Blue Collar Workers

Labor is cheap. This is the dominant aspect of the blue collar workforce here in Manila, a factor that makes itself visible in other countries similar to the Philippines.

Numerous multinational companies have come to the Philippines to procure cheap labor and cut production costs. In turn, these firms churn out goods and services that return good profit from the market. What's ironic is that the laborers who made these expensive goods get only small and insignificant salaries. In most cases, these salaries are so meager that it can't even support a family and provide them with a decent and comfortable lifestyle.

The result is Poverty.

The sad reality of the matter is that many workers, especially here in the Philippines and in similar countries, don't get enough or equal compensation for their time and sweat. In an effort to lower production costs and make a bigger profit, the salaries of some laborers are sometimes kept below the minimum wage.

Of course, the workers have the right to the proper compensation, but with the political situation in the country, corruption in management and government offices, prevents them from having a voice in the administration of their welfare. This is further aggravated by the fact that most of them are already poor. They just keep to themselves and continue to suffer in silence while under the constant cloud of fear that they could lose their jobs at any time.

Some money hungry companies also tend to abuse their workers by withholding important benefits such as healthcare, housing, and insurance. Workers already abused inside inhuman sweatshops are only human. One time or another, they will collapse. Their muscles and lungs will fail. In the end, their ill health will cause of their resignation. They lose the backbone of their livelihood. They'll eventually lack the money to put food on the table and clothes on their backs.

Another way workers are marginalized, especially those under abusive employment agencies, is through heavy agency fees and charges. The salaries of most workers under such a situation are cut down because the agency collects so many fees. Very little is left for the workers.

This system is similar the one found among the many farmlands in the country several years ago. The owners of the land collect the harvest and leave so little to the farmers who actually toiled and took care of the crops by their own sweat and blood.

In spite of all of this, it is not purely the fault of management. There are those workers who do not know how to save or take care of their finances. The money that should have gone for the schooling of their kids or for food on their tables sometimes finds its way to the beer gardens or drug houses of the city’s slum areas. Once the paychecks have been issued, there are those who head straight for these places of vice and squander their money on useless entertainment.

On the other hand, many workers don't possess the motivation to work because of a lack of dignity. Most of them are ashamed of their livelihood even though their source of income is more decent compared to those who make money out of corruption and greed. These people feel degraded when compared to executives and professionals. They see themselves as merely tools to serve and nothing more. For them, life will never improve. Sometimes, it's this negative mentality that prevents them from stepping onto the road that leads to a better life.

One cannot give any solution that will do away with all these abuses and problems. The one thing important is that, in any labor force, the most valuable thing is the worker. Above all the industrialization, above all the money, the human worker is still the core element of the entire equation of business. The problem is that, this core element is the one left behind in the dust. A mans life is but a vapor, here today gone tomorrow. Without a vision people perish.