The man organizes a labor union, defying Martial Law in the 70s
Toronto-Canada
June 11, 2020
This is not a story of a PJI man who rose from rags to riches.
He’s an ordinary worker of the Philippine Journalist Inc., a proofreader working on the third shift in the 70s when most of the people were sleeping; we were working the whole night, putting the news materials to bed.
He’s Atty Michael P. Moralde.
One morning many years ago, he dropped by our house and asked me if I wanted a job. I had been jobless for some time because Martial Law had closed down our magazine where Moralde and I had worked. Since the Times Journal was a newly- organized paper, it was hiring some personnel.
Every time, I think about my former employer, the PJI, what comes to mind is how we eventually organized a union and successfully made a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the management, but that would cut the long story short because forming a union at PJI had been a long and tedious process, it took long years and struggles, simply because its owner was the brother of the former President Marcos.
I remember Moralde putting a hard fight to form a union in the late 70s.
Despite the perilous Martial Law condition at that time, Moralde tried “ testing the water” by organizing a union. However, it was unthinkable for any man even to attempt to form one, even if he’s made of steel and highly resolved and determined man—simply because, it could be interpreted at that time as an attempt to undermine the Marcos administration.
Being pragmatic, I thought this kind of move was tantamount to virtually taking a high risk; it could even be a suicide.
Moralde, a man of principles, and a stickler of the law was a law student at the University of Manila—and he believed that for as long as we followed the requirements of the law, we would be able to organize a union.
He was neither a leftist nor a rightist, he had no political affiliation and the only thing he upheld was the majesty and the impartiality of the laws as represented by the blindfolded Lady Justice.
One day, news reports showed the results of the bar exams, and Mike was so happy to see his name among the bar passers, and everyone was congratulating him. Then, after a few weeks, Moralde got a message from the management, offering him the post of the company’s personnel manager, but Moralde saw it as an attempt by the PJI to dissuade him from organizing the union.
With that in mind, Moralde turned down the offer and went on organizing the union.
Then, one day, Moralde, got a shocking letter from the management, he had been fired and he was immediately escorted out of the PJI building by a security guard in full view of some production and editorial people who all seemed to be so helpless to do anything.
Possibly, Moralde had been expecting the worst to happen to him because, without any word of protest, he simply walked away with his escort.
Though he was not successful in organizing a union, Moralde, true to his character of always being willing to help his fellow workers, he extended all the legal help to the PJI workers who had some complaints against their management.
He would give these workers and employees free legal advice, some of them would even visit him at his simple, small home and also a legal office in Sampaloc, and in some instances, he would even appear before the courts, as their legal counsel in pro bono cases.
Before he died, Moralde became the Dean of the Manila University’s College of Law.
Newspapers come and go but Atty Mike Moralde will always be remembered by the workers--the way he lived his life in the service of the poor people, generously offering his help to his friends and co-workers at PJI.