MAY 1 SOLIDARITY STATEMENT:

Salute to the Workers as Human Rights Defenders in their Struggles for Dignity and the Right to Development

The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates salutes all the workers as Human Rights Defenders in their struggles for dignity and the Right to Development.

PAHRA celebrates with workers all over the world their achievements of trade unions fighting for their right to a future wherein human rights are at the core of both economic recovery and progress. More than ever before, in this globalised world, the situation of workers in one part of the world is linked to the challenges faced by workers in another.
Today, there is an imperative for effective expanding unity and solidarity.

PAHRA thus welcomes and stands with the Unity Statement of NAGKAISA! taking cognizance particularly that:

Contractualization subverts the workers’ right to a just wage which “must not be below the level of subsistence”. Workers must be given the capacity to access what is necessary for their full human development, including the freedom to association and the right to strike. All forms of contractualization must be ended.

House Bill No. 4853 (Consolidated Version of the Security of Tenure Bill) must be declared an urgent priority legislative measure to alleviate the plight of the private sector workers / employees. Passage of this Bill will underscore the need for State compliance to give social protection to the said workers.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189 (Decent Jobs for Domestic Workers) must be ratified. Concomitant to it is the call for the immediate passage of the Magna Carta for Domestic Workers. This measure would ensure that domestic workers will be paid their proper wages, receive full benefits, social protection as well as accorded the freedom to organize themselves.

There is need for an immediate and long overdue wage increase. This includes a minimum increase of P90.00 through the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) and/or a higher amount of P125.00 through ‘across the board’ legislated wage increase law. A new Salary Standardization Law for public sector workers has also to be urgently passed.

PAHRA will struggle with all workers without discrimination and with equity, particularly persons with disabilities (PWDs), lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs) and persons with HIV, to enable them to live with dignity and to progressively realize their full human potentials.

MABUHAY ANG LAHAT NG MANGGAWA!
ITAGUYOD AT IPAGLABAN ANG LAHAT NANG KANILANG KARAPATANG PANTAO!

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