Gabriela files resolution on GMA workers regularization

Gabriela Representative Emmi De Jesus filed House Resolution 1893 at the House of Representatives this morning, seeking an inquiry on alleged violations by GMA Network Inc. of labor code provisions on regularization of contractual employees.
De Jesus, fellow Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan and Quezon City 5th District Rep. Christopher Belmonte took the cudgels for the more than a hundred members of the Talents Association of GMA (TAG) who were refused regularization by the media conglomerate even after 15 years of continuous service to the company.
TAG members were cameramen, production assistants, editors, writers, researchers, and segment and executive producers of various GMA programs.
Most of them were terminated last December at the end of their respective “Talent Agreements” which categorize them as mere independent contractors and not as employees.
De Jesus hopes that HR 1893 would help in the passage of Gabriela’s House Bill 4396, a measure that seeks to stop labor-only contracting and to regulate job contracting and sub-contracting.
“I believe that media workers, who help keep the Filipino public informed and appraised of social justice issues must also be beneficiaries of social justice to keep their body and soul together and continue to provide this invaluable service to the nation,”De Jesus said in a statement.
“Press freedom is endangered if the rights of media workers themselves are not respected by media corporations,” TAG president Bowe Cabaluna, for his part, said.
TAG expressed gratitude to HR1893 sponsors and other media groups such as Altermidya, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, and the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communications for supporting their struggle.