No to contractualization; Yes to a national minimum wage! - Philippines 2019

"I’m Analou Paquera, 27 years old and currently working in the UNI ELEMENTS ENTERPRISES located in Malanday, Valenzuela City (Manila metropole). I was born in Cotabato, Mindanao and I choose to migrate to go in Manila to look for a better job because of lack of opportunities in my province. I am working in UNI ELEMENT since 2015 as part of the production line. I make the chemicals that are necessary to produce liquid soap and bath soap.
In 2015, my salary was 250PHP (4,5 euros) for 12 hours of work. I had no benefits like SSS (social security), PhilHealth or any other social insurance. In the company there are many violations of the labour law by the employer, lack of overtime payment, 13th month pay. The workers are also exposed to the chemicals without protective equipment, which are very harmful. In 2019, I met the organizer of Young Christian Workers (YCW) in Malanday Valenzuela with my fellow workers and we have shared about of all the young workers in the UNI ELEMENTS Factory. We decided to organize my fellow workers to change our reality.
We filed a case in the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the violation of the minimum wage regulations, for the non-remittance of our social insurance benefits and to get our underpaid salary of a period of almost 5 years. After negotiating with the employer and the DOLE, we finally got our unpaid salary. My employer paid me 45.000 pesos (800 USD) back pay. He was also forced to increase my daily salary from 250 pesos (4,5 euro) to 700 pesos (12,5 euro).
Our experience in organizing to demand salary increase was not easy. We have faced many challenges in organizing dialogue and negotiations with the employer and the DOLE, because we didn’t know before how to do it. But YCW helped us by sharing their own experience on how to deal with this. As of now, we still need to continue to organize the workers here in UNI ELEMENTS because even though my salary was increased, my job status is still as contractual worker.”

Political, economic and social context of the Philippines
Throughout 2019, the Philippino government continued curtailing the freedom of speech and association of human and labour rights activists, independent journalists and trade unions. With Executive Order 70 the red-tagging of progressive workers’ organizations as communist and terrorist organizations has intensified. The authorities have already used EO70 to target local unions in areas where there are Chinese investments.  At the International Labour Conference in Geneva the ILO decided to schedule a high-level mission to the Philippines for an investigation into the killing of 43 labour activists in the last 3 years, a mission which to date the Philippino authorities has not yet allowed to enter the country. In the meantime, due to the passing of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) in 2018 prices of basic goods and services continued to rise in 2019. One study found that the law can create a monthly loss of up to 3.000 pesos (± 53 euro) per family. Last year the Expanded Maternity Leave was adopted, extending maternity leave with full pay from 60 to 105 days. A Universal Health Care Act was also passed, supposedly lowering out-of-pocket health expenses but according to the partner organizations, this law will only contribute to the further commercialization and privatisation of public health care services.

No to contractualization; Yes to a national minimum wage!
In the Philippines more and more workers are being employed on a contractual basis. Contractual workers do not have the same benefits as regularized workers, such as social security, health insurance (PhilHealth), unpaid leaves, a 13th month bonus. On top of that they also run the risk of not seeing their contract renewed every 6 months and can be laid off much easier than workers with a permanent status. The campaign of KMU, AHW and YCW and their partners within the All Workers’ Unity was successful in reaching out to the general public on the issue of contractualization and minimum wage. The campaign had its impact as in May several candidates for the Senate elections spoke out in favour of national minimum wages and wage increase. A bill to establish national minimum wage in the government sector was introduced in the House of Representatives. A consolidated bill on security of tenure, which was only partially supported by the partners, was adopted in the House and the Senate before it was vetoed by the Philippino president, himself under pressure after foreign Chambers of Commerce lobbied against the bill.

Campaign against the privatization of public hospitals, health facilities and services
In 2019 the Alliance of Health Workers have continued their struggle against the privatization of public hospital. Bill 7437, “an act prohibiting the privatization and corporatization of public hospitals, public health facilities and health services, and providing penalties for violations thereof”, which was adopted in the House in 2018 became obsolete due to the Senate elections, so a new proposal was introduced to the House on 1st July 2019. In seven Manila hospitals, AHW - unions were able to negotiate a Collective Negotiation Agreement, guaranteeing better working conditions and salaries for more than 3.000 workers. In 5 hospitals, an end-of-the-year bonus of 25.000 pesos (450 euro) was obtained. In Philippine Heart Center and National Kidney and Transplant Institute altogether more than 600 job order contractuals received a permanent contract.

Main results of the program in 2019
Health workers: 
In 2019 the AHW was able to reach some 109.246 health workers and Philippino patients (of which 42% women and 27% young people) through its activities funded by the DGD-program. Particularly through social media and distributing campaign materials AHW has again succeeded in sharing their messages with more than 100.000 people, to inform them about the issues of the health workers in the public hospitals, mainly about their struggle to increase salaries for nurses and to stop contractualization. 3 proposals of AWH and other health organizations became bills in the House of Representatives, potentially affecting 59.421 public health professionals, but were not adopted as a law.
Young workers: In 5 regions (Manila, Negros, Ilo-ilo, Cebu, Camarines Norte) 1.188 people (of which 37% women and 82% young workers) were organized and trained by the YCW on negotiating better labour rights and the voting process for mid-term elections. They have assisted 35 informal workers and young fishermen to participate in vocational training on food processing. As a new method of member recruitment, YCW has been organizing cultural events and raising awareness on climate change, which seems to be quite successful: In 3 years of time membership went up from 234 in 2016 to 1.467 in 2019.
National minimum wage and social protection for workers in the private sector: Trade union confederation KMU raised the awareness of and mobilized 305.717 Philippino workers (of which 60% women and 61% young people) on the need for a national minimum wage, for decent social protection and the end to contractualization. KMU is organizing every year more workers and unions, also in export-processing zones and areas where multinational companies are active, in four regions in the country.  They have been organizing workers’ fairs in the local neighbourhoods (barangays) to reach out to workers whom have not been unionized yet.
Joint advocacy: The three partner organizations are part of All Workers’ Unity, an alliance of different labour centers advocating for a national minimum wage of 16.000 pesos per month (in the public sector), 750 pesos per day (in the private sector) and against contractualization. In 2019 the three partner organisations were able to gather more than 10.000 workers for International Labour Day (1st May) and more than 2.500 workers for Bonifacio Day (30th November).

IMPACT of the WSM-program in 2017-2019
Services of KMU: 11.700 beneficiaries; AHW: 7.200 beneficiaries; YCW Philippines: 2.549 beneficiaries;
Advocacy actions: KMU & AHW on national minimum wage, contractualization, privatization of public hospitals. Philippines Synergy on national minimum wage, wage increase and regularization of contractual workers: no real beneficiaries as none of the proposals were adopted. Potentially, these proposals could benefit up to 26,8 million Philippino workers.

Partner organizations in the Philippines: AHW (Alliance of Health Workers’ unions), KMU (trade union confederation), YCW Philippines (young workers’ organisation), Philippines Synergy network (core organisations of the AWU – All Workers’ Unity)

Budget 2019: 76.754 euro
Donors: DGD, ACV PULS                                                                              Program: 2017-2021