from 'Tales of Filipino Working Women',

Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)

THE STORY OF NILDA(FROM TALES OF FILIPINO WORKING WOMEN)Christian Conference of Asia-UrbanRural MissionIn June 1984 the Christian Conference ofAsia-Urban Rural Mission published abookletentitled Tales of Filipino Working Women,acollection offirst-person narratives of indust-rial women workers in Manila (compiled byJing Porte and illustrated by Porise Lo). Thesestories reveal their oppressive working con-ditions, low wages, inadequate benefits, lack ofjob security, forced overtime and inhumanetreatment. Lack of equitable labour legislationand non-implementation of management-worker agreements currently perpetuate theirsituation. The following "Story ofNilda" is anextract from this publication, which was distri-buted at Nairobi.En juin 1984 la Christian Conference ofAsia-Urban Rural Mission a publie un livretintitule Tales of Filipino Working Women(Recits de travailleuses des Philippines). C'estune collection de recits a la premiere per-sonne, de travailleuses industrielles aManille(redigee par Jing Porte et illustree par PoriseLo). Ces histoires revelent leurs conditions detravail opprimantes, des salaires bas, desbenefices insuffisants, un manque de secu-rite d'emploi, du surtemps obligatoire, et untraitement inhumain. Un manque de legisla-tion equitable des conditions de travail et desaccords employeur-employees qui ne sont pasmis en effet perpetuent leur situation. Le recitqui suit, "Story ofNiIda" est extrait de ce livretqui fut distribue aNairobi.124I'm Nilda. Myparents, who wereoriginally fromBatangas, migratedto 5an Pablo Citywhere I was bornand raised by myfather. I was onlyfour years old when my mother died.My father, a farm helper, remarried soon after thedeath of my mother. We are now eight children in thefamily, two from my father's first marriage and six fromthe second marriage. We all lived in a small nipa hutwhich still exists up till now.When I was about eleven years old, I had to stop myschooling tq join my fath~r in his work in the farm. Weplanted rice and helped in the harvesting of palay. Wewere paid piece-rate, about P7.00 daily (U5$0.50).We worked from sunrise to sunset. That is the usualwork of a farm help. We braved the rains and the heatwhenever at work. After our work in the field, we wouldpick coconuts in nearby plantations and were paidpiece-rate also. Piece rate means, if you don't work youstarve. During bad times, they would even pay onlyP2.00 (U5$0.14). In this kind of job, we received as littleas P20.00 (U5$1.40) per week.When I reached sixteen, I went to town to work as ahousemaid. I received P20.00 (U5$1.40) a month doingall kinds of house chores. I worked as a housemaid inabout four families for a period of five years.One of my godmothers who worked in a convent tookme with her to Mindanao. I was able to find a job as astore helper. This was a bakery and it was also hard\vork. We worked from dawn to midnight. I receivedP40.00 (U5$2.80) a month, excluding food and clothing.In late 1976, I wentto Manila. I workedin a factory whichwas called "co-lorum" because ithad no permit tooperate. There wereabout 80 workers.We had neither 50cial 5ecurity 5ystem (555) nor Medi-care (Government 50cial Benefits). We were paid piece-rate and our salaries were remitted weekly.I earned as much as P15.00 (U5$1.07) a day. Weworked from 7:00 a.m. up to 5:00 p.m. and sometimesup to 7:00 p.m. If one wants to earn more, he can stillwork from seven in the evening up to six in the follow-ing morning. Almost all of us lived in the first floor of thefactory;.the work was in the second floor. We paid forour meals.After a year, I left the factory without permission fromthe owner. He was very strict and would always curseus in a way not even the dogs could stomach.One of my co-workers who landed a job inanother garments factory convinced me to apply theresince the "pay was good and there was a service bus." Iapplied and I was hired on May 26, 1978, with a start-ing salary of P14.35 (U5$1.02). It was less than theP15.00 daily salary I used to receive in the other factory,but at least, work here was only eight hours.When I heard that my co-workers were forming aunion, I joined them. I believe that only through un-ionizing can the workers effectively fight for their rights.If there is no union, nobody else will pick up the cudgelfor us.CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME

"The Story of Nilda"

https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/download/12556/11639

"The Story of Nilda"

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)