Friday, May 23, 2008 Wenceslao: Labor dealers and other issues By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
THE first thing I did Wednesday before I rode a multicab was to make sure I had 25-centavo coins in my pocket. Just in case, I told myself. I then surveyed the money container placed beside the driver and smiled. I saw a toppled pile of 25-centavo coins. I would have paid P6.50 fare had I not noticed no one was doing it. Yet.
Hours later, I did give the driver of the PUJ my wife and I were in the additional P0.50 fare. But I changed tack since then after testing the waters by not paying it during several rides and not getting a reprimand. I think, for drivers, the plan is to wait for their operators to get the notices, post these inside the vehicle and from there start collecting.
That’s happy days still for us commuters who are trying to balance monthly expenses with our meager earning. That, though, won’t be for long. Drivers will inevitably collect the provisional fare hike even as government decides on a new non-provisional minimum fare for jeepneys and buses and implement this anytime soon.
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It would be interesting to find out how the killing of lawyer Richard Sison will impact on the ongoing conflict between Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and businessman Efrain Pelaez Jr. Sison, as Radaza’s legal counsel, was the one who sometimes engaged in a verbal exchange with Pelaez considering Radaza’s mum ways.
I take it that Pelaez and the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry has condemned the killing, and I would give it to Radaza for letting police investigators do their work and not jumping to conclusion. This is good because when reports about Sison’s death started to filter in, not a few people naturally recalled the conflict.
Lapu-Lapu leaders are peace-loving, no doubt about that. They hurl harsh words at each other sometimes and file cases in court---these and nothing more. Besides, Sison is not only Radaza’s lawyer but is also into other activities that could generate motives for killing. No reason for the Radaza-Pelaez rift to worsen then because of the incident.
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Rep. Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran’s passing has, as expected, brought into focus the state of the labor movement in the country. Ka Bel was, for militants, “the grand old man of Philippine labor.” With the proliferation of labor unions in the country, many other labor officials may want to lay claim to that title, which leads to a comparison of leaders.
Some labor leaders are sometimes derisively called labor dealers, those who have enriched themselves at the expense of the ordinary members of labor unions. While Ka Bel died a pauper (he was among the poorest member of the House of Representatives) leaders of some federations and labor centers are doing good, meaning, are millionaires.
What is galling, for example, is that these labor leaders drive around in shiny vehicles while ordinary union members, from whom union dues are collected monthly, don’t even have money to ride a taxicab. Unionism has noble intentions, like pushing for the interest of the working class. But for some people, it has become a profitable venture.
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Here’s a good question from a reader: “Kining gi-charge sa Veco nga system loss sa ilang konsumidor pareha ba ni sa Meralco nga gi-charge sad sa ilang consumers? Sa Veco, ang system loss naglakip sa gamit nga kuryente sa opisina ug sa libre ug way limit nga kuryente sa ilang mga trabahante.”
