Bosses fight union growth
If we recognize this antagonism and work for the advancement of the workers on this basis, we call it genuine trade unionism.
Now, it doesn't end there. We have an additional principle, which is the militant character of the union. By relying mainly on the legal machineries of the government we go nowhere
ROLANDO OLALIA, who was assassinated on November 13, was chair of the three-month-old People's Party (Partido ng Bayan) and of the May First Movement union federation (KMU). In the following interview Crispin Beltran, a 30-year veteran of the Philippine labor movement, describes the KMUs origins and its orientation since
Philippines President Corazon Aquino's administration came to power.
(1)
Beltran was secretary-general of the KMU from its founding in
1980 until his detention by President Ferdinand Marcos' regime in
August 1982. He is today a member of its National Executive Council.
Felixberto Olalia, referred to in the interview, was the founding chair of the KMU. He died in December 1983, a few months after release from prison.
The interview was obtained by Deb Shnookal and Russell Johnson in Manila last August. It is reprinted from the November 28 issue of the US newspaper, The Militant
Question. Could you explain how the KMU was formed?
Answer. In 1980, during the most repressive years of Marcos, we organized the advanced elements of the workers to celebrate May 1. We were about 35,000 at that time.
At that May 1 congress our old
Mr. [Felixberto] Olalia, sugman, gested we take the name Kilusang
Mayo Uno or May First Movement.
From then on we persevered in organization, expansion, and consolidation. Now, after a little more than five years, we have some 600,000 members.
On the other hand, there is the
TUCP [Trade Union Congress of the
Philippines], which was the principal trade union center up to now. The
TUCP was organized in November
1975, with the assistance of the Asia
American Free Labor Institute and the Ministry of Labor and Employment of the Marcos government.
According to initial estimates, 1.5 million members belonged to the federations that formed the TUCP.
They provided a mass arena for the
Marcos dictatorship to propagate its policies to the people.
Only now are we finding out how much it has declined.
According to the records of the Ministry of Labor, the TUCP had only 221,000 members as of July 15. Its figure for the KMU was more than 480,000.
The KMU has definitely taken the upper hand in the affiliation of unions in strategic enterprises and industries. Of the largest 100 multinationals in the Philippines, 42 are already org anized by the KMU.
Has the KMU any relationship to the new party that is being formed?
A. The KMU has a very integral relationship to the Partido ng Bayan because its program is similar to the KMU's. The KMU should be identified with it, so we can project our political objectives in a more organized and comprehensive way. In fact, I and other KMU national officers are founding members.
The KMU frequently speaks of genuine and yellow trade unionism. What does it mean by those terms?
A. Genuine and yellow trade unionism are exact opposites. Genuine unionism recognizes the basic contradictory relations between the capitalist and the workers. Our experience shows us that the workers are always oppressed, repressed and deceived by management. And not only management, but in combination with the government.
The is always represented by people who are either big capitalists or big hacenderos [landowners], so government policy reflects the interests of these in our struggle for the betterment of the workers. The main thrust of advancing the workers' struggle is through its organized strength. We call this militant struggle.
The combined force of the elite and the government are also supplemented by US imperialism, by all imperialist countries for that matter, that deny the whole Filipino people its sovereignty. So we add to our orientation the nationalist framework.
"Yellow" means unions are used as instruments by the capitalists to subvert the interests of the workers. In fact, our yellow unions now are subsidized by imperialist and capitalist money in order to survive. This aid is given to these yellow unions in many forms. Even in the simple matter of a collective bargaining agreement between the workers and management, much money often changes hands. A predominance of this yellow unionism is found in the TUCP.
Q. How did you get arrested and how did you get to be released?
I was arrested on 18 August 1982, five days after Bert Olalia, chair of the KMU. About 100 local KMU leaders were also arrested.
At that time the KMU was very militant in protesting the dictatorship's repression against the workers and its anti-labor and pro-imperialist policies. Marcos ordered a clampdown on the labor movement; that was how we got arrested.
This showed that, although martial all the structures remained. The labor code, for example, was never repealed, especially the anti-strike law. the lifting of martial law in 1981 was from the labor movement were grad. ually released on a temporary status or under house arrest. After a while I was the only labor detainee left in the stockade. So, I began to think seriously about releasing myself.
"Founding of the People's
----- panel printed with this article -----
See also Party", and further articles on the poli- tical situation in the Philippines in Inter- national Viewpoint' No. 110, December 8, 1986.
International Viewpoint 22 December 1986
The opportunity came on November 21, 1984. It was not really a sensational escape. I used to give money to my guards and then ask them to go with me to my house on my trips to court. Clandestinely, of course, because if the higher-ups heard about this they would not allow it.
So on November 21, while I was drinking with my two guards at the house, I asked them to permit me to go the the toilet. Coming back from the toilet I jumped out of a window and ran as fast as I could towards the highway and hailed a passenger jeepney that drove me to Quezon City near the city hall, where we found a taxi.
After that I contacted some people in the underground who took me away from the Manila area into the provinces where they hid me from the military dragnet. While in hiding under an assumed name I helped organize the peasants.
After the new government was installed, I presented myself to President Aquino and she asked what I would like the new government to do about me. I told her nothing Crispin Beltran (left) with Rolando Olalia (DR) more than to be considered like the other political prisoners that had been released since she took office. She said it was okay and so I regained my legal status.
In the meantime, our lawyers filed a petition in the courts to dismiss my cases of rebellion and sedition, which were accordingly dismissed.
Q. What has the overthrow of Marcos meant for the trade-union movement?
The overthrow means much because it must be remembered that the trade-union movement was very much repressed and the workers were impoverished economically. When the new government took over, it promised liberalization in the policy on the
When the new president was the guest of the May 1 Labor Day celebration [of 200,000 in Manila] she to repeal the Batasang and 227 [Marcos' anti-strike laws]. This however, has not yet been implemented. It remains only a promise.
The new minister of labor, "Bobbit" Sanchez, however, has from the time he assumed office sort of implemented this promise.
the arbitration system operated against the labor movement.
the ministry mainly relies on mediation efforts to really try and convince both parties to settle their is in spite of the complaints of the employers, him of being anti-capitalist and pro-communist.
The capitalists are using the ordinary courts to enjoin the strikes. When the ordinary courts issue injunctions, they immediately ask the assistance of the military.
There have already been of military harassment and dispersal of picket lines resulting in injuries to picketers. These methods were the mark of the old regime.
Q. It seems that you can't walk down a street in Manila without coming across a picket line or pick up a newspaper without reading employer complaints about the strikes. What's behind this strike wave today?
The basic question is the workers' poverty and their promised rights. We are all aware of the long period of repression during the Marcos time against the workers. Now there is a promise by the government to return their democratic rights. And yet, as they are being promised this, the economic conditions have not changed at all. There is more unemployment now than before because of the closures of many factories.
These are the basic conditions that have resulted in the many strikes that we have now. For instance in Cebu 30 strikes under way simultaneously. The political leadership in Cebu charged that the KMU was destabilizing the economy there.
But, we should consider the fact that the minimum wage under our statutes is not being respected. The minimum is 57 pesos a day for eight hours work, but many, many workers in Cebu receive wages as low as 12 pesos a day. In US dollars that is only about 60 cents for eight hours. How can you live with this 60 cents in eight hours?
Hearing the president's pronouncements on their rights and then living in the conditions that they are, it would be impossible for the KMU to prevent them from striking.
Q. What's behind the closures of factories?
A. We see a combination of three reasons why factories are closing. First, there is really no capital, the government cannot lend additional capital to invest and support businesses. The credit is so tight. Interest rates are so high. So, for the small capitalists, it is very hard for them to continue in business.
Second, the backwardness of the economy that is the result of long domination and control by foreign monopoly capitalism is stunting business.
Third, there is no capitalist now in the Philippines that is interested in investing. They say they are afraid of the instability. In fact, Mrs. Aquino, during her dialogue with businessmen at the Manila Hotel, was forced to reprimand the investors for not helping her in the economic recovery program.
All the workers understand is that they are hungry and that they are oppressed. So they are demanding justice, both economically and in the recognition of their rights.
9
International Viewpoint 22 December 1986
USA effective boycott - and an international representative for the United
Mineworkers.
the international panel,
Following the conference broke down into