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Background: Labor Conflict at Dole Philippines 2006 - present
Amado Kadena-National Federation of Labor Unions-Kilusang Mayo Uno (AK-NAFLU-KMU) was formed by the rank-and-file hourly employees at Dole Philippines, an SA8000 certified facility in Polomolok, Mindanao in 2001. Elected again in a landslide vote in 2006, Amado Kadena had enjoyed the overwhelming support of Dole’s 4,200 unionized rank-and-file employees who work in Dole Philippines processing plants and in the fields of the plantation, as well as the local community, because successful efforts to gain increased pay and benefits, secure full-time employment for more than 1,500 contract workers, and manage innovative programs, such as death aid program, monthly rice allowances, and mini-mart offering subsidized goods. From 2001 to 2006, the union enjoyed a strong collaborative relationship with Dole management.
Everything changed in 2006 and 2007. Around the time Dole changed managers at Dole Philippines, the union won its certification election to represent the workers by a landslide, with over 80% of the vote during an election that saw the highest voter turnout in the history of union elections at Dole Philippines. Almost immediately after taking the reins at Dole Philippines, managers at Dolefil declared opposition to the workers’ decision to select AK-NAFLU-KMU to represent them.
Dole management and the military launch anti-KMU campaigns in 2006 and 2007
Dole management’s campaign against the union leadership began with bad faith CBA negotiations, the firing of union leaders tasked to negotiate the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and other unfair labor practices against union supporters. The campaign rapidly expanded, though, when the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) opened its own anti-union campaign against the union in 2007. At that time, Dole management and supervisory employees joined forces with the military to help conduct programs they claimed were “anti-communist” public awareness seminars. Dole management knew that by providing support for the AFP’s programs, they were supporting the military’s goal of replacing AK-NAFLU-KMU with a management-friendly union through a campaign of fear and intimidation aimed at subjugating Dole’s workforce.
The AFP campaign consists of accusing union supporters, many of whom have worked for Dole for nearly two decades, of “infiltrating” Dole Philippines for the purpose of shutting down Dole’s operations to perpetuate the poverty of the Filipino working class. Without providing any evidence, military officials have also been publicly accusing union officers of recruiting for the New People’s Army and providing material support the communist insurgency. Dole management also leveled accusations of their own against the union to bolster the military’s accusations, including accusing the union officers of “ordering” union members to sabotage production. At the same time, the management openly supported the military indoctrination seminars which promoted unquestioned, pro-management mentality and further exacerbating the climate of fear and intimidation by threatening dire economic and social consequences for supporting the KMU trade union.
Management and the military worked with disgruntled former union leaders to support an alternative labor organization.
At the same time, Dole management and the military began working with several disgruntled former union leaders, who had been defeated in the past two union certification elections and had been accusing the union officers of corruption. They formed an organization called UR-Dole and have been running a well-funded, multi-year campaign to replace the workers’ union with their own management friendly union. As a key part of that campaign, UR-Dole has been working with the military and their contractors, including Chito Herbolingo of the ANAD party-list, to produce anti-KMU seminars in support of the military’s and management’s campaign to dismantle the union held around Polomolok and in nearby communities throughout 2008 up until this year.
During the programs, armed military officers actively participated and closely monitored the participants. Soon, the programs had become a near weekly fixture expanded to cover three days, which many Dole employees report feeling compelled to attend by Dole management and supervisor as well as UR-Dole. Unsurprisingly, after three years of witnessing Dole management’s open support for UR-Dole, and knowing of UR-Dole’s close relationship to the military, many workers took threats of retaliation by UR-Dole for failure to attend the program very seriously because UR-Dole’s close relationship with Dole management personnel.
Dole management unilaterally and illegally replaced the KMU union leadership in 2010.
Ultimately, the joint military/management/UR-Dole efforts culminated in February 2010 when Dole management unilaterally replaced the union leadership with the UR-Dole by quickly recognizing the results of a sham special union election that was unsanctioned by the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment and in violation of the union’s constitution and by-laws. The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment has ordered Dole management to return recognition to Mr. Teruel and strongly chastised Dole’s decision to back the UR-Dole by accusing of Dole of “legal hairsplitting” that “leads to an absurdity which we cannot countenance.” The BLR decision continued, “For if we are to adhere to the defendants' line of reasoning, we are in effect opening the floodgates of industrial unrest as any interest group within a labor organization could just instigate a dispute and insist that the same is already the status quo.” In defiance of Philippine legal processes and the union’s collective bargaining agreement, Dole management continues to recognize UR-Dole.
Certification Election on February 22, 2011
The CBA between the union and Dole expired on February 10, 2011, and the workers are set to take to the polls on February 22. The rank-and-file hourly workers, who harvest the pineapples and work in the processing factory, will get to choose between having no union, or being represented by either the KMU or UR-Dole, who have reincorporated themselves as LEAD-PH.
For additional document prepared by ILRF regarding this worker struggle, see the list below:
- Complaint filed with the United States OECD NCP [1], October 2010
- GSP Petition filed by ILRF concerning labor rights violations in the Philippines [2], June 2007
ILRF also documented through 2008 the anti-worker actions of Dole taking part in the GSP petition filed against Dole pineapple products including:
- ILRF Pre-hearing brief [3]
- ILRF hearing testimony [4]
- ILRF Press Release [5]
- Dole Foods Post Hearing Brief [6]
Lastly ILRF has prepared documentation of the overall concerns regarding labor rights in the pineapple industry which can be found in our comprehensive report the Sour Taste of Pineapples [7].