ON INTERNATIONAL Labor Day 2024, KARAPATAN joins thousands of workers who marched to the streets to demand higher wages, job security and the recognition of their right to unionize, among others, and raise calls to stop the attacks against workers and the people under the Marcos Jr. government.
The Marcos Jr. government’s refusal to provide a reasonable and substantial hike in the minimum wage as well as the salaries of employees in the public sector due to the neoliberal demands of US imperialism is most deplorable, especially amid the economic crisis in the country.
Among those in the agricultural sector, their situation is aggravated by the effects of the drought and drop in production brought about by the El Niño phenomenon.
In the transport sector, jeepney drivers and operators who have had their incomes eroded by incessant oil price hikes and rising costs of spare parts are now in danger of losing their livelihoods due to the so-called PUV modernization scheme which will also deprive commuters of access to cheap transport.
Yet workers who dare to organize and air their grievances are subjected to grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance.
On September 29, 2023, veteran labor organizer Jude Thaddeus Fernandez was summarily killed in Binangonan, Rizal by CIDG operatives who claimed that he fought back after being served a warrant.
More recently, Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao labor organizer William Lariosa, 63, was abducted on April 10, 2024 in Brgy. Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon and remains missing.
Alexander Reyes, Oliver and Rowena Rosales are government sector unionists arrested and detained for almost six years now on trumped-up charges.
We demand justice for Jude Fernandez, William Larosa, Alexander Reyes, Oliver and Rowena Rosales and all other labor organizers who have become victims of human rights violations for their staunch and militant advocacy of workers’ rights.
We call for decent wages and humane working conditions for all the working people of this country and for their right to free association, assembly and expression.
We call for the strongest support for their just and legitimate demands, and an end to the historic and systemic disregard for, and attacks, on their rights. – KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
