THE ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural and Hospitality Workers) are demanding the reinstatement of 78 unfairly sacked workers at Philippines seafood supplier Citra Mina – and have promised the workers their continuing support.
The 78 are fishers and cannery workers at the General Santos-based firm. They were dismissed when they asked for union recognition at the company.
A strike and mediation efforts followed, but they remain barred from their jobs. Before the strike there were around 400 regular employees in the company, while about a thousand were contract workers. Today, there are only 72 remaining regular workers left.
Liz Blackshaw is programme leader for the joint ITF/IUF From catcher to counter initiative, which works with fishers to build worker representation and improve conditions across the fishing industry.
Speaking from General Santos she explained: ‘This is the Philippines’ second largest seafood exporter, yet it stands accused of continuing exploitation of its workforce, which it has dangled on short term contracts, in apparent defiance of national law.
‘The ITF and IUF are meeting with local and national government as well as the company’s management to find a solution that secures justice. These workers are also receiving fantastic support from the church, trade unions, community groups and the Alliance of Progressive Labour.’
l Philippines Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has taken exception to the findings of the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) that the Philippines is one of the worst countries to work in.
Baldoz said in an interview that she does not agree with the ITUC report, titled ‘2014 Global Rights Index’ that stated there is ‘no guarantee of rights’ for workers in the Philippines. Secretary Baldoz said: ‘Industry advocacy for workers is very good in our country. Quality of work is also OK.’
She, however, acknowledged that, as noted in the ITUC report, there are still issues when it comes to extra-judicial killing of workers. Baldoz added: ‘But this has been the subject of a dialogue with President Aquino. There is a commitment by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to fast-track investigations on that.’
To speed up hearings of cases already filed in court, Baldoz said that Secretary De Lima has commmited to form special teams to prosecute.
The ITUC reports rate countries on a scale of 1 (best) to 5 (worst), depending on their compliance with collective labour rights. It takes 97 indicators into consideration, such as worker’s rights to collective bargaining, to establish or join unions and to strike.
The Philippines received a score of 5, along with 23 other nations like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
For its part, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) president Democrito Mendoza said the ITUC findings only corroborated what labour organisations have been saying all along.
Mendoza said 73 to 75 per cent of the country’s 39 million labour force are not regularised, and they are working as contractual employees for an average of five months at a stretch. Of these contractual workers, he said, an estimated 85 per cent are not getting lawful minimum wages and tend to be terminated easily when they try to form a labour union.
Mendoza concluded: ‘Without security of tenure, Filipino workers are also suffering from lack of social protection services provided by government.’
• IndustriALL Global Union’s metalworker affiliate in the Philippines MWAP is fighting back against a mass sacking on 5th May of 24 union officials at NXP Semiconductors in Cabuyao, Laguna.
Management and government is colluding to bust the union, one of the few that successfully organises workers in the country’s Free Trade Zones.
A Metal Workers Alliance of the Philippines (MWAP) statement said it strongly condemns the management of the NXP Semiconductors Company in Cabuyao, Laguna for its illegal dismissal of 24 union officials effective May 5th, 2014.
The dismissed officers, which include all members of the union Executive Board as well as the Shop Steward Council, were immediately put on a blacklist and were barred from entering the company premises. All their benefits were blocked including the educational subsidy which is due to be released on May 15.
MWAP added: ‘The move is obviously a malicious attack on the workers who are currently undergoing a struggle to conclude a new collective bargaining agreement package. The dismissal of the officers is meant to weaken the bargaining power of the union.
‘In a memo dated May 5, 2014, the NXP management said the union officers “participated knowingly in illegal strike” and “are deemed to have lost their EMPLOYMENT status pursuant to law”. It further said that “the officers were terminated for just cause … illegal strike on April 9, and other following holidays.”
‘The union clarified that the management was referring to the workers’ refusal to work overtime last April 9, 17, 19 and May 1, which are all public holidays.
‘April 9 was Araw ng Kagitingan (National Valour Day) while April 17 & 19 were Maundy Thursday and Good Friday which are widely-observed in this Catholic-dominated country. As for May 1, which is International Labour Day, the union and the company has a standing agreement that all union members will be off from work and will participate in Labour Day activities.’
Reden Alcantara, union president of the NXP Semiconductors Company Workers Union (NXPSCIWU) and concurrent national president of MWAP, said that the NXP management treated the absence of the workers on these particular holidays as concerted actions of the union in relation to their CBA fight.
Alcantara added: ‘The termination of all union officials is yet another harassment of the NXP management to force us to give up on our just CBA demands to improve the lot of the workers.’
He added: ‘The management is trying hard to bust our union and the dismissal of the officers is meant to sow fear among the workers and threaten them against supporting the union.’
Prior to the dismissal, Alcantara said that the management also harassed the peaceful concerted actions of the workers, such as the protest march in front of the gates of the industrial enclave.
Security guards were deployed in shuttle buses and the workers were barred from getting off from the buses to prevent them from participating in the union activity.
The workers were forced to jump from the windows of the buses so they can get out and join the protest-march. In another incident, the workers’ peaceful concerted action was met by a heavy deployment of ERP personnel and a fire truck.
The CBA negotiation between the NXP management and union started in January this year and already had 23 negotiation sessions.
The union is demanding an 8% increase in wages while the company stopped its offer at 3.5% increase, which is only half of the hike given to the workers in their last CBA. The management has twice declared a deadlock and decided to seek a third-party negotiator.
Alcantara also hit the government for conspiring with the management. He said that the Light Industry and Science Park (LISP) administration elevated the issue to the office of Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz in an apparent bid to pressure the workers to stop fighting for their rights.
On April 16, the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) called for an emergency meeting between the NXP management and the union to discuss the alleged April 9 concerted action. The union used the meeting to also raise the issue of the delay in the payment of wages of 1,700 contractual workers in NXP.
The contractual workers have not received their wages for two months already and the management is using the CBA negotiation as a reason for the delay in the release of wages. But instead of resolving the issue, the union noted that the DOLE undersecretaries who sat in the meeting warned them that the union officials will be dismissed from work.
Alcantara said: ‘The management, in collusion with the government, is working hard to bust our union, as it is one of the few unions inside the export processing zones and industrial enclaves. They are hitting us hard because we were able to establish and strengthen our union despite the “no-union, no-strike” policy inside the EPZs and enclaves. We will not allow them to take back this hard-won victory of the NXP workers.’
NXP Semiconductors is considered as among the global market leaders in the semiconductor and electronics industry. It was formerly a division of Philips Semiconductor, until it was sold to a consortium of private equity investors in 2006.
NXP is operating in more than 25 countries and its global headquarters is located in Einhoven, the Netherlands. It has around 24,000 workers worldwide.
