Labor Day protest draws close to 100,000

KMU Members gather at Mendiola to protest unfair work practices on Labor Day. INQUIRER PHOTO/ ALEXIS CORPUZ

Update

Close to 100,000 people joined the day-long protest nationwide calling for the Duterte administration to implement higher wages and end all forms of contractualization on Labor Day, May 1.

Thousands of members of militant and labor groups from different areas in Metro Manila gathered at the Liwasang Bonifacio (formerly Plaza Lawton) in Manila to make a collective call on the government to end labor injustices, especially those suffered by farmers and contractual workers.

Labor Day protests were also held in Southern Tagalog provinces, Bicol region, Negros Island region and in Davao City.

Among those who joined the rallies were members of national urban poor alliance Kadamay. They marched from Agham Road in Quezon City, where they had camped out since Saturday, to Manila.

Organizers said about 80,000 people joined the May 1 protest.

During the program, Samahang Janitors ng Polytechnic University of the Philippines (SJPUP) president Rey Cagomoc urged President Duterte to make good his campaign promise to stop “endo” (end of contract) practice in the country.

“We voted for you because you promised you’d stop endo,” Cagomoc said as the audience applauded.

Theater actress and activist Monique Wilson entertained the crowd, most of whom wore red, with a Les Misérables song “Do You Hear The People Sing?” to symbolize the disgruntlement of workers.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno, the alliance of workers which led the protest action, is urging the government to raise the national minimum wage to P750.

“Data from Ibon Foundation showed that such an amount would only be a 30 percent decrease in the gross profit of the top 1,000 corporations in the country,” KMU chairperson Elmer Labog said in a statement.

“Small and medium enterprises have also claimed that workers’ wages only comprise only 10 percent of their total production costs as they spend higher on high electricity rates, land rentals, and exorbitant taxes,” Labog said.

The KMU also challenged the President to fulfill his campaign promise and end labor contractualization.

“While we recognize the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)’s efforts to regularize 45,000 contractuals in 2017, there remain over 24.4 million contractual workers that should be regularized,” Labog said.

After the program, the protesters trooped to Mendiola to continue the mass action./ac