something you should consider the next time you find yourself attracted to the scent of new electronic trinkets.

Software Freedom Day

A celebration of Software Freedom Day (SFD) 2009 will be held on September 19, 2009, starting at 8 a.m. at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. The SFD is an international affair that will be participated in by more than a thousand teams in over 90 countries worldwide, with the Philippine celebration marked by simultaneous events from Luzon to Mindanao that will also be simulcast over the Internet. Those who cannot attend the event but would like to view the live video broadcast may do so visiting http://www.cp-union.com/sfd09. –Jose Leon A. Dulce, Manila Times

Jose Leon Dulce volunteers for AGHAM and is the New Media Coordinator of the CPU.

prom.bound@agham.org