May 01, 1996

As the nation celebrates May 1 as National Labor Day, it is part of our task of evangelization to speak out on work from the viewpoint of its human value and moral order (Laborem Excercens, 24).

Let me share with you in this pastoral message the current situation of our workers in the hope that as a Church, we can concretely establish our commitment to uphold the dignity of labor and workers.

Amid rapidly declining incomes and soaring consumer prices, economic survival has become more difficult for our workers. The mandatory minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) is set at P 165/day as of May 1,1996. The legislated wage is not even close to living wage sufficient for maintaining a family. There exist many companies that do not implement the minimum wage law, left alone its adjustments. Many contractual workers, especially hired through agencies, are paid much less than the minimum wage. Worse, these workers have to cope with the increasing cost of living because of doubled-digit inflation.

Regularization, which legally takes effect after six (6) months of probationary employment, become more and more out of place as all kind of contracts, agencies and subcontractors are being used. This practice is now rampant not only in the garments industry but in other industries and services as well.

The regular work force is systematically being slimmed down in what was termed as “downsizing.” Regular workers are forced to voluntarily resign and are being bought out and replaced by much cheaper contractual workers. Preliminary studies unearthed the claiming extent of job contractualization.

Unfair labor practices are the main reasons for holding strikes, pickets and other protests. The management’s practice of unfair labor — only contracting and union busting. There are cases where companies in the NCR close shop only to reopen with a new name and in an new location. Their employees serve on a contractual basis for a maximum of five (5) months.

On the other hand, the informal sector which comprises 52% of the entire labor force is expected to increase due to unemployment in the formal labor sector. The informal sector is referred to as the “working poor” because of their condition. These workers use their meager capital in the operation of their source of income like the all vendors who comprise about 51% of the informal sector. These workers contend with their irregular income, lack of social protection and non-access to the basic services available to the formal sector. Thus, majority of the workers in the informal sector live in subhuman conditions.

The present administration has been reluctant to grant improved benefits to labor and it has been persistent in endorsing measures that threaten to further marginalize wage earners. The National Employment Plan of the government’s industrialization scheme blatantly seeks to utilize the workers as mere implements of production. Its grandiose goal of one million jobs a year is contradicted by the persistent flow of Filipino men and women who are forced to seek job opportunities abroad. The National Employment Plan is an employment scheme depriving the workers of their hand-earned rights gained during long years of struggle. With it comes the contractualization of labor wherein employment will be based on a six-month renewable contract.

There have been major amendments to the Labor Code which are found anti-labor. At the core of this is the aim of adopting flexibility measures on employment, such as contractualization and labor-only contracting. Job security will no longer be guaranteed. Contractualization and casualization expose workers to greater exploitation and violate their constitutional right of security of tenure and of self-organization and concerted action to raise their standard of living.

In the face of these developments, we stress the teachings of PCP II (#319):

“The twin principles of the dignity of human work and the priority of labor over capital need to be urgently applied to our situation where workers’ rights are too often sacrificed for profit and workers discarded as chattels according to the demands of capital. The principle of human work mandate, among other things, suitable employment for all, just remuneration for work that is sufficient to establish or properly maintain a family and to provide security for the future, various social benefits that would ensure the life and health of workers and their families. These include the right to rest and the right to a decent work environment. The principles, moreover, support the right of association, the right to participate in the fruits of work and in management (e.g. profit-sharing, sharing in the ownership of the enterprises or of the means of production, participatory decision-making) and the right to strike under certain conditions.”

The application of the aforementioned principles on the concrete plight of the Filipino workers makes us sad and realize how far away we Christians are in bridging the gap between words and deeds.

My Brothers and Sisters, we are called to act on concrete measures to address the workers’ situation. We are called to form a mature Christian “social conscience” and for a spirituality of transformation (PCP II). What the workers and the Church need are Christian deeds of solidarity among themselves and with other social forces in their struggle for social justice.

Second, formation programs in order to instill and promote this social conscience are necessary for all the disciples of Christ, bishops, priests, seminarians, religious and lay. Where appropriate, exposure-immersion-reflection programs among the workers can be helpful in order to read “the signs of the times.” In this way, workers can become our real evangelizers in the building of the Church of the Poor.

Lastly, we call on the different Parishioners and Basic Ecclesial Communities to form their own Parish Labor Desks in order to come up with a program that will cater to the needs of the workers who comprise the majority of the Church goers.

My Brothers and Sisters, the mission of Christ lives in all those who struggle with the poor and the oppressed including the workers. This solidarity must be present whenever workers are degraded or exploited. The Church is committed to this cause — it is her mission and her service. A proof of her fidelity to Christ is to be truly the “Church of the Poor” (Laborem Exercens, 8).

Devotedly in Christ,

(Sgd.) + JAIME L. CARDINAL SIN, D.D.

Archbishop of Manila

Villa San Miguel

May 01, 1996