As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have widespread impact globally, governments around the world have imposed different restrictions on its citizens to counter the threat. But those restrictions are threatening livelihoods and well-being of millions.
While brands and retailers shut shops and are struggling to keep their businesses afloat, employees are subjected to massive layoffs. In a survey conducted by the International Trade Union Congress, which polled its representatives in 86 countries around the world to monitor government and employer responses to the pandemic, only 21% of the countries are providing sick pay. Half of the countries surveyed were containing the spread of the virus with national lockdown measures.
Workers are facing a double threat – to their lives and their livelihoods: the need to protect themselves from contracting the virus and the need to work to feed themselves and their families. Workers have expressed their concerns on how they would survive the crisis. While the urgency and necessity of staying at home is understandable, their income and ability to earn a living are at stake. Such restrictions are likely to exacerbate unsafe conditions for migrant domestic workers—with employers suffering from employment cuts and unpaid salaries, this may mean employers will delay or refuse to pay domestic workers. Some may force them to work on their legally mandated day off.
In the Philippines, research group IBON Foundation said the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)—also a ‘total lockdown’ but without total provision of food and aid—has disrupted the livelihoods of 18.9 million working people, or 45% of 42.4 million employed, using 2018 and 2019 labor force data. ‘Displaced’ refers to job losses, part-time work, reduced pay, and other disruptions in livelihoods especially by informal earners.
According also to IBON, most of these are workers who were displaced are vendors, shopkeepers, and sales persons in the wholesale and retail trade subsector (4.4 million); construction workers (2.7 million); farmers, farm workers and fisherfolk (2.5 million); pedicab, tricycle, jeepney and truck drivers and mechanics in the transport sector (1.8 million); manufacturing workers (1.5 million); and hotel and restaurant employees (1 million).
How do the workers survive the lockdown? The government must provide aid, right? They brought this upon us, did they not?
But the government’s financial aid program is at best reactive, selective, exclusive, insufficient and slow. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of P5,000 to P8,000 per family (amount depends on region) for only the 18 million poorest families in the country as beneficiaries. The Department of Labor and Employment’s programs include a one-time P5,000 financial assistance for CAMP for formal workers (650,000 beneficiaries) and TUPAD for informal workers (235,948) and P10,000 for AKAP for overseas Filipino workers (135,720). The Deparment of Agriculture’s P5,000 for RFFA and FSRF programs target 591,246 farmer beneficiaries.
After a month and a half, the government did not reach its target to complete the distribution of SAP by April 30. It has only been able to give emergency subsidies to 11.2 million beneficiaries according to latest data available. These are from the DSWD (10.2 million), DOLE-CAMP (407,3000), DOLE-TUPAD (275,0000), DOLE-AKAP (70,000), and DA (354,875).
Others who are not covered by the aid programs—professionals in the private sectors, freelancers, etc.—the government hoped they be paid by their employers and that these employers that they have deep pockets and an overwhelming sense of benevolence and compassion.
Beyond paid leaves and day offs for those still working or the meagre financial aid for those who was forced to stop working (a one-time financial aid of P5,000 from DOLE or P8,000 from DSWD cannot ever be said to be enough for 45 days of lockdown), workers need not only the security of their jobs but also the security of their persons. The Philippine government’s slow response has led to the increase of COVID-19 cases in the country. There was only one case in January, seven in March when the next cases were announced and when local transmission was confirmed and 52 when the government placed the National Capital Region (NCR) under community quarantine on March 15.
With the government extending the lockdown for the second time, public discontent is increasing. The Duterte administration up to this day—45 days on lockdown and 3 months since the first COVID-19 case—failed to roll out mass testing or even extending policies that could help poor Filipinos meet their basic needs during the lockdown.
May 1, Labor Day, is the first day of the second ECQ extension and the regions of NCR, CALABARZON and Central Luzon, the provinces of Benguet, Pangasinan, Cebu and Iloilo and the cities of Baguio, Cebu and Davao are covered. All other areas will be placed under general community quarantine or GCQ or the “new normal” or a relaxed quarantine—with some local government units have already expressed wanting to be part of the ECQ, where only the areas covered will continue to be given aid by the national government. The rest, as it happened when the lockdown started and all those days without food and aid, will have to fend for their own.
In a speech during the Labor Day online protest rally on their Facebook page, Kilusang Mayo Uno Chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog urged the government to provide aid to the people now.
“Dapat matiyak na dumating ang ayuda ng kumpleto at nasa takdang panahon”
[Provision of complete aid should be complete and on time.]
COVID-19 intersects with the underlying system that was already fragmenting our society—heinous working conditions, contractualization, no living wage. The crisis has exposed our government’s true long-time bias and priority of capitalists’ interests over and above workers’ rights and welfare.
But what would this world be without workers?
“Kitang kita na sa pag-atake ng COVID-19 at sa pagsasagawa ng ECQ na kapag hindi pinatawan ng lakas paggawa ang mga makinarya ay hindi aandar ang ating ekonomiya. Iyan ang dapat na pagpapahalaga na dapat maibigay sa ating mga manggagawang Pilipino at mga manggagawa ng daigdig.“ Labog stressed.
[It can be clearly seen how in the onslaught of COVID-19 and the implementation of the ECQ that if labor force is not applied to machinery, our economy stops. That is the value we should regard Filipino workers and the workers of the world.]
