A LUF seminar in May attracted widespread interest from union leaders in the private sector, including organisers in the local free trade zones. But the problem is the public sector. "These workers see leaders of the NPA explained that this am represented "about 30% of the profits of the organisation, as a legitimate taxation and payment for support and defence services by both the guerrilla and party units. The rest was plowed back directly into the popular organisations and local communities."
Rebel leaders say AT's assets and bank deposits are worth at least P100m. (US$2.7m).
Not surprisingly, they are outraged that a handful of former comrades used the crisis in the party to appropriate the movement's major "treasure chest" Guevarra, "self-serving interest and business interest that ride on people's empty stomachs should not be tolerated. Those who truly desire genuine people's empowerment should be vigilant against those who discover possibilities for personal enrichment within the peoples movements."
But rebel leaders recognise thei partial responsibility for the unhapp degeneration of the ATC. A regiona leader of the Revolutionary Worker Party in neighbouring Panay (whi supplied bananas to ATC) says th project was always surrounded with themselves as more of an ellite group," complains Pepe Gasapo "They don't see why they should sitt down with workers from the informal sector." Only the nurses union is convinced of the need to unite with the private and informal sectors.
On a brighter note, LUF has managed to integrate groups of workers from the informal economy. These groups face massive difficulties in organising, and lack even the smallest budget for thei work. Although they can offer little practical solidarity to other workers at this point, their strategic importance is enormous.
LUF also participated in mobilisations against the Visiting Forces Agreement, which invites the USA to reopen its military bases in the Philippines. Participating groups recently resolved to accelerate their programme of seminars and coordinated interventions on key political questions, in the hope of reinforcing the organisation.
The underground Revolutionary Workers Party, the country's largest regroupment of anti-Maoist revolutionaries, believes that groups like LUF are the key to building a truly autonomous labour movement, in which communists can strive to lead by example and argument, rather than organisational manipulation. * Contact: CLEAR, 3rd Floor, F.Lao Lim Building, Highway Maguikay, Mandaue City, Cebu Province, Philippines, fax 032-3441933, email <[email protected]>.
ambiguity. "We never really thanaht t ambiguity. "We never really thought out what kind of role this enterprise was supposed to play. Nor how to subject it to proper control. Nor where it fitted into our combination of military, mass movement and party work." As long as the money kept rolling in, "the party didn't ask too many questions." Even when ATC used an inflated exchange rate to retain almost half the dollars earned by its Panay farmers.
The new party leadership is trying to transform its former activities in line with a new strategy, respecting the autonomy of the mass movements, and relegating the guerrilla units to a strictly support and defensive role. "But even if we wouldn't necessarily set up a company like ATC nowadays, we can't avoid responsibility for solving the problem that exists, say rebel leaders. Reappropriation
Party, worker and peasant leaders are unsure how to proceed. Some party militants think it could be possible to organise a broad coalition of civic groups to support worker and farmer demands for a return to the original charter of ATC. Others think any confrontation will Labour struggl Stop the unic Strikers at a leading chemical plant have called for international solidarity with their struggle against union-busting. The independent union at Shemberg Marketing Corporation is one of the most radical labour groups on the central Philippine island of Cebu.
Their employer is Asia's largest producer of carrageenan, a seaweed extract widely used as a thickening, gelling and stabilising agent in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
The union-busting started in September 1998, when the company encouraged some workers to oppose the union, and then to resign. In exchange, these workers were allocated to new jobs inside the (anti-union) Mactan Export Processing Zone.
The union invoked its legal right to force termination of the contracts of these disloyal workers, and began a slowdown strike in protest at this unionbusting strategy. Management refused, and fired all fifteen union officers. According to union leaders, "Effective legal strike is almost mpossible. Philippine labour law inevitably involve violence.
For the moment, workers at the mill are concerned with wining their basic union rights. Some seem to have accepted the "privatisation" of ATC as inevitable. "So what if we have broad support in the local communities?" says one union leader. "Everyone else is as poor as we are. They can give only oral, support.
Party leaders think the guerrilla attacks was legitimate, but wonder whether such interventions are tactically useful in the current situation. This reflects a broader debate on whether the partisan units in the hills should be replaced by self-defence and insurrectional units closer to the popular organisations in rural and urban areas.
External support
To protect their progressive image,
ATC managers have built a strong alliance of NGOs and popular organisations which hope to benefit from their
"generosity", The Negros Council for
Peace and Development is a major tool in their campaign to justify their appropriation of the company.
Much depends on the reaction of e in busters obliges the strikers to allow free entry to the plant, even to scab labour." Like most other strikers, the Shemberg workers have been forced into extra-legal activities.
They occupied one of the plant's two water pumps until 30 May, costing the company about P500,000 (US$13,500) per week. The firm stopped all production for the domestic market, to save water for the dollar-earning divisions, notably the carrageenan refinery. 1o The company has reduced its credit terms from 60-90 days to one week, in a desperate struggle against the effects of the strike. Marketing comptroller Cris Mercado Jr, makes the (unconvincing) claim that the fundamental problem is a collapse in demand for carrageenan in Asia and Latin America.
In reality, an obstinate management has brought the company to its knees, rather than accept the existence of a real trade union. It took management five years to recognise the independent union, which was established in 1990 by workers frustrated with the "yellow" ALU union.
The dispute is about union rights, rather than salary. Workers earn the bsb zenigailin9
AT's main customers: the Japanese cooperative movement, and European fair trade importers like GEPA (Germany)
and OS3 (Switzerland). But recent visitors to the company did not even meet with the trade unions, and are presumably unaware of the discontent among AT's sugar cane suppliers.
Guests are accommodated in an attractive company-owned hostel. But drivers are required to sleep in their trucks.
ATC trade unions hope that the rest of the alternative trade network will investigate the company, and oblige it to respect labour law and the founding principles of the alternative trade system.
But they lack the contacts and resources to contact AT's customers abroad.
Workers are understandably nervous that publicity may dissuade customers abroad from dealing with ATC. But they hope that their efforts will increase pressure on management, without destroying their common livelihood. *
Contacts:
PFTAC, 33C Marapao St, Tagbilaran City, Bohol,
Philippines. Tel. (038) 411 5992
ATC trade unions, c/o Democratic Association of Labor
Organizations, 214-A Chapel Village, Tangub Highway,
6100 Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines.
industrial average of 190 pesos/day
(after tax about 130 pesos/$3.50)
•The strikers initially camped outside the compound gates, but were driven away by armed security guards, a court injunction, and the foul smell of the waste from the plant.
The French multinational Rhône Poulenc is considering buying the company outright, for about US$20m. But Shemberg's owners, the Benson Dakay family, are desperately trying to find a speculative investor who would allow them to keep a 20% stake. Interested parties are thought to include Newbridge Capital (USA), Lombard APIC (Hong Kong) and China Development and Industrial Bank (Hong Kong).
Shemberg is virtually bankrupt, owing US$25m. to a consortium of 15 banks. • Protest letters should be sent to <[email protected]>, fax (63-32) 3461892, or to SMC, Pakna-an, Mandaue City, Cebu Province, Philippines • The strike started on 30 March. With all 250 members on strike, the union's strike fund is almost exhausted. The union is linked to the radical left Labor Unity Forum and the non-partisan CLEAR organising centre, neither of which can offer financial support.