Labor group to DoJ Sec. Gonzales: No stopping of protests vs. ASEAN Summit

The militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today said not even Department of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales or the Bureau of Immigration (BI) can stop the joining of foreign activists in the upcoming protests against the ASEAN Summit in Cebu on December 11-14. "Gonzales' power tripping will not affect our preparations and actual protest actions during the Summit. It's all systems go for the local protests against the ASEAN. KMU will send contingents for the protests in Cebu," KMU Chairperson Elmer Labog said.

Gonzales made ridiculous threats that local and foreign protesters during the ASEAN will be thrown into the sea and fed to sharks. "We are not affected by Gonzales' threats. His statement further exposes his criminal mind. All the more, he is making a fool out of himself again with his preposterous insinuations. It seems he's not in right state of mind now and had gone to Atlantika," Labog teased referring to the local telefantasya about a magical world under the sea.

The labor group will play a major part in the local activities against the ASEAN as it is co-sponsoring an international labor conference in Cebu coinciding with the Investment and Business Summit of ASEAN's Business Advisory Council.

The activity dubbed as Jobs and Justice Conference will focus on labor trends in labor flexibilization as well as other policies imposed by business sector which directly threatens job security of workers in various countries. "ASEAN's trade and industry policies and thrusts of market integration within Asia-Pacific will definitely affect Filipino workers."

"During the Jobs and Justice Conference, we will convene local and foreign trade unions, workers groups and non-governmental organizations to exchange information and analyses on current trends in neoliberal labor market structuring in various global regions," the labor leader explained

"Various global labor restructuring measures adopted by employers have severely affected workers' security of tenure, made collective bargaining agreement negotiations more difficult and further depressed workers wages. Like in Australia, labor unions are opposing the Howard government's attacks on the International Labor Relations Law which focuses on individual bargaining with Australian workers. In the Philippines, capitalists are imposing wage freeze policy and various forms of contractual labor."

"We aim to discuss these global trends and map out plans of actions on how to coordinate campaigns in the international level against anti-labor policies supported by various governments including the Arroyo administration's attacks against the labor front which resulted to the killing of 74 labor leaders and advocates since 2001," Labog concluded.