RP Killings Worry Big Foreign Firms

CAVITE CITY - At least seven big foreign-owned companies, including Wal-Mart, expressed alarm over the spate of killings, violence and attacks against workers on strike in Cavite City, just outside the Philippine capital, the Workers’ Assistance Center, Inc. (WAC).

In a joint letter to President Gloria Arroyo dated November 7, the companies - American Eagle Outfitters, Gap Inc., Jones Apparel Group, Liz Claiborne Inc., PVH, Polo Ralph Lauren and Wal Mart, expressed alarm on behalf of their company over the “violent attacks on striking workers and the assaults and killings of labor rights promoters”.

“We urge your [government] to take proactive measures for ensuring the physical safety and for protecting the rights of workers and labor rights promoters”, the group said. The signatories include the company’s top officials dealing their compliance to human rights, corporate responsibility and business ethics.

Their letter to Arroyo refers to the brutal killing of prominent Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) Bishop Alberto Ramento Jr. on October 3, attempt on the life of labor leader Gerardo Cristobal on April 28 and the violent attacks against two workers unions on strike inside the economic zone in Rosario, Cavite since September 25.

At the time of his death, Bishop Ramento was the chairman of the board of the Workers’ Assistance Center Inc. (WAC). On the other hand, Cristobal was a former union president of a Japanese-owned EDS Manufacturing Inc. (EMI-YAZAKI) and member of the Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW), an alliance of labor unions in Cavite.

Cristobal survived the ambush by gunmen later identified as policemen.The group is also disturbed regarding the direct involvement by elements of the Rosario Municipal Police, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) police and private security forces in perpetrating the violent attacks against the workers’ on strike.

The workers on strike are all members and union officers of the Nagkakaisang Manggagawa sa Chong Won (NMCW) and Kaisahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Phils Jeon (KMPJ). The joint letter also expresses concern of the PEZA’s banning of workers on strike from entering the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ).”

They also draw the government’s attention to the reports regarding the blacklisting of workers on strike. They are concern the “[workers] employers might discriminate against them in the future solely because they exercised their right to freedom of association”.

“As companies that seek to source in countries and from suppliers that share our commitment to ensuring the respect for workers’ rights, we believe that local human and labor rights Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) can play an important role by partnering with manufacturers and governmental entities as well as suppliers and companies to help improve labor practices and working conditions,” their letter to President Arroyo said.

Although Wal Mart’s signature in the said joint letter is recognized, still the workers on strike had reservations as to how it would honor commitment. Wal Mart, the biggest retails store in the US, is one of the buyers of Chong Won.

Wal Mart’s representatives in Philippines had in the past displays indifference with the workers on strike.“They [Wal-Mart] must prove it decisively.

They must ensure those workers who were summarily dismissed are reinstated in the ongoing strike. That Chong Won should negotiate with the union for collective Bargaining agreement (CBA). That it would refrain from violently attacking workers on strike,” said Marlene Gonzales, former employee of Chong Won and now president of the SCW.

Unless Wal-Mart meets this objective, their effort of signing in the joint letter are meaningless, rhetoric and attempts to cover up the atrocities their suppliers are committing. It cannot exonerate them from being responsible to killing the worker’s livelihood and violent attack inside CEPZ.

In closing, the signatories have urged the government to address the violations, and to ensure the safety and rights of worker and labor rights promoters.

“It is important that we and other companies doing business in the Philippines remain confident in the government’s commitment to freedom of expression, freedom of association and the rule of law”, the joint letter further noted.