LABOR GROUPS READY REPORT TO ILO MISSION

ACOALITION of the country’s largest labor federations on Wednesday said it will submit a comprehensive report of Freedom of Association (FOA) violations to the International Labour Organization High Level Tripartite Mission (ILOHLTM), due to arrive next week.

In a press conference, Kilusang Mayo Uno chairman Elmer Labog said the report was a result of their nationwide consultations with labor groups.

“The collection of evidence and testimonies by our team in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao were very tedious and detailed,” Labog said.

Julius Cainglet, Federation of Free Workers (FFW) Vice President and a member of the team drafting the report, said the report is already 90 percent complete.

It contains a detailed breakdown of labor rights violations incidents, including cases of redtagging and filing of trump up charges.

Its highlight will be the updates on the 56 trade unionists killed from 2016 to 2021. s

“It (the report) is now in the final phase of vetting so we can present the status [of the cases] to the tripartite high level mission next week,” Cainglet said.

The ILO-HLTM, with tripartite representatives from Sweden, Australia, and Fiji, will conduct inquiries on alleged labor abuses in the country from Jan. 23 to 27, 2023.

Partido Manggagawa Renato Magtubo said they hope the arrival of the ILO-HLTM will compel the government to finally give updates on the killings of trade unionists.

“There are no updates on the government agencies, which are supposed to investigate the brutal killings. So we hope the high level mission will investigate the said agencies,” Magtubo said.

The fatalities, which was 46 in 2019, was the reason which prompted the ILO’S Committee on the Application of Standards to deploy a HLTM to the country.