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Philippine workers shut down sugar refinery,
violence ensues
Compiled by Finn Finneran
Nov. 10 (AGR) — The operation of a sugar refinery owned
by Hacienda Luista Inc. (HCI) in Tarlac, Philippines was haled Nov.
6 after workers walked out.
Protesters from the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU),
representing 700 workers of the sugar refinery and the United Luisita
Workers’ Union (ULWU), representing 5,000 farmworkers and reinforced
by militant activists, blocked the main gates of the refinery’s
main plant at noon.
At least 80 striking workers of Hacienda Luisita and their relatives,
and some policemen were hurt after the military, police and the sugar
estate’s security personnel dispersed them at 6pm on Nov. 6 and
early Nov. 7.
The injured, including women and children, were taken to various hospitals
in this city for treatment of bruises and broken arms.
Reports said policemen and soldiers used clubs, tear gas and a water
cannon to disperse the workers.
It was also reported that trucks loaded with at least 2,000 tons of
sugarcane were also forced to stop delivery.
An hour before the mass actions started around noontime on Nov. 6, a
group of armed men believed to be NPA guerillas set on fire 50 acres
of sugarcane in Barangay Murcia in Concepcion town, one of the 10 villages
that are within the sprawling plantation.
HLI’s rated capacity has been pegged at 7,080 tons of cane a day,
produced by some 13,134 workers.
The notice of strike filed by the ULWU and CATLU cited cases of illegal
cut-backs of workers, deadlock in the collective bargaining agreement
(CBA), the management’s alleged refusal to bargain and the limited
work days given to the workers.
The ULWU farmworkers are regarded as “co-sharholders” of HLI
under the stock distribution option (SDO) scheme of the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program. Leftist groups have been prodding farmworkers
to demand the scrapping of the stock distribution option in favor of
land distribution.
Last month, about 300 ULWU members, including their president and many
union officers, were laid off.
The management said the cut-back was prompted by losses due to falling
sugar prices and the frequent cane burning incidents inside the plantation.
The workers were demanding the reinstatement of the now-unemployed workers
and the start of the negotiation for their new CBA.
CATLU is demanding a $1.75-wage hike and $535 CBA signing bonus for
each worker. But the HLI maintains that it can only give a 20-cents
salary increase and a $214 signing bonus.
HRI farmworkers currently receive a 17-cents daily wage.
The ULWU protested the cut backs last October of 327 farmworkers, including
Rene Galang and Ildefonso Pingul, their president and vice president
and eight other union officers.
The protesters barricaded all access points to the sugar mill, preventing
sugar products from reaching the market.
The Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), which is the firm that operates
the sugar mill on the HRI plantation, claimed that the work stoppage
at its sugar refinery mill was illegal, saying only a handful of workers
joined it to cripple its milling operations.
The workers belonging to CATLU and the ULWU reportedly filed a notice
of strike before the Department of Labor and Employment.
Religious and leftists groups, including the underground communist movement,
the New People’s Army (NPA), have separately declared support to
the ongoing mass actions that have been disrupting the milling operations
of Luzon’s biggest sugar refinery.
A 5,000 strong torch parade including workers, villiagers, human rights
groups, church groups and members of several left wing parties took
place on Nov. 9.
A brief tension mounted when an armored personnel carrier (APC) and
a van reportedly “loaded with fully-armed soldiers and policemen”
tried to disperse around 200 villagers holding a vigil by a roadside.
Rally leaders claimed that the purported vehicles of government elements
were forced to “retreat” when they were suddenly surrounded
by “scores of people.”
Leftist priest, Rev. Mario Quince, told the protesters “to be brave”
because “your voyage can be likened to the voyage of God’s
people to the promised land.”
Jose Agtalon, the NPA’s spokesman in the region, claimed that the
mass actions here “foretell of the widespread and militant struggles
of workers, peasants and other sections of society pushed to lower levels
of impoverishment, in opposition to big business and landlord exploitation,
in defiance of the state’s repressive laws and policies such as
the no-strike policy.”
Sources: ABS/CBN, Philippine Daily Inquirer,
Philippine Headline News, Tarlac News
South Korea civil servants plan general
strike
Compiled by Shawn Gaynor
Nov. 10 (AGR) — Police raided the offices of the Korean
Government Employees Union (KGEU) on Nov. 6 and Nov. 7. The union which
claims to represent 700,000 Korean workers, has threatened a general
strike starting Nov. 15.
A National Police Agency official said that police officers entered
the civil servants’ labor union offices in Seoul’s Gangseo
District, Seogwipo on Jeju Island and Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province to
obtain proof of the planned strike.
At the KGEU’s 32nd Congress, which was held on Sept. 21 in Seoul,
more than 450 delegates unanimously voted to implement a General Strike
as part of the KGEU’s work plan for the second half of 2004.
Under Korean law, civil servants are banned from collective labor action.
However, the union has been demanding full labor rights, saying it would
call for a walkout to achieve the goal.
In addition the KGEU will be also demanding: 1) a stop to negotiations
on the South Korea-Japan Free Trade Agreement and the South Korea-U.S.
Bilateral Investment Treaty; 2) a stop to the extension of deploying
South Korean troops to Iraq; 3) abolishing arbitrary intervention; and
4) abolishing seizure of workers’ and union property as a method
to undermine worker and trade union rights.
It was agreed by the KGEU that the General Strike will begin on the
day that members of the Ruling and Opposition parties meet to discuss
rather than tabling the bill on irregular workers at the Environment
& Labor Standing Committee of the National Assembly.
On Nov. 9 government reaffirmed its unwavering hard-line stance against
looming labor strife by “illegally unionized” members of the
KGEU and the nation’s most militant union group, the Korean Confederation
of Trade Unions.
The police have been looking for seven of the union’s 37 executive
members with warrants for their arrest. It said it is processing the
issuance of warrants for the arrest of 30 other members. After issuing
warrants, the police are planning to round up the union’s executive
members who have not complied with a subpoena.
“Legal action will not be limited to the leaders of the union.
We will not condone any illegal activities by union members,” Labor
Minister Kim Dae-hwan was quoted as saying, referring to the civil servants’
strike planned.
The authorities are now set to mobilize all possible means to derail
the walkout. The measures could include the arrest of the unionized
employees and possible massive layoffs.
KGEU leader Kim Young-gil reassured, saying, “Even under a government
crackdown, we will carry on our struggle for a successful nationwide
walkout in order to secure full labor rights.”
The strike, if held, would mark the first of its kind in Korea.
According to KGEU officials, the union’s members will “work
to rule,” following their work hours strictly, for the rest of
the week.
That means refusing to perform ordinary administrative services for
the public during lunch time, and starting and finishing the day sharply
on time.
On Nov. 14, on the eve of the strike, the union plans to join a massive
rally in downtown Seoul being organized by the Korean Confederation
of Trade Unions to fight against the government’s labor policy.
Source: Donga (S. Korea), JoongAng Daily,
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Korean Herald
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