Para sa ika-walong sunod na taon, muling napasama ang Pilipinas sa Top 10 list ng “worst countries” para sa mga mangagawa, ayon sa Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), na binanggit ang red-tagging at pagpatay sa Filipino labor unionists.
Sa 2024 Global Rights Index nito, binigyan ng ITUC ang Pilipinas ng score na 5, na nangangahulugang “No Guarantee of Rights.”
Inuuri ng ITUC ang mga bansa batay sa scores na 1 (Sporadic Violations of Rights) hanggang 5+ (No Guarantee of Rights Due to the Breakdown of the Rule of Law).
Ang mga bansang may score na 5, tulad ng Pilipinas, “are the worst countries in the world to work in.”
Para sa mga bansang ito, sinabi ng ITUC, “While the legislation may spell out certain rights, workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labor practices.”
Kasama ng Pilipinas sa Top 10 worst countries para sa mga manggagawa ngayong 2024 ang Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Guatemala, Myanmar, Tunisia, at Turkiye.
Mula 2017 ay pasok na ang Pilipinas sa 10 worst countries for workers list ng ITUC.
“Workers and unions in the Philippines remained at the mercy of red tagging (being blacklisted by the government as a communist subversive and branded an extremist), violence, abductions, and arbitrary arrests,” anang ITUC.
“In 2023, two prominent trade unionists were murdered. The government fostered a climate of fear and persecution, silencing the collective voice of workers. Workers across many sectors still faced significant obstacles when attempting to form trade unions,” anito, binanggit ang pagpatay kay Alex Dolorosa, organizer sa BPO Industry Employee Network, at Jude Thaddeus Fernandez, organizer mula sa Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).
Nanawagan naman ang Philippine affiliates ng ITUC—ang Federation of Free Workers, KMU, SENTRO, at ang Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)—sa Philippine government, partikular sa Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) “to heed the continuing outcry against unfair and oppressive labor relations and conditions of work that have made the Philippines among the 10 worst countries for workers in the annual survey of the ITUC.”
“Without improvements in unionization rate and collective bargaining coverage that continue to drop like a rock due to rampant corporate and state impunity against workers, the Philippines will continue to be one of the worst countries for workers—instead of being a priority investment destination that respects human and labor rights and rules-based international order—unless and until we finally have a Labor Department that is truly for labor which will facilitate a roadmap that is truly tripartite to uphold freedom of association,” giit ng ITUC affiliates.
Sa kasalukuyan ay wala pang kometo si Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma ukol dito.
Nasa ika-11 taon na, nagbibigay ang ITUC’s Global Rights Index ng status report sa “worldwide struggle” upang depensahan ang core pillars ng demokrasya: ang karaptan at kalayaan ng mga manggagawa at trade unions.
MICHAEL DINGLASAN – HN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
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