Who says lady justice is blindfolded and does not favor anyone?
While Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo remains “detained” at the St. Luke’s
Hospital, two Karnation workers died in jail and 18 were imprisoned for
three years for having conducted a strike.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Who is the biggest criminal of them all?
Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can grow more ill and burrow
deeper into a luxurious hospital arrest while public pressure mounts to
charge her for electoral fraud, plunder and gross human rights
violations.
But the working people, if charged in court even with trumped up
charges, face immediate arrest and years of imprisonment, difficulties
in getting court approval for bail and in mustering enough money for it,
and continued threat of imprisonment while their case drags on in court
for alleged acts committed during a labor dispute that have also been
“criminalized.” This, at least, is the example provided by the ongoing
saga of the “Karnation 20” workers, based on the appeals for help aired
on their behalf by the non-government Center for Trade Union and Human
Rights (CTUHR).
As if these were not horrible enough, the labor center Kilusang Mayo
Uno railed this week against the call of the Employers’ Confederation of
the Philippine (ECOP) to decriminalize employers’ violations of minimum
wage laws. The labor group describes this as “clearly callous and
anti-worker.”
In an interview with BusinessMirror last week, ECOP
president Edgardo Lacson opposed bills in the House of Representatives
seeking to legislate a longer prison term for employers who violate the
country’s wage laws, saying the government should do the opposite and
decriminalize such violations. Lacson was reacting to House Bills 942,
1817, 1889, and 2884 authored by Reps. Reynaldo Umali, Emmeline Aglipay,
Ben Evardone and Joseph Victor Ejercito, respectively, which seek to
extend the penalty of two-year imprisonment to four years for such
crimes.
Non-payment of minimum wages in the Philippines is one of the most
rampant and persistent violations committed by employers based on the
labor department’s survey. But few, if any employer on record, had been
jailed for this..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/11/25/workers-imprisoned-for-exercise-of-union-rights/
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14 years ago
1 comment
bakit criminalized ang labor dispute actions? tapos i.decriminalize daw ang non.payment of minimum wage? dapat at least patas. malaking fines sa non.payment of minimum, pwede na?
"But the working people, if charged in court even with trumped up charges, face immediate arrest and years of imprisonment, difficulties in getting court approval for bail and in mustering enough money for it, and continued threat of imprisonment while their case drags on in court for alleged acts committed during a labor dispute that have also been “criminalized.” This, at least, is the example provided by the ongoing saga of the “Karnation 20” workers, based on the appeals for help aired on their behalf by the non-government Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR).
"As if these were not horrible enough, the labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno railed this week against the call of the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippine (ECOP) to decriminalize employers’ violations of minimum wage laws. The labor group describes this as “clearly callous and anti-worker.”"
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