All but one

By BusinessMirror, 4 Aug 2020

Doing the right thing can never be the right thing for all workers all the time in the labor sector but certainly, if you are a party-list group in Congress that professedly represents the welfare of workers, it would be somewhat expected of you to go against a measure that would render a lot of workers jobless, especially during this pandemic when joblessness is at an all-time high.

This, indeed, is a time of turmoil, when we struggle to understand the unexplainable. One such conundrum is why Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza was one of the 70 members of the House of Representatives who voted to deny ABS-CBN a new franchise, disregarding the interests of the TV station’s 11,000 workers who would lose their jobs.

The TUCP party-list group was born out of the largest national trade union center in the Philippines, which was founded in 1975. Party-list groups in the House of Representatives are supposed to be the voice of the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, and their declared advocacies and agenda should be consistent with the interests of the sectors they represent. Which is perhaps why even TUCP’s fellow trade unions and labor groups could not believe the TUCP vote on the ABS-CBN measure.

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition Chairman Sonny Matula said they were all in shock upon learning that one of their convenors voted against the franchise renewal. “TUCP Party-list Representative and TUCP President Rep. Mendoza did not toe the line and set aside the jobs of 11,000 workers and the means of survival of their families by voting to deny ABS-CBN a franchise. Many could not hide their disappointment and disgust in public. We have to speak as a coalition,” Nagkaisa said in a statement.

Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Chairman Elmer Labog said he was also surprised by Mendoza’s decision given that TUCP had consistently supported the granting of ABS-CBN’s franchise until the actual voting by the House on the measure.

Being pro-worker in Congress should not be relegated to raising minimum wages. It is also about enhancing the dignity and value of labor, fighting for justice and equity for workers and protecting jobs through policies and laws.

Workers’ representatives in Congress should know how to earn their keep. Their trade unions and labor groups have to respond to all the new challenges of the economy, especially during this pandemic when millions of Filipinos have already lost their jobs.

At the end of the day, unions and labor groups are service providing organizations. Workers will weigh the cost of membership in their organizations against the tangible benefits they can get.

If labor groups and unions are to remain as principal actors in industrial relations, if they are to have any success at stemming declining membership, if they are to contribute to the country’s equitable growth and development, they must have positive, concrete contributions to offer.

Various groups representing organized labor may have their differences on issues of principle and ideology, going from one end of the political spectrum to the other, but they all yearn to make a difference in the lives of workers. Hence, there should be no compromise when jobs are on the line. When workers are about to lose their jobs there should be no dividing line between them. The interest of one is also the interest of the other.

It is when workers are on the brink of job loss—when they are desperately clinging to their only source of income—when all labor groups and unions must speak as one, when they must clearly demonstrate that they are watchfully safeguarding workers, whether they have unions or not, and whether their unions are moderate, militant or small independent ones.