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Discrimination and violence against workers in
The Cavite Export Processing Zone in the Philippines
 In early September, 2006, the Philippine Workers' Assistance Centre (WAC)urgently requested support for workers in the Chong Won Fashion Inc., one of many garment factories in the Cavite Export Processing Zone, south of the Filipina capital of Manila. The workers had been harassed, intimidated and physically abused for supporting their union. WAC also reported that two union leaders had been unjustly fired and that company security guards had distributed flyers to the workers threatening that if they voted in favor of a strike, the company would lose orders and the factory would close.
In the Philippines, unlike many other Export Processing Zones (EPZs), the national legislation relating to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining apply to all enterprises, including the ones in the zones. Despite this, very few workers in the zones are joining workers unions. Already in the mid-1990´s several worker´s rights organizations reported on the poor working and living conditions, union repression, low wages and insecurity in employment in the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ).
Because of the employers’ unwillingness to negotiate with the union, the workers at Chong Won factory were forced to go on strike. When the strikes started in September 2006 strikers were harassed by EPZ police and many of the strikers were denied to enter the zone. 117 of the workers that participated in the strike were fired.
The Chong Won factory is not the only factory in the Cavite Export Processing Zone where striking workers have experienced violence and threats. Strikers at the Phils Jeon Garment factory in the Cavite zone were taken by surprise by ten masked men who, according to the workers, bound and blindfolded the women strikers and loaded them into a waiting truck and dropped them outside the gate of the Cavite EPZ. Jose P. Dizon, executive director of the Workers Assistance Center (WAC) believes that the attacks are sanctioned by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and its police force: “Until now, PEZA have still failed to act on the request to investigate how the armed and masked men were able to enter the tightly-guarded CEPZ”.
In October, 2006, Bishop Alberto Ramento, a worker´s rights defender and chairperson at the Philippine Workers' Assistance Centre (WAC) was stabbed to death in his church by an unknown assassin. According to WAC, Bishop Ramento's name had been put on the military's hit list before he was brutally murdered. The murder took place during a wave of killings of journalists, union leaders and human rights activists.
In December two union activists with the Solidarity of Cavite Workers labour organization were shot by a lone assailant outside the gates of another factory. Jesus Buth Servida was killed instantly, and his companion, Joel Sale, sustained gunshot wounds.
The assassination follows an early shooting of a Solidarity of Cavite leader, Gerardo Cristobal, in April. One of the three gunmen in that case was later identified by Critobal as a Senior Police Officer. While these assaults are not directly connected to the Chong Won dispute, they are disturbing signs of growing repression against union leaders and human rights activists in the Philippines.
The Chong Won factory is a Wal-Mart supplier and therefore the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) and Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) immediately contacted Wal-Mart and demanded that they pressure the Chong Won management to respect its code of conduct and Philippine labour law.
On November 7, 2006 seven major US apparel brands, including Wal-Mart, signed a joint letter addressed to the Philippine president, raising their concerns about the increasing number of assaults on and killings of union leaders and human rights activists in the Philippines. Wal-Mart also facilitated two meetings between Chong Won management, two intermediary companies, the union, WAC, and the local Wal-Mart staff person.
In February 2007, the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) released its final report on its Chong Won investigation. Their conclusion was that Chong Won's practices violated Filipino law and applicable corporate codes of conduct. The WRC found that "with respect to freedom of association, Chong Won's misdeeds are among the most serious and persistent that WRC investigators have encountered." The WRC was also highly critical of the response of Wal-Mart and other buyers, calling them "inadequate and ineffective".
Wal-Mart contracted Verité, an US monitoring organization, to carry out its own report. In March, 2007 parts of the report was released together with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was reportedly submitted to Chong Won management. Under increasing pressure to be more transparent, Wal-Mart eventually released the full Verité report, as well as a revised MOU.
The Verité report recommends that the termination notices submitted to 117 union members are withdrawn and that factory management negotiate with the union. It also confirms that the independent union is the legitimate representative of the workers, and that a majority of permanent workers currently support the union. However, Wal-Mart's revised MOU does not explicitly state that Chong Won management must negotiate with the independent union.
Sources:
Maquila Solidarity Network http://en.maquilasolidarity.org/en/currentcampaigns/ChongWon
WalmartWatch http://walmartwatch.com/pages/global_labor_orgs_demand_justice_for_chong_won_factory_workers/
To find out more about EPZs in the Philippines, click here
last updated 13.12.2007
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