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Philippines (country report from Trade Unions of the World 2005) Capital: Manila 1. Political and Economic Background The Philippines became independent from the United States in 1946. In 1965 Ferdinand Marcos became President, imposing martial law in 1972 and thereafter ruling by decree. In August 1983, Bengino Aquino, the country’s foremost opposition figure, was shot dead at Manila airport upon returning from a three-year period of self-imposed exile in the USA. Aquino’s death, in which the military was implicated, had the effect of unifying the growing opposition to the rule of Marcos. In 1986, in the face of a massive “people power” movement, Marcos reluctantly conceded elections, and although he claimed victory over Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, he was forced to stand down in the face of the defection of his senior military commanders and US pressure. A new constitution was adopted in 1987. As President, Corazon Aquino dismantled the coercive apparatus of the Marcos regime, and the institutions of the republic’s American-style democracy were re-established. Her term was punctuated by unsuccessful military upris¬ings and growing disillusionment on the left. In 1992 she was followed as President by her Defence Secretary and chosen successor, Fidel Ramos. In May 1998 Joseph Estrada, the candidate of the opposition Struggle of the Nationalist Filipino Masses (LAMMP) party was elected President in succession to Ramos (to whom he had been Vice-President), running on a populist platform that emphasized the needs of the poor and opposition to corruption and Philippines “pork barrel” style of politics. Estrada himself became mired in accusations of corruption and was forced from office in January 2001, being replaced as President by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Parties supporting Arroyo, allied as the People Power Coalition (PPC), went on to gain a victory in legislative elections later in 2001. In May 2004 Arroyo secured a fairly narrow victory in presidential elections in which she was backed by a coalition of parties called the Coalition of Truth and Experience for Tomorrow (K-4), while K-4 candidates won almost 70% of the seats in the House of Representatives. Political parties remian highly personalist and fluid with fluctuating coalitions built around individuals. The Philippines economy comprises a large agricultural sector (employing 45% of the workforce) and (mainly light) industry (including textiles, chemicals, electronics assembly and food processing), with industry employing about 15% of the workforce. The government has pursued policies aimed at deregulation and privatization. The availability of low-cost skilled labour has encouraged substantial inward investment from Japan and elsewhere although the Philippines has not matched the level of economic progress of the leading newly industrialized countries of East Asia. GDP growth has been in the range 3-4 per cent per annum since 2000 but this growth has been considerably discounted by a population growth rate of 2% per annum. The unemployment rate in 2004 was close to 14% and seven million Filipinos, mainly unskilled, work outside the country (especially in the US, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia), their remittances making an estimated $7bn. annual contribution to the domestic economy. The public debt burden of 136% of GDP is one of the highest in Asia and growing, but proposals by the government to introduce extra revenue-generating measures proved politically difficult in Congress in 2004 despite President Arroyo's victory in the May 2004 presidential elections and the ruling coalition having a majority in the legislature. GDP (purchasing power parity) $390.7bn. (2004 est.); GDP per capita (purchasing power parity) $4,600 (2004 est.). 2. Trade Unionism Trade unions were first legalized in 1908 (under US rule) and the first labour congress was held in 1913. The Philippines as an independent state ratified ILO Conventions Nos. 87 and 98 in 1957 and 1953 respectively. Following the declaration of martial law by Marcos in 1972 (when many trade union leaders were dismissed), the labour code was revised in 1974 to curb the right to strike. Unions were resurgent before the fall of Marcos in 1986, playing a role in the wave of “people power” protest that drove him from office. Under Corazon Aquino the labour laws were liberalized. Unions may federate freely but there is no united national trade union centre. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) was founded under Marcos in 1975 to unify the labour movement, but its official backing ensured that it was suspect with sections of the labour movement. It is the ICFTU’s sole affiliate and the largest centre. Also significant is the WCL’s affiliate, the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), while the leading left-wing organization is the May First Labour Movement Centre (KMU). Other organizations include the National Association of Trade Unions (NATU) and the Trade Unions of the Philippines and Allied Services (TUPAS). The different organizations tend to be political and enter (fluid) alliances with each other, with frequent splits and a blurring of identity between trade union organizations and political organizations claiming to be based in the labour movement. The election of Ramos in 1992, in succession to Aquino, polarized the union centres. The FFW and a faction of the Workers’ Strength Labour Centre (LMLC) backed him and some of their leaders were appointed to government posts, among them the FFW vice-president Fil Joson, who headed the Overseas Employment Administration. In contrast the TUCP had endorsed the rival bid for the presidency of Ramon Mitra. In 1993 union campaigns were mounted against the increase in energy prices and the power crisis, the emergency powers taken by President Ramos, inflation and wage issues. But these campaigns also divided the union centres with the militant May First Labour Movement Centre (KMU) opposing the government across the policy range while the TUCP, FFW, and some members of the LMLC tended to be loyalist. In 1993 two KMU breakaway centres, the NCL and BMP, signed a Covenant of Unity with the TUCP and on May 1, 1994 formed a Caucus for Labour Unity (CCU) on a platform of industrial peace. The anti-labour policies of Estrada led to the creation in February 2000 of the Labour Solidarity Movement (LSM), supported by the TUCP, FFW and TUPAS, which ultimately called for Estrada's removal from office as part of the broader political movement which ended in Estrada facing impeachment in Congress and standing down in favour of Arroyo. In October 2004, the TUCP, the FFW and TUPAS signed a social accord with the employers and the Arroyo government. Under the accord, which was denounced by the KMU, the unions agreed to show restraint in the use of industrial action while employers agreed to minimize the impact of retrenchments. The labour code provides for the right to bargain collectively for private sector employees and for employees of government owned or government controlled corporations. However, only some 15 percent of union members are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Under Marcos there were extensive limitations on strike action but Aquino made radical changes to the country’s labour code and established the framework for a more liberal labour relations policy to comply with ratified ILO conventions. It became easier to call a strike in the private sector and employers could no longer recruit strike-breakers or dismiss workers for failing to comply with return-to-work orders. All means of reconciliation must be exhausted before a strike takes place and those leading illegal strikes may be sentenced to prison terms (though this provision has not recently been applied). Public sector workers, although they may form unions, may not strike. In the private sector the Secretary of Labour can intervene to impose compulsory arbitration and order strikers back to work if the strike is in an industry considered to be vital to the national interest. Industrial action can result in violence, sometimes involving the use of hired company security guards; in November 2004 clashes between striking farm and sugar cane workers and the police and military at a ranch belonging to the politically powerful Cojuangco family resulted in 14 deaths. Cases have been reported of employers refusing to re-hire workers dismissed for strike activities when ordered to do so by the Secretary of Labour. Following the fall of Marcos, a National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) was established in 1987. This settles most unfair labour practice disputes advanced as grounds for strikes before strikes take place. Disputes not settled by the NCMB can be referred to the quasi-judicial National Labour Relations Commission (NLRC). The creation of the NCMB has been one of the factors in the decline of legal strikes from a high of 581 in 1986, immediately before it was established, to 38 in 2003. The position in the export processing zones (EPZs), and other special economic zones, is similar to that in many other countries. Although the national labour laws nominally apply, in practice unions are systematically excluded or replaced by company unions; activists are dismissed and blacklisted; companies facing labour problems simply threaten to relocate. Local political leaders and officials generally work with employers to keep the zones union free. Despite legal prohibitions, there is widespread use of child labour, in areas such as banana and sugar plantations, docks, quarries, and mines, and in domestic service. Forms of child bonded labour are reported. 3. Trade Union Centres Federation of Free Workers (FFW) The FFW is campaigning to eradicate child labour, launching educational and other schemes in association with civic groups. Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Rolando Olalia, KMU leader and chairman of the Party of the Nation (Partido Ng Bayan – PNB), was found brutally murdered in November 1986, and party leaders attributed his killing to forces within the military. He was succeeded as KMU leader by Crispin Beltran. The Armed Forces had regarded the KMU as a communist front since its formation and the day before Olalia’s assassination, the KMU had stated that it would call a general strike in the event of a military coup (which was widely expected at the time) to overthrow the Aquino government. It boycotted the 1986 elections that brought Aquino to power, but subsequently backed her government while calling for fundamental reforms. During the Aquino presidency it appeared to have increased in strength at the expense of the TUCP, which was seen by some workers as a "Marcos union", on the basis of militant activity and organization. However it faced widespread accusations that it was provoking unrest for ideological reasons. Aquino at one point threatened to ban the KMU, which for its part complained to the ILO of violations of union rights. It claims to have lost a number of members, killed by govern¬ment forces, and was the only major union centre not to sign an Industrial Peace Accord in 1990. At the March 1993 national council a dissident group defected after protesting against the KMU’s 1992 election slogan of "revolution not elec¬tion". They subsequently formed groups known as the National Confedera¬tion of Labour (NCL) and the Solidarity of Filipino Workers (Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, BMP). The KMU campaigned for the removal from office of President Estrada, whom it accused of failing to respond to the needs of low wage earners. It opposes the privatization of state industries and the “unholy trinity” of the IMF, World Bank and the WTO and has called for the government to stop debt servicing. The KMU has continued its militant tradition under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and in October 2004 denounced the social accord signed by the TUCP, FFW and TUPAS. It retains its general identification with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), an essentially unreconstructed if fragmented formation which has a small but active following and a proliferation of associated organizations, including a still active armed wing, the New People's Army. The CPP-linked Bayan Muna party, to which the KMU is close, topped the party-list poll in the 2004 congressional elections (the party-list being a device to secure representation in the legislature for marginal groups). Crispin Beltran, formerly the president of the KMU, is now a Congressman for the Bayan Muna party. Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) On May Day 1990 the TUCP co-launched Labour Unity for Democracy and Peace with the FFW and LMLC and later that month was a signatory to the Industrial Peace Accord. In 1993 TUCP was in the forefront of a campaign to raise the minimum wage, review employment law and seat representatives of labour on local government councils; in 1995 it pressurized the government over the continued existence of child labour. It is generally considered the most moderate of the various trade union centres, although in 2000 it joined the Labour Solidarity Movement which called for the removal of the Estrada administration. It was in October 2000 a signatory to the impeachment petition, charging the President with corruption, and then organized demonstrations calling for his removal, all of which contributed to the broad movement that led to Estrada's downfall in 2001. Under the Arroyo administration it has maintained a position of support for the legal government balanced by criticism of specific policies and is hostile to efforts by leftist groups, notably the KMU, to exploit strikes for political goals (communist-aligned groups retaining a small but active presence in the Philippines). It has criticized the personalist character of Philippines politics as entrenching ruling oligarchies and called (without notable impact) for the 2004 elections to be fought on issues of social cohesion, health, housing, employment, education and development. The TUCP provides a range of services, including legal assistance to affiliate federations; credit and consumer cooperative programmes; free medical and dental services for members; a primary health care programme conducted by TUCP doc¬tors and nurses; research and information dissemination for collective bargaining purposes; education and research seminars and training for trade union leaders and members; mass basic trade unionism seminars for members; and assistance to affiliates in organizing campaigns. It seeks to encourage reorganization of affiliates on industrial lines to increase their effectiveness. Reflecting the legacy of past turbulence in Philippines politicis, the TUCP emphasizes that it abhors violence, uses strikes only as a last resort and that "we have no armed group". Political parties specifically identified with the TUCP have had little impact despite the introduction in the late 1990s of the party-list system designed to give representation to sectoral and marginalized groups. TUCP membership totals fell sharply in the early 1990s and it has since tried to broaden its recruitment, including in the export processing zones, where union activity faces considerable employer and official hostility. |
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