Labor Day and the senatoriables for the working class
Labor Day should be a time to think about the coming elections and the candidates' platform on labor. We should elect candidates who understand the plight of the working class and have a clear plan to uplift the lives, livelihood, and interests of the workers.
Today, the whole world celebrates Labor Day, (or almost the whole world because the USA celebrates its Labor Day on September 1 each year). May 1 had been chosen by the international labor movement, whose adherents are mostly based in Europe. They decided on this day to honor the bloody incident called the Haymarket affair, where a general strike in Chicago, USA, ended with a bombing and the death of eight strikers and the injury of many. The International Labor Organization composed of 187 countries (out of 196 members of the United Nations), also recognizes May 1 as the official day of the working class all over the world to celebrate the international workers' day.
The Philippines also celebrates the 45th anniversary of the Labor Code, which was promulgated on May 1, 1974, albeit it took effect only on November 1, 1974. We were part of the Blas Ople boys who formulated the omnibus rules implementing the Labor Code in 1975, as well as in formulating the many amendments of the Code, including the presidential decree that changed the workmen’s compensation system to what is now the employees’ compensation system contained in Book Four of the Labor Code. In other words, between May 1, 1974 and November 1, 1974, we amended the Labor Code even before it took effect. The six-month period gave us that window of opportunity to change the original version.
Today's Labor Day celebration is special because it is barely 12 days prior to the midterm elections on May 13, 2019. Thus, it is apropos to inform the working class, the employed sector, as well as the unemployed and the underemployed, that there are at least two competent candidates for senator coming from the working class, namely Atty. Allan Montano, president emeritus of one of the biggest labor federations in the Philippines, the Federation of Free Workers, and Atty. Sonny Matula, the incumbent national president of that same FFW. Atty. Matula is a Law professor and Bar reviewer like me and Atty. Montano is a voluntary arbitrator and is my long-time partner and associate in the Philippine arbitration movement.
The senate will be enriched by the presence of these two stalwarts of the Philippine labor movement, who have full mastery of international and Philippine labor laws. They have attended every year the ILO conventions in Geneva, both as delegates, speakers, and active participants. They have sponsored, advocated for, and saw the successful passage of ILO conventions that promote the fundamental rights of workers to security of tenure, self-organization and collective bargaining, and the right to just and humane conditions of work, including internationally-accepted labor standards. I will vote for these two decent and honorable labor leaders. Although I stand as a management lawyer, these two are honest, honorable, and fair.
For the party list, I prefer the TUCP led by our very own Raymond and Michael Mendoza and Gerard Seno. They are the moderates who have the welfare of labor at heart without destroying the employers, and with due respect to management prerogatives. To all the workers in the Philippines, and to DOLE, NLRC, NCMB, and to Sec. Bebot Bello and the good people of DOLE, on this Labor Day, Mabuhay.
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