[APWSLMembers 375] ACTION ALERT: Union in Fresh Banana Agricultural Corp. Packing Plant 95 in Compostela Valley, Philippines on STRIKE

[Kilusang Mayo Uno]

25 September 2006
KMU URGENT ACTION ALERT!

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

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 
<mailto:kmusmr at yahoo.com>kmusmr at yahoo.com and 
<mailto:kmuid at tri-isys.com>kmuid at 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 etc.

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

1)  Mr. Stephen A. Antig, Vice President

email: <mailto:ajmr_inc at ams.com.ph>ajmr_inc at ams.com.ph;
<mailto:jmmr_inc at ams.com.ph>jmmr_inc at ams.com.ph;
<mailto:ams_group at ams.com.ph>ams_group at ams.com.ph;
<mailto:amsmkt at skyinet.net>amsmkt at skyinet.net

post:

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:  <mailto:glotango2000 at yahoo.com>glotango2000 at yahoo.com

post:
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: <mailto:osec at dole.gov.ph>osec at dole.gov.ph

Post:
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 
(<mailto:kmusmr at yahoo.com>kmusmr at yahoo.com) and 
<mailto:kmuid at tri-isys.com>kmuid at 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.

You can send financial support to the union thru:

AC Number:  0274-0768-52
Bank of the Philippine Islands
Timog Branch
Quezon City, Philippines

Please inform the KMU International Department 
(<mailto:kmuid at tri-isys.com>kmuid at tri-isys.com) 
of the financial support that you will make.

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


In solidarity,
KMU International Department




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