Dolefil Award for Corporate Excellence a Travesty of Justice

The Kilusang Mayo Uno condemns the choice of Dole Food Company as a finalist for the Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) by the office of the US Secretary of State. The annual award is in recognition to US businesses operating abroad for “advancing good corporate citizenship, innovation, and democratic principles”. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the ACE program and Secretary of State Rice will present the winners for 2008 on November 6th. 

Officials of AK-NAFLU-KMU, local union of Dole Phils  with almost five thousand members, and the Mindanao Workers Resource Center (MWRC) are featured guests in a radio program in General Santos City tomorrow . The radio program will highlight the workers’ opposing reasons to the qualification of Dole Food Company and Dole Philippines for the corporate excellence award. A Union Board resolution supporting the agriworkers advocacy of the International Labor  Rights Forum (ILRF-Washington DC) will also be featured. 

Chris Agosto, Executive Director of Mindanao Workers Resource Center,  said  ”the Regional Xll National Concilitation and Mediation Board in their July 26 (2008) report to their Executive Director Ubaldo  admitted that  ‘the series of incidence for the past years has deteriorated the labor relations at Dole Phils’.  So, where is the much-touted ‘advancing of good corporate citizenship’ that would qualify Dole Philippines and Dole Food Company for the excellence award?”   

“Moreover, the same Department of Labor report stated that the middle management of Dole Philippines  are using the military and the age-old divide and rule tactic among  union members  to advance the anti-union policy of the management.  There are no  positive changes or ‘innovations’ in Dole Philippines policy towards workers rights,  unless one considers the donation of  recycled classroom chairs and the annual town fiesta jogging with Manager Mr. Kevin Davis as the epitome of  glorified Corporate Social Responsibility. Where is their “public diplomacy and community long-term investment” when they could not even find an innovative ecological way to neutralize the daily  stench of their far-reaching  foul-smelling  waste catch basin,” added Agosto. 

“In the struggle for the CBA for the period 2006-2010 which was finally concluded  on October 2007, and thru  a series of management legal offensives, thousands of regular hourly workers were harassed and suspended, with scores  terminated including  union officials.  Is that the company’s adherence to democratic principles that qualifies it fo the Award for Corporate Excellence?”,  asked Big Boy Beghanilum, a former union official.  

“Union records would show that for 2007 alone there were 161 regular workers erased from payroll for “early retirement, termination, and voluntary resignation,” added Big Boy.   

“To deserve a corporate  excellence award Dole Food Company and its subsidiaries, Dole Philippines and Dole Costa Rica, must first be subjected to reforms towards improving labor conditions. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) must not be limited to recycled wooden pallets and community dole-outs, but more importantly it must be directed towards justice and dignity for their thousands of regular and contractual workers. Genuine respect for union and human rights is a good start for CSR and coveted corporate excellence awards,” concluded Tony Pascual, Secretary-General of  the National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU-KMU).