STATEMENT: On the killing of labour leader Diosdado Fortuna
National Statement of Overseas Filipinos in Canada
Solidarity message to Nestlé workers
The news of the recent politically-motivated killing of labour leader Diosdado Fortuna "Ka Fort", chairman of the militant Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (Solidarity of Workers in Southern Tagalog), the regional chapter of Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) in Southern Tagalog, enrages us Filipinos working and living in Canada. We raise high our voices of protest against Ka Fort's brutal and unjust murder at the hands of the Swiss-owned Nestlé Philippines, the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and their commander-in-chief Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
As Filipinos in Canada, we mourn the premature loss of Ka Fort, leader of Nestlé Philippines labour union, which has been waging a militant strike for over 3 years now. A number of our own community members have had the opportunity to visit Nestlé workers and draw inspiration from you in your ceaseless struggle for just wages and working conditions.
Fortuna's untimely death comes at a time of unbridled state terror against the Filipino people. His death is the latest addition to the long string of human rights violations under Arroyo's presidency. From January 2001 to June 2005, Karapatan has documented 4207 cases of human rights violations affecting 232,795 individuals or 24,299 families in 237 communities. We are not intimidated nor silenced by the use of repression and violence against our fellow country people whose very lives, including those of our families depend on the commitment of workers' solidarity on the strike line.
We join you in denouncing the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) saying that Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas' "Assumption of Jurisdiction" (AJ) orders serve to bring more hostility and misery to workers by banning your right to strike. We hold Arroyo and her lackeys, along with Sto. Tomas, accountable for essentially directing the violence against Nestlé workers with the AJ order implementation.
The hands of these state officials are stained with blood. We have not forgotten how Sto. Tomas exercised her assumption of jurisdiction powers to order police and military forces to break the picket line of some 6000 striking sugar plantation workers at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac which massacred seven of them on November 16 of last year.
Our very presence outside of the Philippines is a result of our government's failure to ensure us decent work and livelihood in our own country. Filipinos living below the poverty line have increased from 57% of the total of families in 1975 to 70% in 1998, then to 85% in 2003. Unemployment has grown from 8.1% in 1990 to its highest ever at 13.7% in the first quarter of 2004. The minimum wage of P250 in NCR accounts for only 45% of rising cost of living. It is these conditions of state-imposed poverty and unemployment, with more and more closures of factories that force us to migrate overseas for our basic survival.
We are sold to the lowest bidder, separated from our families, stripped of our dignity and skills, and exploited as sources of cheap labour on the global market. Scattered all over the world, we now constitute 10 per cent of the nation's population. Collectively, remittances of overseas Filipino workers have grown to 8.5 billion USD in 2004 to help uplift the country's putrid economy.
As Filipinos in Canada, we therefore condemn the killing and demand justice for Diosdado Fortuna. We stand in solidarity with all of you striking workers of Nestlé Philippines who refuse to be frightened into silence.
Makibaka! Huwag Matakot!
Katarungan sa lalong madaling panahon para kay Ka Fort!
Long live the Filipino people's struggle for national freedom and democracy!
Statement of:
Vancouver --
SIKLAB (Advance the Rights and Welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers)
Filipino Nurses Support Group
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC) - Vancouver
Philippine Women Centre of BC
Toronto --
Philippine Network for Justice and Peace
Philippine Women Centre of Ontario
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC) -Toronto
Filipino Workers' Support Committee
Ottawa --
Pilipinong Migrante sa Canada (PMSC)
Montreal --
PINAY Montreal
Kabataang Montreal
National --
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada
Photo above courtesy of Bulatlat News.
For the full story on the killing of Ka Fort, see http://bulatlat.com/news/5-33/5-33-bloodshed.htm
Solidarity message to Nestlé workers
The news of the recent politically-motivated killing of labour leader Diosdado Fortuna "Ka Fort", chairman of the militant Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (Solidarity of Workers in Southern Tagalog), the regional chapter of Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) in Southern Tagalog, enrages us Filipinos working and living in Canada. We raise high our voices of protest against Ka Fort's brutal and unjust murder at the hands of the Swiss-owned Nestlé Philippines, the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and their commander-in-chief Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.As Filipinos in Canada, we mourn the premature loss of Ka Fort, leader of Nestlé Philippines labour union, which has been waging a militant strike for over 3 years now. A number of our own community members have had the opportunity to visit Nestlé workers and draw inspiration from you in your ceaseless struggle for just wages and working conditions.
Fortuna's untimely death comes at a time of unbridled state terror against the Filipino people. His death is the latest addition to the long string of human rights violations under Arroyo's presidency. From January 2001 to June 2005, Karapatan has documented 4207 cases of human rights violations affecting 232,795 individuals or 24,299 families in 237 communities. We are not intimidated nor silenced by the use of repression and violence against our fellow country people whose very lives, including those of our families depend on the commitment of workers' solidarity on the strike line.
We join you in denouncing the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) saying that Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas' "Assumption of Jurisdiction" (AJ) orders serve to bring more hostility and misery to workers by banning your right to strike. We hold Arroyo and her lackeys, along with Sto. Tomas, accountable for essentially directing the violence against Nestlé workers with the AJ order implementation.
The hands of these state officials are stained with blood. We have not forgotten how Sto. Tomas exercised her assumption of jurisdiction powers to order police and military forces to break the picket line of some 6000 striking sugar plantation workers at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac which massacred seven of them on November 16 of last year.
Our very presence outside of the Philippines is a result of our government's failure to ensure us decent work and livelihood in our own country. Filipinos living below the poverty line have increased from 57% of the total of families in 1975 to 70% in 1998, then to 85% in 2003. Unemployment has grown from 8.1% in 1990 to its highest ever at 13.7% in the first quarter of 2004. The minimum wage of P250 in NCR accounts for only 45% of rising cost of living. It is these conditions of state-imposed poverty and unemployment, with more and more closures of factories that force us to migrate overseas for our basic survival.
We are sold to the lowest bidder, separated from our families, stripped of our dignity and skills, and exploited as sources of cheap labour on the global market. Scattered all over the world, we now constitute 10 per cent of the nation's population. Collectively, remittances of overseas Filipino workers have grown to 8.5 billion USD in 2004 to help uplift the country's putrid economy.
As Filipinos in Canada, we therefore condemn the killing and demand justice for Diosdado Fortuna. We stand in solidarity with all of you striking workers of Nestlé Philippines who refuse to be frightened into silence.
Makibaka! Huwag Matakot!
Katarungan sa lalong madaling panahon para kay Ka Fort!
Long live the Filipino people's struggle for national freedom and democracy!
Statement of:
Vancouver --
SIKLAB (Advance the Rights and Welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers)
Filipino Nurses Support Group
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC) - Vancouver
Philippine Women Centre of BC
Toronto --
Philippine Network for Justice and Peace
Philippine Women Centre of Ontario
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC) -Toronto
Filipino Workers' Support Committee
Ottawa --
Pilipinong Migrante sa Canada (PMSC)
Montreal --
PINAY Montreal
Kabataang Montreal
National --
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada
Photo above courtesy of Bulatlat News.
For the full story on the killing of Ka Fort, see http://bulatlat.com/news/5-33/5-33-bloodshed.htm
posted by ukpc-toronto @ 11:34 p.m.
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