Luisita eco zone labor-compliant? Workers disagree, point to massive contractualization

MANILA – Labor Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz and other labor officials, together with the eco-park’s administration, recently unveiled a marker at the entrance of the Luisita Industrial Park (LIP) which reads: “This is a Labor Law compliant Eco-Zone”.

In response, workers led by the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) decried the lie, saying “the marker is adding insult to injury to the memory of the workers of Hacienda Luisita who were massacred in November 2004 after the very same agency that placed this marker ordered the workers to abandon their strike despite the legitimacy of their demands for higher wages”.

Aside from the immediate removal of the marker, BMP also demanded that Baldoz issue a public apology to the families of the victims of the massacre which was triggered when the Department of Labor and Employment, under then Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, assumed jurisdiction and ordered the workers to go back to work.

Two weeks after the Hacienda Luisita massacre, thousands of indignant workers under BMP occupied and padlocked themselves inside the department’s main office at Intramuros for more than three hours.

“A labor law-compliant industrial park is an oxymoron on its own. It is no secret that economic zones are bailiwicks of cheap, contractual labor, the very reason they are able to entice investors,” said Leody de Guzman, BMP’s national chairman.

He added that, “it only proves that the DOLE does not have any idea what are the contents of the Labor Code, much more implement it. No wonder labor violations in all industries and regions are rampant; this is evident in the voluminous individual cases filed before the department’s agencies all over the country”.

The group noted that at the LIP, none of the 10 locator-companies abide by living wage standards prescribed by the National Economic Development Authority, workers in only 3 of the 10 enjoy their rights to collectively bargain for additional wages and benefits through a local union. However even the three companies employ hundreds of temps.

De Guzman stressed that reports of land-grabbing and brazen human rights violations such as eviction and destruction of crops within the LIP complex should force DOLE to cancel the unveiling until the controversies are settled.

Getting on the President’s good side

“Napaghahalatang sipsip naman itong si Baldoz sa kanyang boss, tinaon pa papalapit na anibersaryo ng Hacienda Luisita massacre,” de Guzman said.

The DOLE in its website claimed that the Luisita Realty Corporation, the owner of the eco-zone, has also been found compliant and was issued a Certificate of Compliance (CoC) for their adherence to the General Labor Standards, Occupational Safety and Health Standards and Child Labor.

It added that the fact that the LIP was located at the home province of President Aquino makes the marker more significant.

The CoC has a validity of two years, and exempt their holders from the DOLE’s annual assessment. –InterAksyon.com