Union in Fresh Banana Agricultural Corp. Packing Plant 95 in Compostela Valley, Philippines on STRIKE

KMU URGENT ACTION ALERT!

Workers in the Fresh Banana Agricultural Corporation (FBAC) Packing Plant 95 in Compostela Valley, Mindanao has been on strike since August 18, 2006 due to the illegal dismissal of all 196 workers in the plant. The workers are under the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa San Jose (NAMASAN) – National Federation of Labor Unions – Kilusang Mayo Uno (United Workers of San Jose – National Federation of Labor Unions – May 1st Movement).

Around three hundred workers and supporters gathered in front of the company at 1:00 in the morning of August 18 and marched to Packing Plant 52 - Davao Fruits Corporation - where bananas to be processed in Packaging Plant 95 were being hauled to. Thru a human barricade, the workers successfully flagged down shuttlers carrying the bananas and convinced other workers not to pack for the day.

The strike is an offshoot of the different machinations of the management to dodge its responsibilities and liabilities as employers. Management’s maneuvering has ranged from labor-only contracting schemes, “workers cooperatives” which serve as dummies for the management, and has peaked with the dismissal of its work force.

On August 12, the workers were told not to report for work because their contractor, the Pag-asa Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PAFAMUPCO), is already “lacking financial capacity to continue to operate.” The company later transferred the equipment to unlicensed, smaller packing houses.

In 2002, FBAC has propped up PAFAMUPCO as the employer of the workers in order to avoid accountability to its workers. Yet, FBAC maintains total control of the production process and only uses PAFAMUPCO as a conduit for workers wages. The workers have been campaigning for years now to unmask this dummy system being implemented by the AMS-subsidiary FBAC. NAMASAN recently won in a claims suit against PAFAMUPCO/FBAC that awarded the workers P3.7 M for underpaid wages and unpaid service incentive leaves.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been deployed in the affected areas of the strike to harass, dissuade and discourage the workers from continuing their just strike. During the first day of the strike, at around 6:00 in the morning, the Compostela chief of police approached the workers and told them the strike was illegal. An hour later, nine members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) aboard three motorcycles entered the premises of Packing Plant 52.

Even during the strike balloting in NAMASAN last August 16, elements of the AFP’s 404th Brigade camped in Barangay Osmena, Compostela were seen roaming the perimeters of the balloting venue.

The management was forced to sit down in a dialogue with the workers, barangay officials and members of the Compostela Labor Committee last August 20. But instead of giving the regular workers their jobs back, the management told them to apply as contractuals in a manpower agency.

Labor Committee Member Neri Barte told the FBAC management that if it does not rehire the workers as soon as possible, the Labor Committee will ask that the unlicensed mini-packing houses be closed down.

What to do

Please show your support to our comrades in NAMASAN by sending letters of support to the union through kmusmr@yahoo.com and kmuid@tri-isys.com

You can also write a letter to the Fresh Banana Agricultural Corporation – AMS Group of Companies and to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and demand the following:

* Reinstate the workers with full benefits as regulars, maintaining their length of service. The management has been consistent with its proposal for the striking workers to apply to a manpower agency so that they will be rehired. The workers will lose their length of service, regular status and their union if they agree to this proposition.

* That FBAC own up to its legal responsibility as the real employers in PP 95. FBAC-AMS has consistently declared that they are just mere buyers of banana and a technical support company; but with deeper scrutiny we have determined that the company holds control over all the phases of production­ including quality control, wage rates, and the finance for the workers’ wages­ and are therefore not only buyer/financiers but employers. They hide behind dummies such as workers cooperatives which are merely labor-only contractors which act as conduits of finance. They have done this to avoid facing the union in collective bargaining and all other responsibilities that an employer has towards its employees.

* Cease from its practice of Labor Flexibilization and Dummy System. NAMASAN is not the only union that suffers from this scheme. Flexible labor and the dummy system are being implemented in all of the more than 10 packing plants and corporate plantations owned by AMS group of companies in Compostela Valley, Philippines. Workers, organized or not, are suffering from this anti-worker and inhumane scheme. It should also be noted that more than half of the workforce of the banana plantations within the province of Compostela Valley are contractual workers who are denied the right to job security, to self organization and other rights.

* Recognize the union and observe labor rights. Please send your protest letters to:

1) Mr. Stephen A. Antig,
Vice President
email:

ajmr_inc@ams.com.ph, jmmr_inc@ams.com.ph, ams_group@ams.com.ph, amsmkt@skyinet.net

Snail Mail:

Mr. Stephen A. Antig
AMS Compound
F. Torres Street
Davao City 8000
Philippines

Suite 402, One Corporate Plaza
845 Arnaiz Street
Makati City 1200
Philippines

2) Atty. Gloria Tango, Regional Director
Department of Labor and Employment – Region XI
Email: glotango2000@yahoo.com

Snail Mail:

Atty. Gloria Tango, Regional Director
Department of Labor and Employment – XI
LDL Bldg., Bangoy Street
Davao City 8000
Philippines

3) Hon. Arturo D. Brion
Secretary
Department of Labor and Employment
Email: osec@dole.gov.ph

Snail Mail:

Hon. Arturo D. Brion, Secretary of Labor
Department of Labor and Employment
Muralla St. cor. Gen. Luna St., Intramuros
1002 Manila, Philippines

Please furnish Kilusang Mayo Uno – Southern Mindanao Region copies of all your communications kmusmr@yahoo.com and kmuid@tri-isys.com


The workers are also soliciting financial support to their strike. The union needs one sack of rice daily to feed the striking workers, their families and supporters manning the picketline. After more than a month in strike, the strike fund is almost depleted. We would appreciate greatly if you can help in this matter.

Please contact the KMU International Department for more details:

kmuid@tri-isys.com

Thank you for your support to the workers’ struggle in the Philippines.

In solidarity,