Union refers workers' issues to NDFP*
April 21, 2011
The workers' union at Dole Philippines Inc. (Dolefil) has raised issues currently facing the country's proletariat before the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel. Amado Kadena-NAFLU-KMU has requested the inclusion of the grave exploitation and deception being perpetrated by Dolefil's management and its seizure of vast tracts of land in General Santos City in the agenda of talks between the NDFP and the Government of the Philippines (GPH).
The union said it was fitting to include workers' issues in negotiations on socio-economic reforms. They would also like to include the widespread contractualization, violations of workers' rights, wage freezes and other workers' issues in the agenda.
The union is also demanding that Dolefil be divested of its control over more than 30,000 hectares of land now planted to pineapple and banana. According to Amado Kadena, this is but a modern way of concentrating land in the hands of a few to the detriment of peasants and small landowners.
The union also condemned the Dolefil management's repression and brazen fraud during the union certification elections in February. After employing widespread vote-buying and terrorism against union members, the company claimed that the pro-management union won the election.
* Url:http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/ab/text.pl?issue=20110421;lang=eng;article=03
