Philippine unions prepare for challenges
MANILA — The Philippine labour movement, one of the most militant in Asia, faces a government zealously pursuing a policy of economic deregulation dictated by GATT and the structural adjustment programs of the IMF and the World Bank. The trade union movement is preparing its forces — through a major initiative to unite several union federations in a national trade union centre, to organise unions along industry lines and to embark on an aggressive campaign to organise the unorganised Â鶹´«Ã½ of the work force, including the informal sector. Plans are also under way for a campaign around tax reforms.
REIHANA MOHIDEEN spoke to trade union leaders of the BMP (Filipino Workers Solidarity) and the National Confederation of Labour. The BMP organises 300 factory-based union organisations with a membership of around 200,000. The NCL aims to unite eight major union federations which represent around 25% of the country's factory-based union organisations with collective bargaining agreements registered with the Department of Labour and Employment. LEODY DE GUZMAN is the general secretary of the BMP and BONG is the deputy general secretary. BUTCH UMENGAN is the secretary for research and information of the NCL.
Question: What are the plans for the campaign around tax reforms?
Guzman: One aspect is for the scrapping of the withholding tax deducted from the pay slips of the workers. But the focus is to restore the depreciation of wages brought about by the increase in prices of rice, sugar and other basic commodities.
Over the last few months, it is estimated that the daily wages of workers have declined by around 50 pesos due to the expanded value added tax [E-VAT] and the oil price hikes which took effect last January and February.
That's why we are now launching the campaign to increase take-home pay. Since the government does not want to roll back the price of oil and to repeal the E-VAT, one alternative is for it to legislate an increase in our minimum wages.
Question: What percentage of a worker's wage is deducted as withholding tax, and what percentage of the tax revenue of the government is the withholding tax?
Guzman: It's from 9 to 19% of the salary of a worker. As for the total revenue, the government was able to collect 24.3 billion pesos from withholding taxes of fixed income earners, mainly workers, compared to 2.29 billion pesos collected from the "self-employed", i.e. where our capitalists belong.
This campaign is very important in maintaining the living standards of the workers. Government institutions reported that the daily cost of living for a family of six persons in Metro Manila today amounted to 247 pesos. But workers receive a minimum daily wage of 145 pesos.
Bong: On March 27 will be a very significant event. Around 2000 local union presidents will meet to discuss the campaign against the withholding tax. This is significant in uniting the working class and the leaders of the various federations.
Afterwards we expect a dialogue with President Ramos on this issue. If he chooses to ignore our demand, on May 2 we will launch the preparations for a general strike.
Question: Every day you hear about factory closures and thousands of workers being sacked. Is this the right climate in which to launch a campaign on tax?
Guzman: The taxation system is very regressive. There's no question that the government needs taxation, but we need progressive taxation, meaning those who earn more should be taxed more. It should be based on a policy of taxing the rich, not the poor.
Umengan: The working class has no choice but to address issues relating to the fiscal policy of the government. In the Philippines we have this phenomenon where we are always working towards achieving a minimum wage rather than going for a wage offensive.
But now we want to focus on the tax system. The reason prices are so high is because of the tax system. Thirty-three per cent of the price of oil consists of indirect taxes.
There is also the issue of where those taxes go. It's time to study also the program and services of the government in the national budget. How can they alleviate the situation of the workers in terms of social services, social security programs and so on?
Bong: The response to our recent campaign has been good. We now have over 100 local union presidents who have signed a letter of invitation to all other union presidents to join the March 27 meeting and the campaign against the withholding tax. The workers know the issue. When we show them the facts, they say, "We already know the issue; we'll join you in the campaign".
Question: Do the factory closures represent capital moving out of the country, or is this an attack on unionism?
Umengan: A large part is due to what we call "runaway shops". We have a lot of companies which are closing down, but are opening in some other place where they hire non-unionised workers. Most of these "newly established" factories move into the government-sponsored industrial [free trade] zones, which are highly resistant to trade union organising and where strikes are prohibited.
Guzman: Last year alone, 20,000 workers were affected by lay-offs resorted to by the companies where the BMP operates. This include Aris Philippines, a glove factory, where around 8000 workers lost their jobs. This is connected to the government program, Philippines 2000, which is to encourage foreign investment by offering our cheap labour.
That's why the main issue raised during last year's picket of 47 unions in front of the Congress was union-busting. There is no clear punishment in our labour laws regarding this type of union-busting, i.e., under the pretext of "down-sizing" or closure of factories due to so-called bankruptcies.
Question: Has this affected the level of militancy in the working class?
Guzman: There are many laws which have reinforced restrictions against trade union activity, such as the Herrera Law and some others which were passed after 1986. Since 1987 there were many strikes broken by the government. These became negative experiences for the workers.
That's why they now think twice before resorting to strike action, because it can be declared illegal. And once the strike is declared illegal, the company can summarily dismiss all those who participated. The workers are now using the arena of negotiations, of legal forms of struggle.
But this does not mean that the militancy of the workers has waned. They are looking for more appropriate means of struggle, given the restrictions they face.
Umengan: Workers are now resorting to other practical forms of struggle that will be able to preserve the unions and win some concessions.
Maybe this has something to do with the situation where globalisation is a reality, where the issues that workers face in the factory can no longer be resolved by merely going on strike. There is a recognition now that the situation has become complex, and that several aspects must come into consideration in fighting for the workers' demands.
Question: Are you saying that globalisation has fundamentally changed the dynamics of class struggle?
Umengan: No. We're more inclined to say that globalisation has globalised the class struggle. When Dan Gallin, general secretary of the International Union of Food Workers, visited us last year, we asked him how the workers in the west viewed their counterparts in the Third World. He said that workers of the west have started to accuse workers in the Third World of taking their jobs.
Gallin said that as long as workers in the Third World continue to fight and organise, there will be no problem. This in a way pushes the local working class to think globally in terms of linkages with trade union movements in other countries.
Question: Could you explain the thinking behind the restructuring of the unions, i.e., the formation of national industry unions, that your organisation is campaigning for?
Umengan: Industry unionism, there is much clamour for that amongst workers. Because when a sector is organised, with higher wages and benefits flowing from this, they know that they have reached a certain level where their demands can no longer be raised because of competitors in the same industry with no unions.
Even some employers are challenging us to embark on this project. For example, one of the employers we deal with is challenging us to organise its main competitor. They too want to level the playing field in terms of wages and benefits.
It's important that the BMP and the NCL first get their act together, go beyond their own sectarian affiliations and start this process in their own ranks. So we are launching a congress at the end of March to forge an agreement between different federations to realign and organise their unions along industry lines.
Question: Given that workers organised in unions are only a minority of the working class in the Philippines, won't you be representing only the more privileged workers?
Umengan: Only around 10% of the work force is unionised, and only 700,000 workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements [a legally recognised contract]. So organising the unorganised sector is a priority for us.
In the NCL we also recognise that there is a growing informal sector of the economy. We have a program aimed at organising this informal sector. But this too will be done along industry lines. So, for example, we will be organising the shoe workers in Marikina along their trade and construction workers in Kalookan along their trade.
Question: What impact will this restructuring have on labour unity?
Umengan: We're going to be setting an example firstly among our general federations to agree to merge, amalgamate and restructure their unions. This means showing the rest of the trade union blocs that we are ready to work towards unity and to turn our backs on sectarian trade unionism.
Guzman: Since we split from the KMU, we have resorted to different forms of organising in order to advance the labour movement. One concrete example was the formation in 1994 of the Caucus for Labour Unity, which was an attempt to group together all the trade unions in the country.
On the other hand, we are now reaching out to the workers at the grassroots level in order to form the broadest organisation to fight for our demands.
Question: It seems one of the projects of the government or the ruling class is cooption of the labour movement. You have the Department of Labour and Employment giving out tens of thousands of pesos for education programs to unions, for example. Is this a problem you face?
Guzman: I think the government's move to coopt top level leaders of the federations, by offering them government posts, has been somewhat effective. Cooption also occurs at the company level, where some union presidents have been coopted to work against the interests of the workers.
Umengan: In the NCL there are some who think that we should take those positions and maximise them for the interests of the working class. Others say that we should not get involved with the offers of the government to be in the legislature, in its various agencies etc.
We decided not to reject outright the offers of government posts to the leaders of the NCL as long as they are within the parameters we have set up. The posts should not be decorative posts but should be effective ones which can really help ease the plight of workers.
But I think we have to guard against cooption. The best safeguard is for the working class to constantly advance its struggle and to push these people in the government to take up the issues that will advance the interests of the class.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines [the main right-wing trade union federation], for example, for a long time had the opportunity to send its officers as sectoral reps to Congress and in various government bodies, but their presence there has never amounted to any qualitative development for the working class.
Bong: I think that the unions should distance themselves from the government and the state so their struggles can be carried sharply against the government. It is another question if the workers should set up their own electoral party. But this is up for discussion. What is clear is that the BMP has to wage struggles directly against the government, against the capitalists and against the state.