Feature: Philippine unions pledge to fight for safety and health at work

Forty-four leaders representing nine national labor federations, 26 enterprise-based unions in special economic zones and in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, and workers in the informal economy gathered recently to commemorate the 2014 International Workers Memorial Day with the theme: “Unions Fight for Safety and Health at Work!”

Led by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Women’s Committee, the activity was done in solidarity with millions of workers in the world who suffered, got ill, injured or died because of preventable workplace accidents. It is part of the TUCP’s incessant campaign for better, safer, and more sustainable workplaces.

The International Workers Memorial Day (or International Commemoration Day [ICD] for the Dead and Injured or International Day of Mourning) as explained by TUCP Director for Women Florencia Cabatingan, takes place every year around the world on April 28. “It is as an international day of remembrance and action for workers who died, disabled, got injured or got sick because of their work,” said Cabatingan.

One of the highlights of the commemoration is the individual reporting of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) issues/violations in companies under TUCP organizing.

All 44 participants wrote down and reported dangers, risks and hazards they face at work. The individual lists contain many and varied occupational safety and health (OSH) concerns. Many can easily be remedied if given immediate attention. Among these are missing machine guards, exposed live wire, leaking chemical canisters, slippery floors, raw materials sprawled on the floor, unmarked safe pathways, broken ventilation fans, poor lighting, etc.

However, the stories of Violet, Ana Leah, and Stella stood out.

Violet, a young call center worker shared three issues. First, she related how the ‘regular’ graveyard shift in call centers is affecting her health, family responsibilities, and her social activities. As her company caters to American clients, she works at night while others are asleep. She goes home while most workers are just getting started for the day. Her activities are done in the time of the day when majority of workers are doing the opposite. Even going for a bottle of beer with her colleagues, she says, is done very early in the morning, when commonly it is done in the evening. Second, discrimination is happening and takes many forms, she says. One gets better assignments and promotion when one is a friend of the supervisor or team lead. ‘It is as easy as that.’ Conversely, one gets sacked or penalized even with only a minor sleight in one’s relationship with the supervisor. Third for Violet, is a serious concern. Her company prohibits workers to join unions. She shared that joining unions is completely forbidden. She said that Provision 8 of their employment contract specifically states that, as worker of the company, she cannot join a union or similar organizations. She is happy, however, that TUCP through Voice in the Call Center Industry (VOICE) is reaching out to workers in the BPO industry. Recently, three of her colleagues received free legal assistance from VOICE.

Ana Leah, a worker in an auto parts manufacturing company inside one of the country’s special economic zones (SEZs) shared that poor ventilation is a concern in her workplace. With industrial machines all over, it really gets hot at her work station, especially when the air conditioning system breaks down. But that is only one concern among many, she says.

Unsafe working conditions are not the only threat to the life and limb of workers and union members, she says. Co-workers who belong to a rival union also pose clear danger. She related how their mother federation was labelled as “traitor to the working class.” She also shared about threats written on her co-workers’ locker doors. We won the recent certification election, she says. But it took hard work, firm united stand and strong resolve to thwart the anti-union minority. She acknowledged the help of her mother federation in the process.

Meantime, Stella worked for about ten years in a Japanese-owned company that manufactures camera lenses and other parts. She is the union vice president. Pervasive employment of contractual workers is undermining the union. They have fought for a very long time for the union to be recognized and to be able to negotiate better benefits and to ensure safer working conditions, she says. For some five years, the company refused to recognize the union. No CBA had been negotiated. Within that span of time, three union presidents resigned out of frustration. Every time this happens, Rowena takes over as interim president.

For Stella, getting union recognition is a priority. It would be the beginning of problems in the company –employment, wages, benefits, and OSH concerns — being solved.

To counteract management’s refusal to recognize the union, Stella and her co-leaders filed a petition for certification election. From there until the certification election, the union faced three legal opposition from the management. The company is bent on resisting the union. It is sad, Stella says, that the union faced company lawyers who once occupied high positions in the labor department.

As the law is clear on the “by-stander” role of management in the organizing process, the union won all three legal cases. But the long process can sometimes be disheartening, she shared.

Now, the union is submitting its Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) proposals. The union, she says, hopes to improve not only the benefits and remunerations that have remained the same for years, but also working conditions and safety and health programs in the company. I agree with this activity’s theme, she says: “Unions Fight for Safety and Health at Work!”

Symbolic burning of OSH issues

Following the reporting and discussion, a symbolic burning of OSH issues took place. Led by Sis Cabatingan, Violet, Ana Leah, and Stella, each participant burned their list of OSH concerns. That symbolized everyone’s commitment to take action and ensure safer, better and more sustainable practices and systems in their workplaces. It also symbolized their resolve to make occupational safety and health among the many priorities of the union.

“Letting go” of 12 white balloons representing the 12 workers killed from January to March 2014

The commemoration culminated with the release of 12 white balloons by the women participants. They had held on to the balloons for the entire ceremony. The balloons represented the twelve reported deaths due to workplace accidents in the Philippines from January to March 2014.

The balloons served as final tribute to the workers killed on the job, another way of saying good-bye to co-workers.

The TUCP keeps track of workers’ deaths and injuries on the job, and posts these in its website www.ntucphl.org. (FEA/TUCP/PIA-Caraga)
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