[APWSLMembers 607] Protest Toyota Campaign Newsletter 10 September 1, 2007

[Oidon]

Dear friends

More than a year has passed since we published the ILO International Labor
Conference Edition of the Protest Toyota Campaign Newsletter. You will find the
Conference Edition attached at the end of this newsletter, since we learned that
many people did not receive this edition

If you do not wish to receive the newsletter any longer, please contact Protest
Toyota Campaign at Protest-Toyota at list.jca.apc.org. Thank you.


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Protest Toyota Campaign
Newsletter 10
September 1, 2007
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In the January-June period of 2007, Toyota surpassed GM in terms of car sales
and became the world's top automaker. There is no prospect in sight, however,
for a settlement of the labor dispute at Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation
(TMPC)　 which was triggered by the election held to certify the union.

===================
IMF Global Campaign
===================

Viewing this as an important issue, the International Metalworkers' Federation
(IMF), in the spirit of international solidarity in the pursuit of justice and
fairness, set out to support the young Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation
Workers Association (TMPCWA). At first, based on the mediation of the Japan
Council of IMF (IMF-JC), Japan's affiliate, a forum for negotiations between
TMPC and TMPCWA was established and negotiations took place for six months
without success. In outrage at the company for its insincere attitude, the
headquarters of the International Metalworkers' Federation called for all
Toyota's trade unions to gather in Manila in March 2006 and held a World
Conference of Toyota Trade Unions. At its meeting held in May in Oslo, the IMF
Executive Board decided to carry out a Global Campaign calling for the
reinstatement of workers fired by TMPC. During the first wave of the campaign in
June and July, IMF-affiliated unions in South Africa, Brazil, U.K., Australia
and Thailand, where Toyota has production bases, took actions in solidarity, but
the company refused to change its attitude. During the second wave of the
campaign in September, IMF affiliates in 44 countries took various actions
against the company, including demonstrations in front of Japanese embassies and
consulates, and the lodging of protests and/or demands in their own country. In
the Philippines, TMPCWA carried out a protest action in front of the Japanese
embassy on September 12, delivering a letter of demand, while in Japan the
Support Group for Philippine Toyota Union TMPCWA in Japan (Protest Toyota
Campaign) delivered a letter of demand to the Philippine embassy.

The IMF-JC, Japan's IMF affiliate, did not take part in the Global Campaign, in
spite of the fact that IMF-JC President Kato Yuji, from the Toyota Union,
attended the IMF executive committee meeting in Oslo in May. He is reported to
have told Yamagiwa Masamichi, the representative of Protest Toyota Campaign,
when asked for an interview, that IMF-JC could not support TMPCWA alone and
ignore the Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Labor Organization(TMPCLO).
Considering that when Vice President Hamaguchi and Director Ishikawa of the
Management Measures Department of the Toyota Union visited TMPC in April 2005,
they visited the TMPCLO and gave them encouragement, but did not contact TMPCWA,
it seems that the Toyota Union had decided to support the TMPCLO early on.

The IMF, at its Executive Board meeting held in November 2006, vowed to continue
to work towards the reinstatement of Toyota Philippines workers fired for their
union activities, and took a decision to expand efforts with progressive
independent unions in the Philippines.

===========================
Twenty-one workers arrested
===========================

While the Global Campaign was being carried out, TMPCWA filed a motion for
reconsideration, in the Philippines, of the decision made in April by the
Department of Labor and Employment of the Philippines (DOLE) to designate TMPCLO
as its bargaining body, but DOLE issued a final decision on July 31 in spite of
the ambiguity of the procedures. The company also began negotiations in July
with TMPCLO for a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). On August 16, some
TMPCWA members tried to visit DOLE with a letter of demand calling on the
procedures to be clearer, but they were denied entrance by the security guards.
While they wrestled with the guards, one of the guards fired five warning shots
at the workers. In panic, seven workers ran up to the 7th floor to the office of
the Secretary of DOLE. Fifty policemen suddenly appeared with guns, and
immediately arrested 21 union members including President Ed Cubelo. After being
severely beaten and injured by the police, they were taken to the hospital and
subsequently detained. Among them, five received serious injuries. The 21 people
were held in custody at the police station for three days, but thanks to protest
actions in front of the police station and the IMF's letter of protest to
President Arroyo, they were released for further investigation.

The negotiation between the company and TMPCLO toward a collective bargaining
agreement (CBA) got underway, and an agreement was signed on December 6. The
agreement, though, has many problems. They include, for example, stipulations
that for the sake of industrial peace, the union shall not conduct any act, such
as a strike, that might disrupt operations, thus giving up basic rights of
workers; and that the union shall not demand prior consultations on company
business plans that involves job cuts; that newly employed rank and file workers
must become members of TMPCLO and that the union may ask the company to fire
workers who withdraw from the TMPCLO. The nature of the TMPCLO, in terms of
labor-management cooperation, can be seen by analyzing this CBA.

============================================
Holding Toyota Motor Head Office responsible
============================================

How are support activities in Japan progressing? As already reported in this
newsletter, Protest Toyota Campaign and TMPCWA have lodged protests with the
Toyota Head Office several times a year since 2001. However, in response to
repeated statement by Toyota that”problems in the Philippines must be handled
locally,”TMPCWA, in September 2004, joined the All Japan Shipbuilding Labor
Union Kanto Region/Kanagawa Regional Union(Zenzosen), which is a core member of
the Support Group, and demanded collective bargaining with the Toyota Motor Head
Office. However, Toyota rejected the demand, and Zenzosen, in February 2005,
filed a petition against the unfair labor practice in the Kanagawa Labor
Commission.

This legal action has attracted attention in Japan as a new labor movement
struggling against Toyota, but the Kanagawa Labor Commission dismissed the
petition, stating that this was a labor dispute between the local company and
workers, and therefore was not covered by the Trade Union Law of Japan. Zenzosen
then filed an appeal to the Central Labor Commission, but this was dismissed for
the same reason.

Claiming that the decision was unfair and seeking the cancellation of it,
Zenzosen filed a complaint with the Tokyo District Court.  Namely, we sought a
judicial judgment from a court of law as to how it would find the decision of
the labor commission as an administrative agency.  However, the Tokyo District
Court has simply dismissed the case with exactly the reasoning as the Central
Labor Comission used, that is, the case concerns a labor dispute occuring in a
foreign country and the Japanese Labor Union Law is applicable to purely
domestic labor relations and disputes only.

We have immediately filed an appeal against that judgment with the Tokyo High
Court.  In order that we can hold Toyota as a multinational enterprise
responsible for its unfair labor practice in the Philippines, we must overcome
the logics rendered by the Central Labor Commission and the Tokyo Districe
Court, and we shall do it.

We believe that when an unfair labor practice takes place in a subsidiary of a
multinational corporation, the parent company should also be held responsible,
and therefore that local trade unions and those in the home country should work
together to fight against unfair labor practices. Unfortunately, however,
Japanese labor law does not respond to this reality. We would appreciate any
information from other countries, which may help us in this case.

 In March 2004, TMPCWA and the Support Group filed a complaint against Toyota
Motor over its infringement of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises, and whenever members of TMPCWA came to Japan, they had meetings
with officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is OECD's national
contact point in Japan (NCP). TMPCWA and Protest Toyota Campaign have criticized
Japan's NCP, as it did not even answer our inquiry on whether the initial
assessment stage had been completed, claiming that the case was currently being
considered in the Court of Appeal in the Philippines. At the fourth meeting, in
July 2006, partly in response to harsh criticisms from international labor
organizations, the NCP indicated that it would serve as a mediator for the two
parties, thus showing a forward-looking attitude and giving us some hope. It was
later discovered, however, that following a protest from Toyota, NCP had
officially stated that it would not take any action until the court case in the
Philippines had been completed. As can be seen from the TMPCWA website
(http://www.tmpcwa.org), TMPCWA and Protest Toyota Campaign each sent a letter
of protest against NCP's deceitful statement.

This issue was also taken up both at the National Diet in Japan and the Congress
in the Philippines. In January 2005 the Committee on Labor and Employment of the
House of Representatives of the Philippines held an inquiry session on”unfair
labor practices of Toyota management,”and both TMPCWA and TMPC were invited.
However, TMPC  refused to attend it.

Another inquiry was held in November 2006. In the Japanese Diet, Diet member Abe
Tomoko of the Social Democratic Party spoke at a meeting of the Committee on
Health, Welfare and Labor of the House of Representatives in October 2006, and
strongly pressed Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Yanagisawa Hakuo for a
response, criticizing the attitude of the Japanese government as disregarding
violations of labor and human rights by Japanese enterprises overseas.
Yanagisawa merely said that he was aware of the issue but declined to comment on
the matter. However, this was significant in that it was the first time the
problem of the Philippine Toyota's labor dispute was taken up in the Japanese
Diet.


TMPCWA and the Support Group have been planning and preparing for the 2007
Anti-Toyota Global Campaign, which will be held around September 12, a year
after the IMF Global Campaign. In Japan, representatives of TMPCWA and
Banal-Olalia( a labor union of Nissan Philippines) will visit Japan to join
protest actions in front of Toyota's Tokyo Head Office and Toyota Head Office,
and also attend rallies in both Kanagawa Prefecture and Saitama Prefecture. We
are now working to organize supporters for the Anti-Toyota Global Campaign. If
you are interested, please contact either TMPCWA or Protest Toyota Campaign.


********************************************************************************
Protest Toyota Campaign (Support Group for Philippine Toyota Union TMPCWA in
Japan)
E-mail: Protest-Toyota at list.jca.apc.org
Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Workers Association (TMPCWA )
E-mail: tmpcwa at edsamai.com.ph : http://www.tmpcwa.org
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##########################################
Protest Toyota Campaign Newsletter,
ILO International Labor Conference Edition
May 30, 2006
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====================================================
The New Challenge: the Election to Certify the Union
====================================================

We will briefly mention this year's movement; since the beginning of 2005,
TMPCWA have been facing a new challenge called the Certification Election of the
union which Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Labor Organization (TMPCLO),
the rank and file union sponsored by the company, designed in December 2002. In
February 2005, TMPCLO applied for conducting the election to the Department of
Labor and Employment of the Philippines (DOLE). TMPCWA objected it by announcing
to go on strike and to conduct other legal actions but was rejected by DOLE's
decision to hold the election to choose from three options: 1)TMPCLO, 2)TMPCWA
or 3)No Union. This would be an election under an unfairly disadvantaged
condition as all the board members of TMPCWA were fired and banned from even
entering the firm site. TMPCWA thus appealed against this decision. At the same
time, it launched a campaign against Toyota Motor Philippines and the
Philippines Government with its support groups in the local and abroad including
one in Japan. TMPCWA, however, also decided to participate in the predicted
election and started preparation as it would lose its position as the sole and
exclusive bargaining agent if it boycotted the election.

In August 2005, the headquarter of International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF),
concerned about the situation, hold a meeting in Tokyo with TMPCWA under the
leadership of its general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi in order to find a
toehold to the solution. The negotiation between TMPCWA and the company began
with Japan Council of IMF (IMF-JC) mediation. As there was a condition here that
no party would conduct attacks, especially by means of international campaigns,
against the other, we suspended the publication of this news letter. The
negotiation meetings were held in Tokyo and Manila in October, November and
December. But TMPC was on one hand indecisive about proposing a concrete plan
and on the other aiding TMPCLO to play with the game of leveraging to win the
votes.

The decisions of the Philippines Government seemed to have been working closely
with the company's manoeuvres. At a meeting in the mid December, 2005, TMPCWA
confronted TMPC with a firm stance to press for a response, then, on December
the 17th, DOLE announced the final decision in favour of holding the
Certification Election. Preparation meetings became inevitable, and the election
date was decided as on February the 16th in the last of such meetings held on
February the 1st, 2006, when there was no attendance from TMPCWA. Three days
later, on February the 4th, the company offered a package including compensation
payment and outplacement. This was of course different from the previous ILO
recommendation by far. Mr. Tabata, the former president of TMPC , who attended
the bargaining for the first time and for 15 minutes only, declared that it was
the company's final response. Infuriated by this, those who had been dismissed
rejected the offer. Thus TMPCWA re-launched an international campaign to demand
TMP to cancel the election, inciting a stream of protest e-mails from all walks
of the world against TMP, Toyota Motor Japan and the Philippines Government.

In the midst of this world-wide protest, the Certification Election was held in
February the 16th. The result was: 424 votes for TMPCLO, 237 votes for TMPCWA, 8
votes for no union, 15 invalids, 121 challenge voters and 89 challenge voters
(Illegally dismissed). This result meant that without gaining the majority
TMPCLO was not recognised as the sole union with the bargaining right under the
Philippine's labour law, therefore, TMPCWA remained to have the right.

IMF was also infuriated by the company's attitude meanwhile, and decided to move
the communication point with TMPC from IMF-JC to the IMF headquarter. It then
called for all Toyota's trade unions to attend a meeting held in Manila on March
the 16th in which they agreed to demand TMPC to reinstate the dismissed. The
next day, March the 17th, they attempted to bargain with the company but the
latter again rejected the reinstatement. On April the 11th, however, DOLE issued
a judgement that marked TMPCLO as the winner of the election despite the protest
from TMPCWA. Faced with such a deplorable situation, IMF, in its executive
committee meeting in May, made an official decision to launch its own global
campaign to demand TMPC to reinstate the dismissed workers. TMPCWA will also
take their own campaign against TMPC and Toyota Motor Corporation in corporation
with the Japanese support groups, Support Groups for TMPCWA under collaboration
of IMF Campaign.