Date of publication: June 26, 2007
Source: Inquirer (Philippines)
By Niña Catherine Calleja
STA. ROSA, Laguna -- An international labor group and local labor alliances denounced the "unprecedented attacks" against labor activists and workers in factories in the country.
The Washington DC-based International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) on Friday filed a petition with the Office of the United States Trade Representatives to suspend the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits of the Philippines.
The GSP is a formal system of exemption from the more general rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Under this system, the Philippines enjoys tariff preferences when exporting various products to developed countries such as the United States and those in Europe.
In a statement furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, the complaint accused the Philippine government of systematically denying the workers their rights to freedom of association, to organize, and to form and join unions.
The author of the complaint, ILRF staff attorney Brian Campbell, said until the government of the Philippines takes meaningful steps to end the use of violence and the misuse of the legal system to deny workers their fundamental rights, it should not receive special economic privileges from the US.
Bama Athreya, ILRF executive director, questioned how the US continues to reward a government that allegedly violates workers’ fundamental rights through the use of extrajudicial killings, among other abuses.
According to the petition, labor leaders and activists in the Philippines are being killed, abducted and subjected to surveillance, harassment, intimidation and grave threats by elements of the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police, local police forces and private security forces.
It said the Philippine government has failed to investigate or hold those responsible accountable for the killings and abductions of union leaders and members.
The 2006 records of the International Trade Union Confederation showed that Philippine trade unionists and labor activists suffered 110 assaults on picket lines, 102 physical assaults and injuries, 41 instances of torture, 33 killings, 40 abductions, 748 instances of intimidation, 946 grave threats, 159 illegal arrests or detentions, and 1,097 instances of blocking, breaking up or violently dispersing demonstrations.
The unions of two factories in Laguna province are being attacked, allegedly by management, Luz Baculo, secretary general of Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (Union of Workers in Southern Tagalog) told the Inquirer.
She accused the management of Chiyoda Integre Philippines Inc. and Nissan Motors Philippines of alleged using all means to crush the union.
Since Friday, Nissan workers have been staging protests in front of their factory to call on the management to comply with the decision of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court.
The DoLE and the appeals court have ordered the reinstatement of 144 Nissan workers, with accrued salaries dating from the time the strike was launched on October 2001.
The Supreme Court has affirmed both decisions.
But Nissan management has yet to comply, claiming the decisions are contentious and there is still a pending petition.
In Cabuyao, Laguna, some 51 workers and union members of Chiyoda, a Japanese-owned electronics company here, were allegedly detained by management and padlocked inside the factory's canteen for seven hours on June 20.
Filemon Alfiler, president of the workers' union, said all 68 members and officers of their union had received notices of dismissal from management but were still asked to report for work.
He said they were charged with “inciting or participating in riots, disorders, illegal strikes or concerted actions to the company interests.”
The firm’s management denied the workers’ illegal detention claim, saying those workers chose to stay inside the company premises.
It also denied having dismissed any of the workers.