It’s
‘Bad Food, Bad Life’ for Nestlé’s Workers
“The next time you
enter the grocery store to buy a milk or chocolate drink, please remember
the plight of the Nestle workers.” This is the appeal of Nestle workers
whose case against the giant Swiss-owned food multinational company drags
unresolved.
by Dennis
Espada
Bulatlat
Cabuyao,
Laguna – "Good Food, Good Life" is Nestle’s promotional line, designed to
entice consumers to taste its products. For its workers, however, who have
been on strike since 2001, neither life nor food could be remotely
considered good.
Labor law violations
At least 100 workers led
by the Union of Filipro Employees (UFE), the Nestle workers’ union,
stormed the Cabuyao factory gates last Aug. 10 unmindful of the container
vans and barbed wires and staged a protest rally calling for the immediate
resolution of the labor dispute.
The
strikers were not asking for money. They demanded that the Nestlé
management comply with the
1991 Supreme Court (SC) decision which declared the
retirement benefit plan as a mandatory collective
bargaining issue.
In January 2002, the
600-member UFE launched a strike in adherence to the SC's ruling when the
management vehemently refused to negotiate until the retirement package is
excluded, claiming it a unilateral company grant. The Court of Appeals
(CA) affirmed the SC ruling on
Feb. 27, 2003.
The case was raised to,
and is currently at, the SC upon the appeal of both parties, with the
union seeking the high tribunal to affirm its earlier promulgation and
declare Nestlé guilty of unfair labor practice.
Militant labor groups and
their allies said Nestlé was responsible for the four incidents of violent
strike dispersals and three incidents of destruction of picket lines, use
of hired armed goons and police personnel against strikers.
According to the union, the
prolonged impasse has led to the death of
11 strikers due to lack of medical attention, not to mention the
continuing physical harassment and death threats being endured by the
union. Their children were also forced to stop schooling because they
could not pay the required school fees.
UFE said that Nestlé,
through its former president and chief executive officer Juan B. Santos,
who briefly served as President Macapagal-Arroyo’s trade secretary, has
been expanding the operations of contracted toll packing and co-packing
firms to keep costs down, and hiring contract workers who lack both
knowledge and skills to produce quality food.
Coffee monopoly
Touted as
Asia's milk supplier,
Nestlé also remains the single largest purchaser of coffee in the
world. It controls 90-95
percent of the country's domestic market (40,000 tons every year) and,
reports also said, dictates prices to the small farmers.
According to Kalipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa
Kabite (Kamagsasaka-Ka or Farmers Association in
Cavite),
in 1979, Nestlé initiated the massive planting of the robusta crop over
the traditional arabica (also called kapeng Tagalog) and liberica (kapeng
barako) which consequently dominated the coffee fields. Robusta is
used in manufacturing soluble coffee.
"Pinupuno ng Nestlé
ang mga bodega nito ng sobrang suplay para sa isang taon...pinipili nito
ang
pinakamahuhusay na kalidad ng kape at siyang ineeksport, at ang naiiwan
dito ay iyong mababa ang kalidad na siyang ginagamit sa lokal na mga
produkto nito"
(Nestlé fills its warehouses more than the needed supply for one year,
then chooses the coffee beans of high quality which it exports. The ones
left are those of low-quality which they use for local products),
Kamagsasaka-Ka found out in its research.
Appeal
As part of Nestlé’s
advertising offensive, its promodizers
in groceries and market stalls approach
customers to check if they have purchased Nestlé goods and they get a
prize.
Noel Alemania, UFE
vice-president said in an interview with Bulatlat that because of
this promo,
principals and teachers from public
elementary
schools, particularly in Cabuyao, are now requiring students to bring
empty wrappers or labels in exchange for Nestlé products. Through the
schools, he said Nestlé also gives children free school supplies and milk
that are nearing expiration. “All these to win over the hearts and minds
of the people,” he said.
But Alemania warned that
tolerating Nestlé’s gimmicks is “tolerating Nestlé’s exploitation of its
workers and its gross violations of the law."
Meanwhile, in its July 24
issue, the tabloid Bagong Tiktik (New Spy) narrated the story of a
consumer named Shirley Abad who reportedly won a cash prize worth half a
million pesos from Nestlé's raffle promo two years ago. The reward was
however denied to her due to "questions on technicalities." Abad sued the
company and the case was even raised to the CA, it was learned.
UFE also appealed to the
public: "The next time you visit the convenient store and grab a choco
drink, please remember us and our plight." Bulatlat
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