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High treason committed by Chief Executive
Workers slam GMA’s pro-WTO stance
Militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today decried the Philippine government for supporting the latest round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in Cancun Mexico on September 10-14. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s affirmation of extensive support and patronage to the WTO and other foreign policies makes her greatly accountable for treason. “President Arroyo will suffer the consequences of her actions as more and more people are now calling for her ouster or resignation.”
“Her pro-WTO stance is a clear and unabashed disloyalty to the economic interests and welfare of the Filipino people. The people’s rage will punish her for this grave act of treachery. Various sectors here and abroad are preparing for worldwide protests against the WTO conference. We will demand the Philippines’ immediate withdrawal from the WTO.
KMU Executive Vice President Lito Ustarez said that the government’s active participation in the WTO and its disparate conditions of trade have caused too much havoc on the local economy and particularly worsened the situation of Filipino workers and their families. “The country’s entry to the WTO led to the wide-ranging massacre of jobs and industries. Up to now, it is practically destroying local agriculture and the livelihood of poor farmers and farm workers.”
Ustarez noted the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) statistics disclosing that from 1995 when the country joined the WTO, until December 2000, more than 331,256 workers lost their jobs while an average of 415 local enterprises closed down due to stiff competition with foreign companies and the steady influx of cheap imported products. From 1996 to 2000, an average of 165 workers were retrenched from work daily, 26% higher compared to 1985-1995 period before the country got involved in the WTO.
“Structural adjustment and trade liberalization has generally worked against labor. Rather than provide employment, it has led to the decline of major Philippine industries and the loss of jobs for millions of workers. It has created conditions for flexible working arrangements like “labor-only” contracting deprive the workers of protection and guarantee of their rights. Trade policies under the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and WTO practically killed local industries and caused unemployment.”
The labor leader stressed that the anti-worker effects of the WTO and trade liberalization include among others the massive hiring of contractual workers, virtually making millions of workers “permanent contractual” employees, subcontracting of production and services which allowed the proliferation of sweatshops, flexible labor policies promoting unfair labor practices and trade union repression. “Foreign capital dictates the maintenance of a cheap and docile Filipino workforce. Employers are all the more determined to crush militant unions and use all forms of economic and political suppression to fight off growing resistance from the labor sector.”
KMU will join the People’s Camp-Out against WTO and Cancun organized by ANAKPAWIS on September 9-10 at the Bonifacio Shrine in Manila, the rally at the US Embassy on September 10 to cap the Camp-Out and the worldwide protest against WTO and Cancun on September 13 called by the International League of Peoples’ Struggle.
