[APWSLMembers 700] Protest Toyota Campaign Newsletter 11 February 2009

[Oidon]

February 9, 2009

 Dear All,
  Please Check this article from Protest Toyota Campaign. This is an interview
of the Japanese Magazine to TMPCWA-President which translated in English.

===================
 Dear friends

We are pleased to present you the new issue of our newsletter “Protest Toyota
Campaign” after long silence. We stopped the publication when TMPCWA launched
its website as we respect TMPCWA’s work. In the meantime, the situations
surrounding TMPCWA are getting more and more serious, such as stationing of the
army unit near the union office and attempted assassination of Chair Ed. Ed
talked about all the details to the interviewer in Philippines. The story was
published in the January 2009 issue of Japanese magazine "Sekai (meaning the
world)". We received many requests for English translation of the whole story.
So here is what you requested.　

Before we start the interview, I brief you on the present Toyota. On January 29,
Toyota Motor Corporation announced that the company would make the consolidated
operating loss of 400 billion yen for the 2008 fiscal year (April, 2008 - March,
2009). It is the rapid downfall from the large profit in excess of 2 trillion
for the past two successive years. Financial crisis slowed down the world car
markets which then hit the operation of Toyota directly. Only in 2008 Toyota was
the king of world car makers selling 8,970,000 cars exceeding GM, while it is
heading into slump in 2009. Toyota also announced that it will cut the
production in half at its major plants in Japan from the previous year starting
this February. This is the same level of production as that of 30 years ago,
when Japan was hit by the second oil crisis.

So the lay-off of workers is in the picture. Last fall, Toyota was the first to
lay off many workers of non-regular employment especially dispatch workers.
Other automakers followed the suit. Today, Japan has big problems of
unemployment of non-regular workers en masse. Possibly Toyota would go ahead
with the lay-off of regular workers as the second step, which will be followed
by other Japanese automakers.

            Productions overseas, such as plants in North America, are also
being cut down. So, Toyota Philippines could be the next plant to close down due
to the continued labor disputes.

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Protest Toyota Campaign

Newsletter 11

February 2009

##########################

Doesn't Toyota lend an ear for workers' voice?

-Interview with President Ed Cubelo of TMPCWA(Toyota Motor Philippines
Corporation Workers Association) under the threat of assassination

********************************************************************************

Introduction and Interview by Haruhi Tono

On August 22, 2008, at Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Manila, TMPC (Toyota Motor
Philippines Corporation) celebrated the 20th anniversary of its business
operation in Philippines with invited guests of 600 from all sectors in
Philippines.

VIP guests toasted to the grand occasion on the platform. In the center stood
petite President Arroyo with Mr. George Ty, Chairman of TMPC, Mr. Fujio Cho,
Chairman of  TMC (Toyota Motor Corporation), Mr. Toshihiro Soejima, Vice
President of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Mr. Akira Okabe, Senior Executive Director of
TMC in the left and Mr. Peter Favila, Secretary of the Department of trade and
Industry, Mr. Ambassador Makoto Katsura, Mr. Hiroshi Ito, President of TMPC and
Mr. Yasuro Takeuchi, President of Toyota Auto-Parts Corporation in the right.
The picture of the smiling faces was on the cover page of the newsletter of
TMPC.

At this instant, assassins were creeping up on Ed Cubelo (37 years old),
President of TMPCWA. I hope you recall TMPCWA labor dispute reported in the
December, 2006 issue of this journal under the title "What is Toyota doing in
the Philippines?"  The outline is as follows;

TMPCWA was registered as an independent trade union in 1998. It was certified as
the representative of the workers with the right of collective bargaining in
March, 2000 by the Certification Election, but TMPC refused to negotiate with
them. The Secretary of DOLE (the Department of Labor and Employment) held the
public hearing in February, 2001. Over 300 union members participated in the
hearing without TMPC’s permission of vacation because they believed that the
hearing would be crucial for the progress of their labor dispute. On March 16,
the Secretary of DOLE made the final ruling in favor of TMPCWA, giving the right
of collective bargaining to TMPCWA.

On the same day, however, TMPC discharged 227 members (later added to 233
members) on the ground of absenteeism in violation of company regulations
because they participated in the hearing. The union went on strike for two weeks
demanding the withdrawal of members' dismissal.

TMPC put pressure on President Arroyo threatening that the industry might leave
from Philippines unless the labor dispute was resolved immediately. While the
difficult situations continued to the distress of union members, support from
the international community came and spread.

On the other hand, TMPC made a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the
pro-industry union TMPCLO (Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Labour
Organization) in November, 2006, boxing TMPCWA in the corner.

According to KARAPATAN, a human-rights and ex-political-prisoner advocates'
organization, the number of political killing dropped sharply to 69 in 2007 from
209 in 2006, under the pressure of protest from the international society.
However, the number rose again in 2008, when 20 were killed in the period from
January through June, with addition of 23 in three months of July through
September, making the total of 43 victims. Some say that as the international
interest is waning, assassins have become more active.

The interview with Mr. Ed took place in Manila on November 7,2008. Southern
Tagalog region is the base of TMPC. It is known as dangerous region of
concentrated murder incidents similar to the regions of Central Luzon and Bikol.
We must keep in mind that some victims are workers for Japanese industries.
Political killings in Philippines are not ending.

********************************************************************************
 Crisis of Political Killing

 Tono: On August 22, 2008 TMPC held a gorgeous party in commemoration of the
20th anniversary of its operation at a fancy hotel in Manila. Mr. Ed, please
tell me what happened to you on that day.

Ed: I attended the workshop cosponsored by IMF (International Metalworkers'
Federation) and MWAP (Metal Workers Alliance in the Philippines) on that day. An
ＳSMS-message came in my cellular phone from my wife around 5:30 p.m. while I
was on my way to Manila with some of our oversea guests. It said, "You should be
careful. A suspicious man is sneaking around our house.”

My brother-in-law and father noticed a strange man and kept a close look at him
because he seemed to be sending SMS continuously while walking around our house.

He was gone for an hour or so in the early afternoon. Then he was back again and
started to send SMS while he was moving from one position to another, looking
around and into our house.  Then he disappeared again. He was back again at
about 5:00 pm.

So my brother-in-law attempt to ask him what he was doing. He suddenly hurried
away and walked fast until he came to the highway where another strange man was
waiting in the motorcycle without the license plate. The first man rode on the
back seat of the motorcycle which sped away. The driver covered his face with a
helmet.


 T: It sounds like a typical case of attempted assassination in Philippines,
usual style of extra-judicial killings.


E: That's right. I have heard a lot about union leaders being murdered in the
past years. My experience has many common elements with those in the past
incidents. I was very much worried when I received the message from my wife.
Then the fear struck me that I could be killed like many others. But the fear
did not last long. It seemed that my family was more scared and worried than I
was. They thought they were in the state of “emergency" of being close to the
death of the family member on the day. They were waiting for me in front of the
house. My wife was most worried. For several weeks after the incident, my eldest
son (16), the eldest daughter (15), and the brother-in-law took turns as guard
standing in front of the house looking out every day.

When I came home after long absence, I saw members of my family taking turns
walking round the house to see if there is any suspicious man. Even younger
children of 11 year-old and 13 year-old seem to understand what happened.
Although they never talked about fears or worries, they rush to the scene
whenever they hear a car and a motorcycle stop in front of the house, because
they want to be sure about who is there right away.  Moreover, when a stranger
questions them about me, they keep their mouth shut.


T: TMPCWA, of which Mr. Ed Cubelo is President, is active in the region of
Southern Tagalog. There are many other leaders from trade unions, farmers'
groups and urban poor who struggle in this area. To them, the situation is as
difficult as that of Ed. They cannot go home for weeks and months.

E: Southern Tagalog is an industrial region where industrial complexes are
concentrated where many people work every day.  More and more workers organize
their trade unions to protect their rights. At the same time, tensions and
conflicts between investors and trade unions are growing fast. As the local
government likes the increased tax revenue from major industries, they tend to
develop the region in the manner which caters to the need of the industries.

T: I have heard that many became victims of political killing or survived
attempted assassinations.

E: According to CTUHR (the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights), a little
more than 180 people became the victims of political killing in Southern Tagalog
after Mrs. Arroyo took the office of president. Among the murdered, about ten
were labor activists. What shocked and saddened us most was the assassination of
Diosdado Fortuna, who was shot to death in September, 2005. Mr. Fortuna,
chairman of the Nestle labor union, was also the chairman of PAMANTIK
(Solidarity of workers in Southern Tagalog-KMU). He was very much respected and
loved by workers.

In March this year, Gerardo Cristobal, former President of EMI-Yazaki union was
shot to death after having survived two attempts of assassination. Also in the
past,  another labor leader of the Yazaki trade union were shot to death. I also
hear that activists are under strict surveillance at Yazaki.

 T: Yazaki is a subsidiary of Yazaki Corporation in Japan, which is a partner
company of Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan. EMI-Yazaki employs 7000 to 8000
workers, and it is the manufacturer of the wire harness of auto-parts.
EMI-Yazaki union is a militant union which plays an important role in the labor
movements in Cavite State which has many strong unions comparable to those in
Southern Tagalog.

E: Honda Motor Philippines trade union is known as a militant union in Laguna
Province and its president was attacked by assassins.  Chairman Romeo Legaspi,
who is also the chairman of PAMANTIK, was followed by two men on the motorcycle
in October, 2005. They covered their faces with balaclava. Chairman Romeo was
also riding his motorcycle at the time. The two men approached him and told him
to stop. Sensing the imminent death if he had stopped, he continued to drive on
and run away.  They almost caught up with him near the Toyota Plant in Santa
Rosa. But he sped up his motor bike to make a desperate escape and finally
managed to run into the factory of Honda in the Laguna Techno Park.

There was a demonstration around the Department of Justice in Manila on November
5 protesting the warrants which were issued for the arrest of 72 activists in
Southern Tagalog. Vice chairman of a garment union was with the demonstration.
When he and his brother-in-law came home, two men with helmet covering their
faces showed up and shot them twice with the handgun of 45 calibers. Fortunately
none of them were hurt.

 Criminal prosecution based on the fabricated charges

 T: Activists in Southern Tagalog must live in the state of perpetual fear and
anxiety due to frequent incidents of murder and attempted murder.

E: Yes, activists in Southern Tagalog are very careful and take double and
triple precautions against assassination attempts. In addition, we now face the
increasing risk of being accused of a criminal on fabricated charges. In late
October, arrest warrants were issued to so-called ST72, 72 activists in Southern
Tagalog, with the charges of multiple murder and attempted frustrated murder.
The police held 72 activists responsible for the death of policemen of the
Philippines National Police during the uprising of NPA (New People's Army) in
Mindoro in March, 2006. These 72 are workers from different sectors, of which
some are lawyers and researchers at research institutes. 11 labor activists
received the arrest warrants including Mr. Romeo, the above-mentioned Chairman
of Honda union as well as PAMANTIK and Ms. Luz Baculo, Secretary General of
PAMANTIK. All of them claim that charges are fabricated.

For example,　Mr. Romeo　has been threatened by attempted assassination. So
simple daily routine of going to work and coming home was dangerous to him..
However, at the time of uprising in Mindoro, he was working at the company with
his colleagues. Moreover, some people claim that they have never been to Mindoro
in their life while some others claim that they were sick in bed.

 T: How many people have been arrested so far?　

E: Yesterday, another man was arrested. Five men seem to have been taken into
custody at the base of armed forces in Canlubang. After going through
procedures, they will probably be transferred to Mindoro.　The rest of them are
hiding, but some appear at protest rallies to appeal to the public about the
fabricated charges.

 Presence of a Military Detachment in the Neighborhood of the Trade Union
Office.

 T: Another shocking thing is that a military detachment came to your
neighborhood and was stationed near the union office in Santa Rosa since the
beginning of this year. Could you tell me how it happened?

E: Barangay (the smallest local government unit in the Philippines) where our
union office is located is called Pulong Santa Cruz.  Barangay covers the wide
area where Toyota factories, Nissan factories, and Coca-Cola plants are located.
In January, 2008, Mayor of Santa Rosa sent a letter to the Chief of Barangay,
requesting him to give permission to the deployment of the Unit 202nd of the
National Army. And the Chief responded by an unofficial letter that Barangay
agreed to the deployment of the Army as part of community service. The Community
Service usually means the deployment of a medical support unit, crime prevention
activities and other duties of the army. That is how Unit 202nd came to be
stationed 50 meters away from our office since January, 2008.

On the morning of January 24, three uniformed soldiers came to the door of the
union office for the first time, and summoned a person inside. There was only a
trainee who rented a bed in the office. He said that he got questioned like
"Does this office make a banner of KMU?" and "When they call each other, do they
call each other by attaching KA ? "  KA is a prefix to indicate “comrade".
Members of Communist Party call each other like that. Of course, there is no
such fact .We do make banners of our union, however

When they appeared for the second time in the morning of February 4, our members
handled them. One of them said, "We want to question you about the national
census." Our member responded by saying "The Office of National Statistics
should be responsible for the census. It is not the job of the military
establishment. Please go to the town office if you desire to know about national
census."  The surveillance continued on and around the union office ever since.

Some of the military men stay in the army post, while others sleep in the
quarter at the TMPC premise, from where they go to the army post. So, there are
many military men who come and go as they please in the factory of Toyota. I
have heard that those military men were sent from the outside of Laguna for
intelligence purpose.


 T: General Jovito Palparan, commander of the Unit 202, is described as the
mastermind of many political killings in the reports.

E: We believe that they have been stationed somewhere in the vast premise of
Toyota since last year. Some heard from the factory guard that there is a
quarter for the military men in the Toyota premise.

It seemed that the military has been preparing for the construction of the army
post for their contingent force by investigating the union office and its
neighborhood. But they rarely showed up in public, especially before the
workers. The workers saw the uniformed men come and go by car inside the
premise.

 T: I suppose that it must have been long since you first saw military men
walking in and around the Toyota factory.

E: We began to see them around when the certification election took place in
February, 2006. Workers wondered why there were uniformed men in the factory.

Moreover, some of the union members got questioned about the names of TMPCWA
members.

H: I noticed a police station right next to the main gate of Toyota factory.

E: Five policemen are stationed there. They are dispatched from the Laguna State
headquarter of PNP (Philippine National Police). They have not done any
harassment to the union or its members so far. But when workers demonstrate in
front of the factories of Toyota, Nissan, or Nestle etc., they rush to the scene
and watch the workers.


 TMPC hires Military Officials as Consultants to Obstruct Union Activities.

E: It was the traditional business practice of TMPC to hire high ranking
military officials as consultant since its foundation. For example, the first
consultant was General Angel Kanapi, a high official of the Philippines Military
Academy. Now, General Dionisio Santiago is the Consultant, who is former
Commander of the Armed Forces of Philippines. Some other former military
officers were working for TMPC in the security section. Not only Toyota but also
other multinational corporations hire military personnel as Consultant.
Justification for the practice is the countermeasure against the union movement.
TMPC executives seem to expect that former military officers are useful in
providing TMPC with protections in many ways, when the labor dispute gets tough.

 T: You told me that handbills were distributed in the factory, carrying
defamatory messages about TMPCWA in August 2008.

E: Yes, that's true. Although there was no signature on the handouts, we tend to
think that those bills were made and distributed by the management of TMPC. The
handbills were placed everywhere including ID card checkers and production lines
where most people come around. The handbills say that TMPCWA is affiliated with
the Communist Party. So dismissed workers who belong to the union are under the
influence of the Communist Party. Probably there are two objectives in
distributing such handbills. The first one is to intimidate the workers. The
other is to give the impression that even if we became the victims of political
killings, it is our fault because we are the enemy of the country. TMPC wants to
show that it has nothing to do with the killings of union members.

 T: What do union members think of the presence of the military unit in their
neighborhood?

E: Some of them are afraid, others are angry at the harassment, and still others
complain that they are treated like criminals. Some residents in the region
express dissatisfaction saying "Why are the military men here instead of
performing their duty in a battlefield? “  As a matter of fact, majority of
residents were very much afraid. The area is practically under martial law
without proclamation.

 T: Could you let me know the size of the detachment of the Unit 202 and whether
or not it is deployed somewhere else outside Santa Rosa?

E: An ordinary detachment consists of about 60 soldiers. The Unit 202 detachment
is stationed in Cabuyao as well as in Santa Rosa. Nestle Philippines is located
in Cabuyao.  So the Unit 202 was stationed inside the factory of Nestle to
supervise the activities of the Nestle trade union before they came to TMPC. As
mentioned previously, many union activists of Nestle as well as urban poor live
in the relocation housing project in Southville in the vicinity of the Nestle’s
factories.

 T: Deployment of the military unit in the premise of the industries and the
crisis of political killings are not limited to TMPCWA or Southern Tagalog. We
have to look into the matter in view of much larger political background,
specifically, national strategy called Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Freedom
Watch).

E: It is said that Opland Bantay Laya started in 2001. But I also heard that it
is a copy of a US plan, which was developed to suppress the dissidents. Its aim
has become more comprehensive; not only NPA (New People's Army) but also leaders
of labor movements became the targets. As of today 900 men were victimized by
political killing. Philippine people started to raise the voice of condemnation
against the Government.

Yet President Arroyo decided to extend Oplan Bantay Laya to 2010 instead of
ending it in 2006. She considers it as the pillar of her political strategy to
suppress dissidents in cooperation with the U.S. untill 2010, when her term
expires. In Oplan Bantay Laya II, she changed her strategy from political
killing to political prosecution. Like ST72 which was mentioned previously, she
would fabricate the criminal charges so as to intimidate activists and to weaken
the movements.

 Judgment which nullified the rights of workers.

T: Since 2001 TMPCWA has been struggling in three law suits in connection with
unfair dismissal of employees, right of collective bargaining, and criminal
charges. The lawsuits have been shelved for a few years. Now they receive
unfavorable rulings one after another after the DOLE ruled that TMPCLO had the
right of collective bargaining in July, 2006.

E: When the members of TMPCWA were dismissed on the ground of violation of
company regulations, the union appealed to NLRC (National Labor Relations
Commission) that dismissal was unjust, while TMPC argued that the strike of
TMPCWA was illegal.  NLRC's ruling was in favor of TMPC although it did order
TMPC to pay severance pay.

When TMPCWA appealed to the Court of Appeal, the Court first ruled that TMPC
does not have to pay compensation as long as employees’ dismissal was caused by
illegal strike. But the union appealed to the Court of Appeal for
reconsideration, to which the Court delivered the second ruling that TMPC has to
pay the compensation. Furthermore, it was appealed to the Supreme Court and the
Supreme Court delivered the judgment in October, 2007. The judgment said that
TMPC did not have to pay the compensation because the workers were dismissed on
the ground of an illegal strike. The Court went so much as to say that the
strike was anachronism.

Although TMPCWA filed an appeal for reconsideration to the Supreme Court, the
appeal was dismissed in April this year.  So TMPCWA submitted a petition that
the case should be examined by the grand bench. But the petition was rejected.
So the judgement of the Supreme Court has become final and binding. Amazing
thing about the judgment is a ruling that the company regulations are more
important than the constitution which guarantees workers' right of association.
We consider this judgment as the slaughter of workers' rights.

 T: What happened to the case where TMPCWA was denied the right of collective
bargaining?

E: The Secretary of DOLE intervened, resulting in the final arbitration which
gave TMPCWA the right of collective bargaining on March 16, 2001. TMPC,
dissatisfied with the arbitration, appealed to the Court of Appeal, demanding
temporary restraining order followed by preliminary injunction which they
obtained in the end.

TMPCWA appealed to the Supreme Court with a complaint that the preliminary
injunction of the Court of Asppeal was invalid. The Supreme Court ruled that
preliminary injunction was unlawful and ordered TMPC to start the negotiation
with TMPCWA in September, 2003.  Then, TMPC appealed to the Supreme Court for
reconsideration, which was rejected. So the ruling was made final in January,
2004. However, TMPC refused to negotiate with TMPCWA on the excuse that the
major lawsuits were still pending at the Court of Appeal.

With regard to the right of collective bargaining, TMPCWA was struggling in two
lawsuits filed by TMPC which refused to negotiate with TMPCWA. In 2006, TMPCWA
newly filed two lawsuits against TMPCLO, TMPC, and DOLE with regard to the new
election for the certification of trade unions in February, 2006.

In September, 2007, recommendation was made to unify the four lawsuits, which
all the parties involved complied and took appropriate procedures. Recently in
April, the Court of Appeal ruled that TMPCWA does not have the right of
collective bargaining on the grounds that TMPCLO won the certification election.
TMPCWA is filing an appeal to the Court of Appeal for reconsideration of the
case.

 T:  What happened to the criminal charges?

E: This is about an incident which took place in April of 2001. The security
guards of TMPC accused 26 dismissed workers, who belong to our union,
complaining that they intimidated the guards by glaring and throwing dirty
languages at them during the strike of TMPCWA in April, 2001. As TMPC filed
official charges, we paid the bail to avoid the arrest of our members. As of
now, we passed the stage of pleading not guilty. But the case is still pending.
Eventually ten out of 26 decided to receive the compensation for their
dismissal. Their charges were dropped right away.

 T: What are the reactions of dismissed union members to the unfavorable ruling
of the Supreme Court?

E: When the ruling was made final in August, we had a gathering; and we heard
different reactions from the dismissed workers. Some said that workers can no
longer expect favorable ruling as the Supreme Court was under the influence of
Toyota.  Others worried about the impact of the ruling on the future of our
movement. And still others were depressed that no justice would prevail from now
on. We discussed further on many occasions and reached the consensus that we
should stay united and continue to fight against TMPC for the reinstatement of
workers in other ways than legal means now that  we lost the case at the court.
TMPC continues to pay the compensation to the dismissed workers. But 97 members
of our union refuse to receive the payment and continue to be active members of
TMPCWA.

 T: I understand that TMPC employs 1200 regular workers and 500 irregular
workers at their factories. I also heard that 102 members of TMPCWA are still
working in the factory. I wonder if they were harassed by the management.

E: They have been harassed by the management in many ways. The worst of its kind
struck Vice President Wenecito Urgel who is the leader of the factory workers.
He was taken off the production line where he had worked as a painter. He has no
regular work. Every day he is given a odd job or two like sweeping the factory
floors.   As many union members tried to contact him by phone, the management
made arrangements to prevent him from using TMPC phones. Also when he goes to a
toilet, a security guard accompanies him.

Other members, especially leaders, were also taken off the production line on
the excuse of “KAIZEN", and the contract workers took over their work. The
Grievance Committee was set up consisting of union leaders of TMPCWA and others
inside the factory.

They often refused to take up the complaints of our members saying that TMPCWA
does not have the right of collective bargaining. Yet we use this mechanism to
bring up the problems of workers to the management. TMPCWA also submitted the
complaints about the harassment on its members to Department of Labor and
Employment.

 T: I understand that TMPC has introduced contract workers and started
outsourcing .

E: There is a move to reduce the number of regular workers. Starting this year,
regular workers were taken off the waste water treatment and forklift
maintenance sections replacing them with outsourcing. Regular workers are being
removed from the workshop.

 T: What is the reaction of TMPCLO to outsourcing?

E: TMPCLO says that outsourcing is a necessity for the survival of TMPC .But
some members of TMPCLO are critical about their union's position which defends
TMPC.

 For the Future.

 T: What did Toyota Japan and the Japanese Government say about the possible
assassination of yourself and the presence of the military detachment ?

E: We sent a letter to President Katsuaki Watanabe informing the presence of the
military detachment in February, but we received no reply. When we visited Japan
in September, we met an official at Tokyo headquarter and told him what happened
to me on August 22. The official told me that Toyota is going to investigate the
matter.

We also met a governmental official, who is an NCP (national contact point) in
Japan for OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. In 2004, we submitted
complaints about the practice of TMPC in violation of the OECD Guidelines.
However, the Japanese NCP has not taken any concrete measures to improve the
situation. I told him about the possible assassination attempt on me and the
presence of the military detachment. His answer "Is there a concrete evidence
for that” made me very angry. So I said, “Isn't it your job to come to
Philippines and investigate the truth?"  It seemed to me that neither Toyota
Japan nor the Japanese Government is concerned with those two incidents.

 T: What demand do you have toward Toyota or the Japanese government?

E: Toyota is not tackling the issue seriously enough in the first place. Toyota
Philippines completely ignored the ruling of the Supreme Court in September,
2003 to start the collective bargaining with TMPCWA. We are determined to
continue to fight until we get what we want, campaigning hard in and outside
Philippines.

I suspect that the Japanese government is very much influenced by Toyota. Since
all that Japanese Government seems to care about is Toyota, we sort of gave up
on her. However, if you insist, I would say that the Japanese Government should
exercise her power and authority to guide Japanese multinational companies in
the direction that they would respect more of local laws in the country in which
they are operating.

 T:  You have reported the possible assassination attempts to ILO. What is the
reaction from ILO?

E: With regard to political killings, ILO stated that “the Committee requests
the Government to take all necessary measures to guarantee the security of the
TMPCWA officials and to keep it informed in this respect in the Introduction to
the Report of CFA  of June, 2008 “.

I hope that ILO will dispatch a high-level investigative mission to find out the
military involvement in the labor dispute.

 T: What appeal would you like to make to Japanese people?

E: I hope that all the trade unions, citizens' groups, and human rights groups
would continue to support the struggle of TMPCWA. If possible, please send an
investigative team to Philippines to make a field survey of the labor situation
in Philippines. I also would like Japanese Diet members to visit Philippines and
meet our progressive lawmakers here so that they can help recover justice of not
only TMPCWA but also all the workers whose rights have been deprived of.

 T:  It looks like that the situations are getting even more difficult in these
days, such as unfavorable judgment, presence of a military detachment. What are
your plans for the future?

E: It is most important that all the union members get united so that we can
continue our struggle. And I would like to establish solidarity of local workers
in cooperation with local labor movements in the area. For instance, in March
2008, we walked from Laguna to Manila for five days so that inhabitants of the
area would know there are three major labor movements of Toyota, Nissan, and
Nestle in the area before we protested the government. Many union members of
TMPCWA marched along with many from trade unions in the same area. On the last
day in Manila, 400 workers visited Toyota Dealers shops, DOLE office, Japanese
Embassy, High Court and the Supreme Court of Justice and finally to the
Malacanang Palace, the official residence of President Arroyo. Labor disputes at
the above three multinationals have many things in common. Disregard or the lack
of respect for the rulings of the Supreme Court of Philippines is one of them.

On the international level, we have been reporting our problems to ILO and OECD
while we filed a lawsuit at a Japanese court. We are grateful to the support
from our umbrella organization, All Japan Shipbuilding and Engineering Union
Kanto Regional Council, as well as citizen’s group called “Support Group of
TMCPWA”.  We are also supported by international labor organizations like IMF
(International Metalworkers’ Federation) and human rights organizations like
the Peoples Solidarity in France.

Through various activities during the annual international campaign in
cooperation with Japanese supporters, we would like to further extend solidarity
with international workers.

We have never violated any law nor have we done anything illegal. And we believe
that we are fighting for the right of world’s workers not just for the members
of our trade union.


 Ed Cubelo; President, TMPCWA (Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Workers
Association)

Tono Haruhi:, She investigates activities of multinational enterprises and its
regulation through her affiliation with Yokohama Action Research Center, Support
Group of TMPCWA as well as ALTERNMOND.

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The interview appeared in the January 2009 issue of a Japanese monthly magazine
"Sekai". "Sekai" is well known as an opinion leader in Japan, to which many
valuable Contributions have been made by progressive intellectuals including
academics and journalists.


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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 edsamail.com.ph : http://www.tmpcwa.org

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