Duterte upsets labor groups after threatening unions

Labor groups on Thursday heaped criticisms on Davao City Rodrigo Duterte after he called on the organized labor sector to give the country a ten-year break from active unionism or he will have to kill its members.

"All unions and workers should be outraged by Duterte's threat to kill unionists who will organize in economic zones. We might have found it amusing when he declared war on drug lords and vowing to kill them," said Julius Cainglet, assistant vice president of the Federation of Free Workers.

"He tried to downplay his badmouthing of the Pope. But to threaten to kill workers who want to exercise their right to organize themselves for just wages, better working conditions, social protection and the right to be heard is just direct attack on workers' and human rights," he added.

Duterte's running mate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano quickly tried to explain Duterte’s statement, saying the mayor only wished for industrial peace and was not calling for the scrapping of unionism.

"Ang message niya noon hindi buwagin ang unyon. Ang ibig niyang sabihin doon, tigilan natin ang rally-rally, tigilan natin ang strike-strike kung kakausapin ko ang mga namumuhunan, mga kapitalista, bawal na ang contractualization, bawal na ang mababang sweldo," Cayetano told reporters.

"Pero kausapin ko kayo, let's guarantee industrial peace.... Sino ba namang kandidatong magsasabi na bawal ang unyon?" he added.

Alan Cayetano says Duterte wants industrial peace, not scrapping of unionism. pic.twitter.com/WyfUXVrG0D

— Trisha Macas (@trishamacas) February 11, 2016

In his speech during his campaign kick off in Tondo, Manila on Tuesday, Duterte said that he needed to come to terms with KMU to create economic zones for more jobs.

“Kayong mga KMU, medyo pigilan muna ninyo ang labor union. Ako na ang nakikiusap sa inyo. Magkasama tayo sa ideolohiya. Huwag ninyong gawin iyan kasi sisirain mo ang administrasyon ko. Kapag ginawa ninyo iyan, patayin ko kayong lahat. Ang solusyon dito patayan na. Eh pakiusapan mo, ayaw eh. We have to come into terms with each other,” he said. 

“Do not do it now iyung active labor front. Kasi kapag ginawa ninyo, nasisira. Do not do it. Give the Philippines a respite of about 10 years,” he added.

His remarks did not sit well with KMU which expressed their dismay on Facebook on Thursday.

“The plight of workers won’t improve without their own action and organization, without unions, and without genuinely pro-worker unions in particular. It is simply not true that workers, unions, and KMU cause companies to close down; that is just a scare tactic to make workers accept low wages, contractual employment, and repression,” KMU said in a statement.

“He cannot make progressive statements on other issues and then make this horrid mistake on the issue of workers – directly addressing the KMU and threatening the lives of unionists – and still expect people to believe him. He is making a big joke of himself with this statement,” KMU also stated.

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) president Leody de Guzman also pointed out that Duterte’s  promise to abolish contractualization may have been just an electoral gimmick.

"We will not allow Duterte, this time, to hide behind his favorite alibi of 'hyperbole'. He had the gall to utter a not-so-thinly-veiled threat to unionism. We dare him to share the same harsh words to abusive capitalists and landowners who violate every letter and spirit of the Labor Code and the Agrarian Reform Law," he said.

"Duterte’s speech before his proclamation rally in Tondo revealed his bankrupt development agenda. He says, the country needs to entice investments for economic growth. How? By scaring the hell out of the trade union movement, i.e., by making workers surrender their rights to the altar of global capital," he added. -NB, GMA News