Banana Workers Up In Arms vs Plantation Owner In South RP

DAVAO DEL NORTE – Banana plantation workers and members of the militant party list group, Anakpawis, picketed in front of the firm’s office and demanded payments of labor union benefits.

Workers from the Marsman Estate Plantation, Inc. said the firm was allegedly delinquent in the payment of their benefits under the Collective Bargaining Agreement or CBA.

They also accused Marsman of non-payment of social security remittances and other government taxes.

Banana worker Doming Deguma, who is also the Anakpawis coordinator in Santo Tomas town, alleged that Marsman has been delinquent in giving their benefits as prescribed in the CBA.

"What frustrates us more is that the officers of the union that negotiated the CBA continue to be the purveyors of this capitalist exploitation. Instead of protecting our rights and demanding the release of our benefits, these officers are the first ones to tell us there's nothing we can do," Deguma said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

In 2001, the officers of the Davao Marsman Labor Union (DAMLU) negotiated the CBA that expired March last year. Deguma said that these officers are "parrots" of the management's interests, adding that such kind of leadership is called "yellow unionism."

Currently, the workers of MEPI are trying to establish their genuine union, the Marsman Labor Association for National Democracy-National Federation of Labor Unions-Kilusang Mayo Uno (MARSLAND-NAFLU-KMU).

Deguma is also the president of MARSLAND-NAFLU-KMU.

But Deguma and the rest of the officers of their union are adamant. He said contrary to DAMLU's puppet claims, there is something that the workers can do.

In December of last year and early this month, Deguma said, the workers were able to force the management to release their wages following a series of successful pickets and lobbying.

"The workers now know that through these collective actions, we can assert our demands and secure our economic rights," Deguma said.

MEPI failed to release two consecutive payrolls in November last year and two more consecutive payrolls in January this year.

Editha Duterte, spokesperson of Anakpawis in Southern Mindanao, said yellow unionism is prevalent in the workers movement in the country.

"While genuine unions like MARSLAND-NAFLU-KMU campaign for higher wages, job security and the workers' democratic rights, yellow unions bow down to the whims and caprices of capitalists such as MEPI," Duterte said.

Last January 16, a certification elections (CE) was held among the workers which resulted to a run-off since none of the three contending unions garnered majority of the votes cast. The CE determines which union shall represent the workers in their CBA negotiations.

Deguma claimed that during the campaign period of the CE, the management of MEPI allegedly gave money to influence the workers into voting for DAMLU. "In effect, the unbridled and appalling connivance of the management and the yellow union DAMLU deprived the workers of establishing their genuine union," he said.

There were no immediate statements from Marsman executives or DAMLU officials.