Help us press the Arroyo govt: stop treating unionists as enemies of the state

Letter to the Editor

We urge all well-meaning citizens to help press the Arroyo government to stop treating militant unionists as enemies of the state. Let’s urge the government to respect the workers’ human and trade union rights instead— stop treating workers as criminals whenever they act collectively, within the bounds of law, to work for humane working conditions.

Recent events in Southern Mindanao where NAFLU-KMU has a regional chapter utterly reveal the Arroyo government’s diabolical treatment of workers. Since two years ago when banana plant and packing workers began forming unions and agitating for the legally mandated minimum wage rates at least, elements of the 28th Infantry Battalion have also started harassing them in their barangays.

Armed men hiding their faces in bonnets would also barge into workers’ homes with high-powered firearms. Union leaders are openly under armed men’s surveillance. Vicente Barrios, union president of one of our local unions in Compostela Valley, NAMASUFA-NAFLU-KMU (Nagkahiusang Mamumuo ng Suyapa Farms or United Workers of Suyapa Farms) and fellow officers, for instance, have repeatedly been questioned by the military and other armed men. He’d been slingshot at least once. And recently, while other banana plantation workers in Compostela Valley were on strike, the military jailed and tightly guarded in a gym some 70 of the striking workers. “The military told the jailed workers, ‘don’t join the union or KMU and we will not jail you.’”

Armed attack on workers follows pattern of political killings

With regard to the armed attack to an unarmed convoy of union officers and members while on their way to work at the banana ‘Packing Plant 90’ in Compostela Valley on the morning of December 17, 2006, the following came out from our investigation:

1. The attack is not a mere criminal act, it has political motives. Because of their concerted effort, in less than two years, members of Nagkahiusang Mamumuo ng Suyapa Farms (United Workers of Suyapa Farms NAMASUFA) have claimed their years of underpayment, unpaid benefits and incentives and their members’ minimum wage rates. The perpetrators have much to gain if they manage to silence the union leaders.

2. The attack not an isolated case of waylaying; it is systematic and planned and follows a general mode of operation and pattern of political killings. The method, the circumstances and all other salient facets of the attack more or less fit those of documented cases of killings and harassments of party-list members, workers, peasants, activists and media workers, among others.

If the Arroyo government will keep responding to workers’ legally recognized demands for fair wages and working condition in this bloody manner, then contrary to their accusations, it’s the Arroyo government itself who’s urging the workers to join the New People’s Army, not the KMU.

(sgd)

Antonio Pascual
Secretary General
NAFLU-KMU