This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 11, April 22-28, 2007
LABOR WATCH
The worsening
conditions of workers in Victorias Milling Company (VMC) is also taking
place in several other sugar mills in Negros where the owners and
management are undertaking “some level of modernization” to ensure their
efficiency and higher productivity at the expense of their workers.
BY KARL G. OMBION AND RANIE
AZUE VICTORIAS CITY – Majority
of the mill workers of the Victorias Milling Company (VMC), Asia’s biggest sugar
refinery, have voted last week to stage a strike. In the voting, which was
supervised by official representatives of the Department of Labor and Employment
(DoLE), 774 out of 839 rank-and-file regular mill workers opted to strike, with
only 17 opposing it. Seven of the ballots were spoiled. Jonathan Dequina, President
of VMC Industrial Workers Association (VIWA), said that the turn-out of their
April 19 strike vote was “in gross contrast” to the strike vote cast by VMC
Supervisors Union (VSU) where it lost to the no-strike vote by a small margin. Dequina said that they
decided to call for a strike after the VMC management refused to implement the
wage increase stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) they
signed three years ago. “All the management
promised the workers was a signing bonus which we consider as nothing but petty
cash,” Dequina said. Dequina said they had
exhausted all possible means, in a series of conciliation meetings for months
facilitated by National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), to forge a
mutually acceptable settlement with the management. VMC management, however,
simply refused to give in, he said. VIWA officials have been
focusing on the implementation of higher wages as stipulated in their CBA
because their meager wages are not enough for their basic needs. They say that
what they receive now is “miniscule” compared to what they had been receiving
during the boom years of VMC more than a decade ago. Since the mid-1990s, VIWA
had been in the forefront of the fight against massive retrenchment, downsizing
and spin-off as a result of VMC management financial losses and debts due to
reported mismanagement. The company has steadily
recovered due to new investments, the introduction of various labor flexibility
schemes and anti-redundancy measures, and payment of loans incurred with about
16 creditor-banks whose representatives are running the company operations at
the moment, said other VIWA officials. Fast-tracking the recovery
was the entry of Filipino-Chinese taipan Lucio Tan, owner of Philippine
Airlines, Fortune Tobacco, Asia Brewery, Allied Bank, sometime in 2003 – causing
him to wrest effective control of VMC. The Philippine National Bank (PNB), which
he now owns, along with other creditor-banks, has converted the loans incurred
by VMC into equity stocks. In addition, Tan also
infused hundreds of millions of pesos into the company when it was on the road
to recovery. VMC has also set aside
close to P1 billion ($2.1 million based on a $1:P47.64 exchange rate as of April
20) for the continuous rehabilitation of some of its antiquated equipments to
make them more efficient and productive. Dequina said all
indications show that VMC is no longer on the road to recovery but has in fact
fully recovered and could now afford to grant higher wages for the workers. Dequina added that what
hastened the workers’ decision to vote for a strike was the management’s “non
compliance and non-implementation” of most of the provisions of their CBA. “Without any choice,”
Dequina said, “they decided to call for strike vote, it being their ultimate
weapon to get their just demand.” This week, VIWA workers
will start their muscle-flexing activities prior to staging the strike. More struggles ahead
Anakpawis (Toiling Masses)
regional chairman Allen Mirasol, aformer VMC worker, slammed the “callousness”
of the VMC management. He revealed that the VMC workforce, currently numbering a
mere 2,700 from a peak of more than 6,000 – of which only a thousand are
regulars – could be further reduced as shown by the management’s various labor
flexibility schemes and anti-worker stance. Mirasol said saying its
move is part of its grand scheme to break the union and to consolidate Tan’s
hold over Asia’s biggest sugar milling company. He said that the worsening
conditions of workers in VMC is also taking place in several other sugar mills
in Negros where the owners and managements are undertaking “some level of
modernization” to ensure their efficiency and higher productivity at the expense
of their workers. Neoliberal policies in
agriculture, particularly in the sugar industry, are indeed causing massive
displacements of mill and farm workers. “Consequently, more
workers’ protests including strikes are expected as a result of these trends,”
he concluded. Bulatlat © 2007 Bulatlat
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Workers
in Asia’s Biggest Sugar Mill Vote to Strike
Bulatlat