INTERNATIONAL Human Rights Day is celebrated on December 10th. Every time we commemorate Human Rights Day, I am reminded of my labor movement friends and colleagues. During Marcos’ martial law, some of them went missing, some were imprisoned, and some were tortured to death.
It hurts me even more today to see those labor leaders who fought for workers' rights during martial law now supporting Marcos Jr., who has promised to carry on his father's legacy.
Under Marcos' dictatorship, workers' organizations that sought to jointly bargain with firm management for higher pay and other economic benefits, as well as job security, secure workplaces, and healthcare, were outlawed.
We had to go underground as organizers at the time, presenting ourselves uniformly by utilizing aliases. We must use Mimeo machines or V-type printers to educate and enlighten the public about working conditions and labor issues (printing by hand using silkscreen boards and stencil papers). There was no mass media to broadcast the demands of the workers. Even though we were not communists, the government labeled us as such, and security personnel who saw us as insurgents pursued us.
Prior to the martial law, workers could freely barter with firm management to better their living conditions. Disputes between labor and management were typically settled amicably. The right of workers to take collective action, such as slowdowns, sit-ins, and strikes, was recognized. These were brief work stoppages used by workers to obtain a bargaining advantage in collective bargaining agreements. Strikes by employees are uncommon, and they rarely result in the closure or lockdown of a corporation.
Before Marcos Sr. dictatorship, the country's economy was booming. Import substitution is a national development strategy. To supply our growing local industry, we import semi-processed raw materials. Manufacturing, the garment and textile industry, machine shops, and other industries also experienced rapid growth. Agriculture was becoming more mechanized, and high-yielding crops were introduced, as well as an irrigation system on farmlands. We were able to ensure our food supply, and we even sold surplus cash crops in the world market.
Marcos Sr., on the other hand, significantly restructured the economy into an import-dependent, export-oriented framework marked by massive foreign loans and funding, foreign investment, cash crop cultivation and export, labor power exportation, government corruption, and crony monopoly.
To entice and encourage foreign investment, the Marcos government used cheap and docile labor.
Revisiting PD 442 and 823
Marcos Sr. directed then-Secretary of Labor Blas Ople to draft a new labor law to keep the workforce toeing the line of his labor policy.
Marcos Sr. signed Presidential Decree (PD) 442 - the new Labor Code – on Labor Day in 1974. All labor and social legislation were amended and consolidated under the decree. Labor and social regulations have only been codified in the Philippines. In effect, the law limited workers' freedom of association and organization, as well as their ability to openly bargain with employers on both economic and non-economic issue at the plant level. PD 442 formalized the contractual labor scheme, which had previously been a source of concern for workers' job security.
Local industry and multinational businesses in the Export Processing Zones took advantage of provisions in PD 442 to dissuade workers from forming unions and refusing to bargain collectively with them.
On October 24, 1975, 800 workers at the La Tondena Distillery went on strike, seeking an end to contract labor, regularization of contractual workers, reinstatement of fired workers, and other plant-level issues. Workers in La Tondena put PD 442 to the test and defied it in order to protect their employment and livelihood.
The La Tondena strike, supported by adjacent villages, workers from other industries, nuns, and students, was the first open act of resistance against the Marcos dictatorship.
Following the La Tondena strike, Marcos Sr. enacted PD 823 on November 3, 1975, prohibiting workers from going on strike or engaging in other concerted measures. Workers were forced to undergo "voluntary and obligatory arbitration" because of the decree, robbing them of their only edge in collective bargaining negotiations.
The workers’ response
Marcos’ anti-workers policies strained relations between employees and bosses, resulting in a labor struggle. The government intervened in labor-management issues, which frequently resulted in strikes and the shutdown of businesses.
Workers' groups grew in every manufacturing plant, among transport workers, strategic industries, and multinational firms, despite Marcos Sr anti-labor's policies.
The labor movement grew in size and scope rapidly. As the movement grew more powerful, it went on strike, defying and overturning anti-labor legislation.
The dictator regime responded to the strike movement with brutality on the picket lines, the disappearance of labor leaders and organizers, and the summary execution of others. The coordinated workers' walkout sparked countrywide strikes, which morphed into people's strikes against the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
Before the EDSA people power revolution, the worker's movement struggled for civil and human rights throughout the dark days of the Marcos regime.