Labour conditions in Filipino textile industry worsens post-MFA, says ICFTU
05 Jul '05
3 min read
"Workers in the Philippines are in grave need of collective organizing and yet their attempts to do so are met with indifference or violence," Ryder added.
For example, in October 2004 after workers at the Hacienda Luisita Sugar Mill and Plantation went on strike for better wages, police and soldiers responded by killing 14 people and severely injuring another 35. Amongst the dead were two children aged 2 and 5.
"This case illustrates all too graphically why more strenuous monitoring and implementation of core labour standards must take place and why the WTO should request that the ILO intensify its work with the Government of the Philippines and report back to the next WTO General Council," Ryder concluded.
The report further notes that child labour remains a serious problem in the Philippines, with an estimated 4 million children economically active (16.2%) in the 5-17 age group, many of them in the worst forms of child labour, such as child prostitution, mining, domestic service, pyrotechnics, deep-sea fishing, drug trafficking and agriculture.
At least three out of five children were exposed to a hazardous environment, including physical and chemical hazards. Most children working in agriculture were engaged in crop cultivation, including planting, weeding, harvesting, and spraying pesticides.
Many children are recruited as domestic workers, sometimes in exchange for loans to their families. Children are also trafficked for the purpose of sexual servitude or forced labour. A Time Bound Programme was launched in 2002 with the assistance of ILO/IPEC to reduce the worst forms of child labour by 75% by 2015.
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