Nagkaisa Opposes 13th Month Pay By Installment, backs DTI Loan without interest

The Nagkaisa labor coalition  sees no reason to defer or pay by installment the 13th month pay of the workers for this year as the government stands ready to support small businesses amid the CoVID 19 pandemic. 

"Pwede naman" installment basta fully paid before Dec 24. Other than that we will be transgressing the letter and spirit of the 13th month pay law.

We heard from the good DTI secretary that his department had already reached out to Small Business Corporation to develop a facility that will provide zero-interest loans to companies needing 13th month funding.

As early as last year, Nagkaisa also had called on

 DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III for the government to grant 13th month subsidy to some 1.5 million to 5 million workers in the small and micro enterprises (SMEs). 

Workers are more in distress, especially women workers in micro and small enterprises,  which were hit hardest by this pandemic. 

Nagkaisa agrees that the only way to ensure that the 13th month pay is enjoyed by all workers in all establishments is to give no interest loan or subsidy for SMEs.

Last year, Nagkaisa was able to formulate its own public employment agenda called the Unemployment Support and Work Assistance Guarantee (USWAG) that it submitted before DOLE last year and during the subsequent employment recovery meetings this year. USWAG is part of Nagkaisa’s more elaborate agenda called State of Labor and its Agenda on Recovery or SOLAR.

Nagkaisa welcomes the judgment of the court on the Olalia-Alay-ay double murder case

Let this be a warning to all human rights violators!

Nagkaisa welcomes the judgment of the court on the Olalia-Alay-ay double murder case.

The trial took too long but after 35 years of waiting the assailants were convicted this morning.

The Antipolo Regional Trial Court Branch 97 found three members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) guilty for the death of labor leader Rolando “Ka Lando” Olalia and his driver-unionist Leonor Alay-ay.

Olalia and his aide Alay-ay were abducted, tortured, and extra-judicially killed in 1986.

A social reformer reminded us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” 

Though justice  takes a long time, it does happen if the determination of those who pursue it is strong and persistent.

Press Statement

Oct 12, 2021

Labor coalition bats for regular ayuda amid pandemic new normal

The Nagkaisa labor coalition on Saturday said the government, as well as the political wannabes for the 2022 elections, must now consider instituting a universal and regular form of assistance for every Filipino household amid the persisting pandemic condition and economic recession.

The call was made on the day the quarantine status of the National Capital Region (NCR) and several other areas were lowered down to MECQ despite the highest infection rate recorded a day earlier at 17,231. 

“Kahit ang mga eksperto at LGUs ay ipinaubaya na lahat sa Palasyo at IATF desisyon kaya’t hirap at parusa lamang ang babalikan ng ating mga manggagawa. At dahil ang lockdown at ayuda ay magkakambal na usapin, mas makabubuti na magkaroon na ng regular na sistema ng ayuda para sa lahat sa halip na paulit-ulit lamang binabago ang kategorya ng kwarantin. Dahil kung ang pandemya ay pangmatagalan na, ganoon din dapat ang ayuda o sa mas lagpas pang pangangailangan,” said Nagkaisa Chairperson Sonny Matula.

Nagkaisa had been pushing for P10,000 income guarantees for displaced workers and 100-day employment guarantees for the unemployed since the onset of the pandemic, but the government is only able to provide P1,000 subsidy for qualified beneficiaries. The group is now building the widest consensus and solid arguments behind this call for basic income, a measure that it said, “would address many issues such as aggregate demand, employment, chronic poverty, and hunger.”

Basic income, Matula said will also form part of workers electoral agenda.

“Hindi pwedeng paikot-ikot na lamang tayo sa problemang ito. Hindi rin pwedeng gawing permanenteng dahilan ang kakapusan ng pondo dahil may paraan din para dito,” said Matula, adding that universal social protection programs like what is being proposed can be funded through a wealth tax or from what others described as ‘solidarity tax’.  

Matula said workers, “for lack of better choice, have braved the risks of infection and even deaths, travel hazards, lost income, unemployment, and worsening working conditions one year and a half under the pandemic. But living with the same menu under the same regime for the next six years is untenable.” 

NAGKAISA Commends COA for Making Duterte Admin Accountable

The biggest labor coalition in the country and its affiliated healtcare workers' federations congratulate the Commission on Audit for doing its constitutional duty.

What’s tragic is, Mr. Duterte opted to throw tantrums over the COA report rather than do the right thing - correct the problems and ensure HCWs are properly cared for…. We definitely deserve a real leader!

"We are grateful to and must commend the Commission on Audit for flagging the DOH and other agencies for the unutilized funds, particularly so that many of  health frontliners did not receive their risk allowance and those who died due to CoVID-19 who, until now,  their survivors have been waiting for their survivorship benefits under the Bayanihan 1 and 2, " said Willy Pulia of the Makati Medical Center Employees' Union-AFW-SENTRO.

NAGKAISA holds that COA is merely doing its job under the law. President Duterte is out of sync of the rule of law when he criticized COA for doing its mandate.  Under the fundamental law, COA has the primary function to examine, audit and settle all accounts and expenditures of the funds and properties of the government including all its agencies and instrumentalities.

 "Sec Duque had asserted  that all funds are accounted for but many of our healthcare  workers from different hospitals have not yet received their CoVid Special Risk Allowance (SRA) from DOH", said Manuel Payao RN, Chair of Trade Feferation 8 of the Federation of Free Workers. 

The  Nagkaisa had several dialogues with DOLE and one with DOH but this problem of non-payment of SRA has  no answer but a refrain of "no fund yet" or "wait muna for some time" yet we have unspent P24B of CoVID funds, Payao who is also the union president of UERM Medical Center Employees Union-FFW added.

NAGKAISA observed that many of our HCWs are demoralized due to discrimination or selective giving of  SRA to frontliners. There is need to eliminate the designation  of "red" and "green" areas to avoid discrimination as all in the hospital are exposed to the virus, particularly so that CoVID-19 is airborne.

NAGKAISA calls for the passage of Bayanihan 3 and the liberal interpretation of the law in favor of the workers.

Likewise,  same hazard pay for workers in public and private hospitals in time of pandemic. And additional quarantine leaves at least 10 days minimum for HCWs who have been affected by the CoVID-19 virus.