"Overemployed", a euphemism for sweatshops

“Forced overtimes are nothing new to workers since it has been a growing policy among employers to extract every ounce of energy from workers in the drive for greater profits and the recent data released by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) yesterday only confirmed this trend.”

This was the reaction of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Labor Center to the date released by the DoLE. According to Labor chief Brion, close to one-fourth of employed workers or almost five of every 20 employed Filipinos in the country were overemployed or working in sweatshops. He cited a report by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) which reveals that majority of those in sweatshops or those who worked more than 48 hours a week in their primary or main job, worked excessively for additional earnings.

“Calling workers overemployed is actually misleading because these workers are really those who work in sweatshops. Sweatshops are firms where workers receive very low wages, work for long hours, have unsafe working conditions and where unionizing is disallowed,” said Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, National Chairperson of the KMU.

The BLES report, which was culled from the labor force survey conducted quarterly by the National Statistics Office, showed that 22.9% of the 33 million employed Filipino workers in 2006 were overemployed. The figure translates to 7.6 million overemployed Filipinos.

“Mr. Labor Secretary, what do 7.6 million overemployed Filipinos expect from you now and your department? Citing figures is something but acting about is another. The sweatshop figures not only reveal how Filipinos are overworked but magnify the dangerous working conditions they are forced to get into,” Labog said.

Labog also explained the “overemployment” figures also bare the "ugly head" of the “labor flexibilization” which victimizes millions of Filipinos.

In 2004, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) recorded a case where Raymond Aguba, 25 years and a contractual worker from the MASUDA Philippines died of exhaustion after working for 22 hours straight. Another company, Fashion House Garments in Cavite forced their workers to take Bonamine, an anti-dizziness drug.

According to Labog, workers are forced to go into sweatshops because of lack of employment and very low wages. “Receiving a minimum wage of Php 300/day while the cost of living is Php 744 will force any worker to grab every opportunity to earn more, even though to their own detriment. This is another reason why a P 125 across the board legislated wage hike is needed by workers and their families.”

“Through the labor flexibilization scheme which is being promoted by the Arroyo government, a handful of workers are forced to perform multitasks which should have been done by more workers. These workers are compelled by their employers since this will translate to a lower production cost and therefore a higher a profit for them. This anti-worker scheme must be repudiated by this government together with the policies and programs which are detrimental to the interests of our ountrymen ,” Labog said.

The labor leader also stressed that while it is only mandatory that the “overemployed” workers must be fully compensated or they get enough salaries for the hours they have served, the issues of the internationally-accepted 8-hour work per day, health and safety, balance between work and family of Filipino workers must not be undermined by their employers and the Arroyo government.