Multimedia
Audio
Video
Photo

Philippines: Unionists confront repression, build unity

Anonyme, Viernes, Abril 20, 2007 - 20:58

Sue Bolton

Organisers from the Philippines’ biggest left trade union centre, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP — Solidarity of Filipino Workers) spoke to Green Left Weekly’s Sue Bolton about the repression that they encounter from the state and their efforts to unify left-wing trade unions.

They told GLW that the impact of neoliberal globalisation had weakened all the union federations because of factory closures, downsizing and the replacement of full-time workers with casual workers on less pay.

But these aren’t the only problems that union activists in the Philippines face. Over the last 18 months, harassment and repression by the military and its paramilitary offshoots have stepped up, with assassinations, disappearances, and military intimidation of communities and activists, such as union offices being invaded by the military in full battle gear.
The repression has affected all sectors — workers, urban poor and peasants.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has also introduced repressive new laws and dusted off Marcos-era laws. One example is the Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR) executive order, which was introduced in September 2005. It is based on the old Marcos-era Law #880 “No Permit, No Rally



CMAQ: Vie associative


Collectif à Québec: n'existe plus.

Impliquez-vous !

 

Ceci est un média alternatif de publication ouverte. Le collectif CMAQ, qui gère la validation des contributions sur le Indymedia-Québec, n'endosse aucunement les propos et ne juge pas de la véracité des informations. Ce sont les commentaires des Internautes, comme vous, qui servent à évaluer la qualité de l'information. Nous avons néanmoins une Politique éditoriale , qui essentiellement demande que les contributions portent sur une question d'émancipation et ne proviennent pas de médias commerciaux.

This is an alternative media using open publishing. The CMAQ collective, who validates the posts submitted on the Indymedia-Quebec, does not endorse in any way the opinions and statements and does not judge if the information is correct or true. The quality of the information is evaluated by the comments from Internet surfers, like yourself. We nonetheless have an Editorial Policy , which essentially requires that posts be related to questions of emancipation and does not come from a commercial media.