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9 October, 20157 Ocotber marked the second year of the coordinated and sustained campaign of the IndustriALL Philippine affiliates in their fight against precarious work. This year’s mobilization centered not only on the extent of precariousness in the country but also highlighted the negative social impact of precarious work, not only on the lives of Filipino workers and their families, but also of their communities.
About 350 permanent and contractual workers alongside with 11 national labor federations rallied and marched from the historical site of Liwasang Bonifacio at the heart of Manila towards the office of the labor minister to strongly voice their anger against all forms of precarious work and demand secured employment and better working conditions.
Highlight of the campaign rally was the trade unions hand-over of the workers’ demands to the labor department build-up on the last year’s proposal to institute policy reform in order to halt the spread of precarious employment. Trade unions pointed out that urgent response has to be made not to further the sufferings of the workers who toil everyday without the prospect for a better future. Citing a recent research leading up to the campaign unions strongly maintained that precarious work creates negative consequences not only to the lives of the working people, but also to their families and communities.
Demands of the unions revolve around the measures to propose alternative reform and/or amendments to the Department Order 18-A in order to make labor-only contracting illegal, also pushing for the immediate passage of the Security of Tenure and Right to Regular Employment bill.