THE General Alliance of Workers Association (Gawa), along with labor and civil society groups, is holding today, May 1, a labor forum for solidarity that will underscore issues on contractualization hounding the country's labor sector.
The activity, to be held at Gerald's Restobar in Bacolod City, is in line with the commemoration of the International Labor Day.
Wennie Sancho, secretary general of Gawa, on Monday sad said the groups will issue a workers' manifestation airing their vehement opposition against labor contractualization.
Sancho said they are dismayed over the failure of President Rodrigo Duterte to issue an Executive Order (EO) stopping contractualization which he earlier promised to the workers during his campaign.
"Gawa avers that this is a complete turnaround on the part of the President in as far as the issue of labor contractualization in the country is concerned," he added.
The forum will also focus on top economic concerns including the increase in salaries and wages.
Citing the result of the survey conducted by Pulse Asia on March 23 to 28, Sancho said 50 percent of the 1,200 respondents listed wage increase as the top priority in Western Visayas.
Sancho, also the labor representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Region 6, said workers in the region fully support the wage petition files before the Wage Board.
"The unabated increases in the prices of petroleum products and power supply will further erode the purchasing power of the workers making their life miserable," he added.
In a related development, the Workers Against Tyranny, Corruption, and Human Rights Violation (Watch) are demanding the President not to be "reneger and to man-up" by signing the EO ending such labor scheme.
Roland de la Cruz, senior national executive vice president of the Congress of Independent Organizations and co-convenor of Watch, in a press statement, said the workers are just being played.
"It has been almost two years and five dialogues with the President and yet nothing happened and worse, Duterte announced that he will not sign the EO," he said, adding that "passing the buck to Congress, instead, is just but an act of a reneger." (EPN/VoxPop Bacolod)