In a multisectoral rally today in
Manila, the labor party-list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) decried the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit for its “pro-business, anti-labor
record.” Several hundred members of PM and other sectoral groups coalesced
under the People’s Forum on APEC marched from UST to Liwasang Bonifacio in this
major anti-APEC protest. As of the moment, police have blocked the mobilization
in front of the Metropolitan Theater.
Rene
Magtubo, PM national chair, stated that “Sacrifices born by commuters, students
and workers since Monday in lost time due to heavy traffic and lost pay due to
holidays as part of the summit are emblematic of the anti-people essence of
capitalist globalization that lies at the heart of APEC. APEC is engaging in
double-speak as repression of workers’ rights by its member countries belies
its inclusive growth tagline. Inclusive growth in APEC countries is impossible
without respect for basic labor rights, including the right to unionize and
receive living wages.”
He cited
as an example that “When Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and South Korean
President Park Geun-Hye meet at this APEC summit, they surely talk about
promoting trade and investments. But we doubt they will even speak about
protecting union rights and decent pay for workers of Korean-owned companies in
the Philippines. Yet many ongoing industrial disputes involve Korean-owned
factories in the Philippines.”
Workers
from two Korean-owned companies based in the country who are now embroiled in
labor rows are challenging the leaders of the countries on APEC’s track record
on workers’ rights. Employees of power company KEPCO-Cebu and metal factory Tae
Sung in Cavite have charged their managements with union busting and have
pending labor disputes.
According
to Charlie Piamonte, union president of Tae Sung Employees Association (TEA),
they filed a notice of strike last November 12 for union busting. He explained
that Tae Sung illegally fired union officer Joven Niviar, among other incidents
of harassment of union members. The union is planning to conduct a strike vote
within the next few days. Under the law, a union may launch a strike seven days
after a majority of union members authorize it through a vote. Tae Sung is
based in the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario, Cavite and produces metal parts
for the supply chain of multinational companies like American Power
Conversion-Schneider Electric, Honda, Mitsubishi, Caterpillar and Siemens.
Meanwhile,
Lowell Sanchez, president of the KEPCO Cebu
Supervisors Association (KCSA-WSN-Sentro), challenged the government to resolve
the long-running labor row that is now the subject of an assumption of
jurisdiction (AJ) order from Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. The KEPCO union
filed a notice of strike last June for the unfair dismissal of Sanchez. The
planned strike of the KEPCO workers was stopped by an AJ order so that it will not
affect the APEC ministers meeting in Cebu last August. KEPCO is South Korea’s
state-owned power company and operates coal plants in Cebu and Batangas.
“KEPCO and Tae Sung are crystal clear examples of how APEC
has facilitated growth and profit for multinational corporations that operates
across borders. And they also fully illustrate how workers have born the
sacrifices for the phenomenal economic benefits that corporations have reaped
due to APEC. Workers across APEC countries contend with low pay, contractual
work and union suppression even as their labor created the doubling of real GDP
within APEC between 1989 and 2013,” Magtubo averred.
November 18, 2015
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