The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) unites with the Filipino workers and people in marking the 39^th anniversary of the historic February 1986 Edsa People Power uprising. We are calling on Filipino workers to continue the spirit of Edsa in struggling for labor and human rights, democracy and social justice.

Filipino workers played a crucial role in the Edsa revolt and the protests that led to it. Contrary to his intentions, Marcos Sr’s imposition of martial law in 1972 did not quell labor unrest. Silenced at first, the labor movement eventually gained ground and became stronger starting in the middle of the 1970s.

The historic 1975 strike at the La Tondeña Distillery shattered the silence imposed by the Marcos dictatorship not only on the labor movement but the entire society. It opened the door for other workers to hold strikes and other sectors of society in urban areas to hold various kinds of protests.

The growth of unionism during Martial Law ensured that workers were at the backbone of the protests against the US-backed Marcos dictatorship starting in the late 1970s. These protests intensified after the assassination of the great oppositionist Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. in August 1983. Many political observers were able to foresee a mass uprising against the dictatorship in the labor movement’s huge mobilization for the protests that led to Edsa.

Due to the labor movement’s important role in ousting the Marcos dictatorship, and its continuing militancy, the 1987 Constitution enshrined robust provisions on labor and human rights, democracy and social justice. The Constitution contained the following: workers’ rights to “self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law”; to “security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage”; and to “participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law.”

The 1987 Constitution also stated “the right of labor to its just share in the fruits of production” even as it also recognizes “the right of enterprises to reasonable returns to investments, and to expansion and growth.” It commits the Philippine State to uphold human rights, democracy and social justice.

Changes in the global economy and post-Edsa governments’ submission to big capitalist interests, however, brought about the neoliberal attack on workers’ rights, especially through attacks on unionism, starting in the 1990s. The gains made by the labor movement were rolled back, and Filipino workers now need to form unions, engage in collective action, and fight back, together with the spirit of Edsa, to regain them.