2015 ITUC Global Rights Index - Philippines

2015 ITUC Global Rights Index Rating: 5

One worker murdered and hundreds harassed, threatened and detained:

On 6 March 2015, the Centre for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) reported that at least one worker had been killed in 2014 and hundreds more had been harassed, threatened and detained.

Specifically, the Centre reported that in 2014 there had been:

• 1 trade unionist killed;
• 2 cases of physical assault, involving 5 victims;
• 5 incidents of threat, harassment and intimidation, involving 138 victims;
• 2 cases of grave threat to workers, involving 8 victims;
• 8 cases of arbitrary arrest or detention, involving 15 victims; and
• 10 cases of false criminal charges due to political acts or beliefs or labour disputes, involving 49 victims.

On 8 March 2015, Florencio "Bong" Romano, a long-time union organiser at the RFM firm in Laguna and provincial coordinator of the National Coalition for the Protection of Workers' Rights in Southern Tagalog, was found dead on a sidewalk of Barangay Soro-soro, Batangas City. The chairman of the national labour centre Kilusang Mayo Uno, Elmer "Bong" Labog, said it was the 18th case of extra-judicial killings in the labour sector since President Noynoy Aquino came into power since 2010.

On 18 March 2014, a leader of the Toyota Moto Philippines Corporate Workers Association, Ed Cubelo, was visited at home by four armed men dressed in civilian clothes. They were asking whether anyone in the house worked for Toyota and behaving in a threatening manner, prompting Mr Cubelo to think they were going to shoot him. He believes that the incident was intended to stop him, TMPCWA and Defend Job Philippines in the continuing campaign for justice for the 237 illegally dismissed workers of Toyota, and to discourage other workers from organising.

In Davao, union leaders have been charged with trumped-up murder charges such as the Maragusan DOLE Stanfilco union leaders, Artemio Robilla and Danilo Delegencia. The secretary general of KMU Southern Mindanao, Romualdo Basilio, has reported that unionists are also "red-baited and maliciously linked" to the communist movement such as in the case of the RMN Davao Employees Union.

"There is increasing repression of trade unions nationwide, especially of unions who are steadfast in supporting workers and unwilling to bend their principles to submit to fake "industrial peace" where the welfare of capitalists are prioritise over that of the workers," said Basilio.

The ITUC Global Rights Index Ratings:

1 // Irregular violation of rights
Collective labour rights are generally guaranteed. Workers can freely associate and defend their rights collectively with the government and/or companies and can improve their working conditions through collective bargaining. Violations against workers are not absent but do not occur on a regular basis.

2 // Repeated violation of rights
Countries with a rating of 2 have slightly weaker collective labour rights than those with the rating 1. Certain rights have come under repeated attacks by governments and/or companies and have undermined the struggle for better working conditions.

3 // Regular violation of rights
Governments and/or companies are regularly interfering in collective labour rights or are failing to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are deficiencies in laws and/or certain practices which make frequent violations possible.

4 // Systematic violation of rights
Workers in countries with the rating 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under threat.

5 // No guarantee of rights
Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. 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 labour practices.

5+ // No guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law
Workers in countries with the rating 5+ have equally limited rights as countries with the rating 5. However, in countries with the rating 5+ this is linked to dysfunctional institutions as a result of internal conflict and/or military occupation. In such cases, the country is assigned the rating of 5+ by default.