Danilo A. Reyes

A female striker desperately struggling against being forcibly dispersed (Photo: Workers Assistance Centre¡XWAC)

It was dark and quiet. Sitting on a chair beside a wooden dining table, I found myself with some colleagues staring at a tin can fashioned into gas lamp. Though the lamp was small, its light was bright enough to guide us to move about and find our way around.

We were comfortably settled in a factory warehouse used as a temporary shelter by workers. The illuminating light, the silence and darkness created an ambiance for everyone to reflect at a day’s end.  Gradually those gathered around began reflecting on how they or those they knew had been victimized for asserting their rights.

One person described how the Korean factory he and his colleagues had worked in for years, shut down unannounced. It had resulted in workers scrambling to conduct a picket in front of the factory mainly to prevent their manufacturing equipment from being taken away. Others worried about immediately finding another job so they could support their families. All what had been left for them by the company was the equipment which they could claim as collateral for their unpaid salary as well as some benefits and bonuses from their insolvent factory. It would take a lengthy legal battle though.

Another had come from a Korean factory that had been on strike. There, the labour union’s demand for an increase in salaries, improved benefits and working condition, had been repeatedly ignored. For years, the management had employed tactics to deliberately delay the legal process. One such tactic was to repeatedly question the decisions made by the labour department’s quasi judicial body which required management to negotiate with the workers. The result was a failure to even begin negotiations with the workers.
Exploited

These are common occurrences in the country’s economic zones, particularly in the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ), located south of Manila. It is a region where foreign firms engage in manufacturing and exporting goods. Sadly, it is also a place where exploitation and abuse of workers in dire economic need, is rampant. The designer clothes, apparels, bags, shoes, and other commodities which you are wearing could have come from the sweat and toil of these exploited men and women; who could hardly enjoy the products they help produce. A shirt for instance, could cost one month’s salary—quite out of a worker’s reach. 

The region attracts thousands of migrant workers seeking employment, from both nearby and faraway provinces. Despite being exhausted in earning their meagre incomes, workers struggle daily in order to support their families, in turn, making themselves vulnerable for exploitation and abuse. Some have died of exhaustion due to being overworked; others have contracted diseases or even fatal illnesses due to poor working conditions.

Foreign companies, for example the Korean firms, resort to a convenient practice when faced with labour disputes. They deliberately shut down their companies unannounced, terminate workers illegally, then change the company’s name and continue with their business, with new workers. And though there are stringent policies relating to businesses of foreign companies in the area, in reality they are allowed to escape responsibility to their workers as well as legal accountability and carryon regardless. They even manipulating labour dispute resolutions and policies to exonerate themselves. They utilize the existing widespread corruption to their benefit and exoneration. Fighting against the injustice could prove fatal.

Those who bear the brunt are the workers. They are desperately poor and the survival of their families depends on what they earn in these exploitative factories. What they ask for though, is what is due to them: Just wages, benefits and improved working condition. The rights and welfare entitlements demanded are moreover clearly laid out in the labour laws and policies of the Philippines as well as international labour laws, to which the state is a party. But even these just demands have become too much to be tolerated.

Attacked

When the workers started asserting their rights, the inevitable consequence was that they were violently attacked and killed. In September 2006 for example, shortly after workers announced they were on strike, member and leaders of two labour unions, the Nagkakaisang Manggagawa sa Chong Won (NMCW) and Kaisahan ng Manggagawa sa Phils. Jeon (KMPJ) were attacked and violently dispersed at their picket lines. Many workers and leaders were injured during the confrontation.

Thereafter, workers, security forces and the police blamed each other for instigating the clash. The workers were accused of blocking the factory gate while they accused the police and security guards for escorting ‘scab workers?in—it is illegal to allow scab workers (temporary hired workers) to replace striking workers. The police and security forces however ignored the illegality of their actions and continued, thus instigating the violence. Later both parties—workers and law enforcement filed charges against each other, which remain pending in court to date.

It mattered little however, who instigated the violence. At the end of the day, it is the authorities who were duty bound to prevent violence and exercise restraint, but they failed to do so. It reflected the harsh reality: Workers who legitimately demand for their rights were violently attacked. Even a gesture of protest manifesting their dissatisfaction would not be tolerated by the police and security forces. Not only were they denied their rights, they were also prevented from raising their voices in seeking remedies for the violations committed against them.

Months later, the striking workers were terminated from their work, despite it being illegal to terminate workers while participating on strike. The workers had complied with the procedures of conducting a strike, but for some reason their strike was declared illegal. Thereafter the company was able to organize a council of workers under its control and challenge the existing union’s legitimacy. They collected signatures from union members to legitimize their group, which was subsequently used by the labour department in ruling the workers?strike as illegal and subsequently dissolve the two unions. The workers, now jobless, were forced to find other work and pursue their lengthy legal battle. Others have chosen to maintain their picket line in their makeshift tents enduring the continuing threats, until they are no doubt violently dispersed.

Impunity

Workers enduring hardship and at the picket line (Photo: Workers Assistance Centre¡XWAC)

In June 2006, the workers at the picket line in front of the factory of NMCW were attacked by unidentified men armed with firearms and bladed weapons, injuring some union leaders. The police however could not identify or apprehend any of the perpetrators. They could not also explain why armed attackers were allowed to enter the supposedly well-secured compound where the workers were picketing. The workers had also been warned by their attackers to stop the strike or suffer the consequences.  Hence the main purpose of the attack was to scare the strikers into abandoning their strike. And eventually it did succeed in dissuading some participants from continuing with the strike.

In August 2006, two female labour leaders at the KMPJ were forcibly abducted after their picket line was destroyed by their attackers. The unidentified perpetrators once again threatened them, threw their belongings on to a roadside, and pushed them into a water canal in a nearby municipality. They were indeed lucky not to have been killed or forcibly disappeared, as usually happens after abduction. The incident, as well as others, has sent a strong message to the striking workers: Stop the protests or face the consequences. It has had a chilling effect on many workers.

It was notably that the workers were not abandoning their strikes because they had lost conviction in their cause or the will power to pursue their demands. They were being forced to do so due to continuing threats, harassment, violence and death. Workers say they can endure most hardships at the picket lines, but the continuing insecurity was taking a toll. It illustrates the grave situation within the country when workers make claim to their just dues. And their fears are justified, especially regarding their colleagues experiences in recent times.

In April 2006, Gerardo Cristobal, a labour leader who vociferously advocated for workers?rights barely survived an ambush at Imus in Cavite. He was shot at and injured by men later identified as policemen. Early this year, he and his colleagues were once again fired upon by gunman riding a motorcycle, while they were inside an office. According to him, if the attackers?firearms did not momentarily malfunction they would have been killed. The attackers are yet to be identified. He continues to receive threats on his life.

Mr. Cristobal however was luckier than some of his colleagues. In December 2006, Jesus Buth Servida was shot dead by unidentified armed men while entering a Japanese-owned factory, also in Imus. Mr. Servida had been helping Gerardo Cristobal to organize workers at the factory on labour issues. He was also a member of an alliance of labour workers called the Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW). Mr. Servida’s murder took place in the wake of another yet another murder, that of labour leader, Cris Abad, at the gate of the same factory. This shows how deadly it was to advocate workers?rights and welfare in that place. However, to date none of the perpetrators have been identified, apprehended or prosecuted.

Deadly

This deadly environment that surrounds workers and their leaders who assert their rights is the result of the state’s failure to protect its citizens as well as the total impunity afforded to perpetrators. Maybe members of the security forces and law enforcement agency are themselves involved in the atrocities as clearly shown in Mr. Cristobal’s case. Life has become cheap with killings and other extrajudicial means being used to silence the workers?movement. Understandably workers are increasingly becoming apprehensive. 

Under normal circumstances these are people who are willing to passionately advocate their right and fight against the exploitation and injustices meted out to them. But the constant violence and frequent attacks seem too much for even such a dedicated lot. After all, they are unmatched against their opponents: They did not have thugs and could not afford to pay the security forces to silence a person considered undesirable or prevent their opponents from continuing with their exploitation. In the ensuing lawlessness, impunity and complete disregard for human rights and life, they are losing the battle.

The worker’s deep commitment to their struggle reminds me of story told by some workers. Apparently at the time they declared a strike in September 2006 one of the strongest tropical storms hit the southern part of Manila in the Philippines, particularly Cavite. Despite the strong winds and heavy rains, they described how workers fought to protect their picket line. One recalls holding on to the roof of their makeshift tent to prevent from being blowing away; the struggle they endured to protect their tents from destructive winds and heavy downpour.

Another described workers sleeping on their picket line which was made of wooden planks, cardboard or textiles. Some simply slept out in the open after laying out plastic sheets or cloth on top of grassy soil. Definitely, it was no party. They had also to survive on the food