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Call # 269 from 4 March to 15 May 2004

The international group Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) publicly prides itself on being “considered as the world’s most admired (sic) manufacturer”(1). But this “admiration” is evidently not shared by the workers who slave in the multinational’s factories, especially in the Philippines. Toyota Motor Corporation Philippines (TMCP) has refused for the past four years to recognize the existence of an independent trade union, the TMPC Workers’ Association (TMPCWA). Not only is it doing everything in its power to hinder the right to association and collective bargaining, it also represses unionists, 227 of whom have been sacked illegally. Yet protest has started to bear its fruits. The Philippines supreme court, followed by the International Labour Organization committee for trade union freedom, recently ruled in the workers’ favour. Since Toyota still refuses to observe human rights in the Philippines, pressure from international opinion must be stepped up to obtain change.

“We, Philippine workers at Toyota, have the right to live humanly like others”: these are the words with which Ed Cubelo, president of TMPCWA, concluded his letter to the Director-General of the ILO on 10 October 2003. Why do Philippine workers have to appeal to international mobilization to point out such elementary truths? Because the Toyota Motor Corporation Philippines flouts its workers’ rights, especially the right to association and collective bargaining.

Registered in 1999 with the Philippine labour ministry, the independent union TMPCWA was confronted from the outset by the existence of a “company” union (controlled by the management) and by the management’s intransigence. The latter refused to organize the elections provided for by law. When these were eventually held in March 2000, it challenged the results (favourable to TMPCWA), refused to open negotiations, and launched various administrative appeals against the labour organization. Under pressure from the multinational, the labour ministry remained passive and procrastinated. When it organized a new meeting for “clarification” on the 21, 22 and 23 February 2001, the workers organized a peaceful protest gathering.

On 16 March 2001 the Philippine authorities ended up reaffirming the TMPCWA’s legitimacy. On the same day, 227 leaders and members of the organization (who had participated in the previous month’s demonstrations) were dismissed without warning and 64 others suspended.

TURNAROUND BY THE AUTHORITIES AND HARASSMENT OF UNIONISTS

The Philippine government subsequently took a series of decisions that suited Toyota because the company, along with other Japanese firms in the Philippines, had threatened to leave the country.

To protest against the dismissals and support their colleagues deprived of an income, the workers organized a picket line outside the two Toyota production sites. But the firm obtained the intervention of the police who, with private vigilantes, violently dispersed the protestors. In the following days the labour ministry ordered the workers back to work. The national labour relations commission then endorsed the unfair dismissals by declaring the February 2001 gatherings illegal. Management took advantage of this to sue 23 union leaders, accusing them of manhandling workers who wanted to end the strike.

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Via religious networks(2) that sympathized with the workers, the Philippine workers made contact with Japanese unions which rallied to their cause. Together they launched the “Protest Toyota Campaign” and the struggle became international. Meetings were held between workers in the two countries, concerted demonstrations were organized, and Japanese workers supported the cooperatives created by the sacked workers to meet their needs.

With this network’s support, the TMPCWA lodged a complaint in February 2003 with the ILO committee for trade union freedom. In late 2003 this committee issued recommendations favourable to the union but the case is still ongoing (cf. opposite). At the same time the Philippines supreme court finally ruled in favour of the union in the long legal battle between it and the multinational concerning the legality of the 2001 strikes.

Despite these new developments, Toyota still categorically refuses to step down and negotiate. It is therefore time expand the protest campaign.

Contacts have already been made in Germany and the UK. One of Toyota’s five European factories is in Valenciennes in France - a strategic site for the group as a whole. Let’s take advantage of this presence to draw the attention of the firm’s international management to the situation in the Philippines and to the necessity to observe workers’ rights in its factories.

(1) “A propos de Toyota”, Toyota’s French website : www.toyota.fr

(2) Especially members of Workers’ Catholic Action in Japan.

For more information

The ILO committee for trade union freedom

This committee studies the complaints filed with the International Labour Organization (ILO) concerning trade union freedom. Its functioning is tripartite: employers’ and workers’ organizations sit on the committee along with their governments. The committee’s reports and recommendations have to be approved by the ILO board. This is the intermediate stage at which the proceedings instituted by the TMPCWA are situated.

Unfortunately, even when they have been endorsed, the recommendations are not necessarily followed because the ILO lacks any real coercive powers. It does nevertheless constitute a sound basis for prompting the governments and firms concerned to reconsider their approach.

Call in liaison with:

Protest Toyota Campaign / Support Groups for TMPCWA (Japan)

What to do ?

By letter: copy or download the standard letter below by clicking here.

Don’t forget to date and sign your letter and to add your name and address.

Reaction time: As soon as you receive this call, or until 15 may 2004.

Letter to:

Monsieur TAKASU Toshiharu

Président

Toyota Motor Manufacturing France

Parc d’activités Vallée Escaut

59264 ONNAING

(date)

Monsieur,

J’ai été alerté par le Réseau-Solidarité (Rennes - France) des atteintes répétées aux droits des travailleurs dans les usines de Toyota aux Philippines.

Depuis quatre ans en effet, la direction refuse le dialogue avec le syndicat indépendant “TMPCWA” et multiplie les manœuvres contre l’exercice du droit d’association et de négociation collective. Plus grave encore, elle réprime et harcèle les syndicalistes dont 227 ont été brutalement licenciés suite à une action pacifique de protestation en mars 2001.

Récemment, la Cour suprême des Philippines et le Comité de la liberté syndicale de l’Organisation Internationale du Travail ont pris des dispositions favorables au syndicat. J’apporte également mon soutien aux revendications du TMPCWA qui demande notamment à Toyota :

– d’entamer immédiatement avec lui des négociations ;

– de réintégrer les travailleurs illégalement licenciés en 2001.

En tant que président de Toyota France, je souhaite que vous transmettiez mes inquiétudes et appuyiez mes demandes auprès des dirigeants de Toyota Motor Corporation International pour qu’ils s’impliquent dans cette situation. Je saisis cette occasion pour rappeler mon attachement au respect universel des droits de l’Homme au travail par les entreprises comme la vôtre.

Je vous prie d’agréer, Monsieur le Président, l’expression de mes salutations distinguées.

English translation:

Dear Sir,

I have been informed by Réseau-Solidarité (Rennes, France) of the repeated violation of workers’ rights in Toyota plants in the Philippines.

For the past four years management has refused to negotiate with the independent union TMPCWA and has taken numerous steps to prevent workers from exercising the right to association and collective bargaining. It has moreover repressed and harassed unionists, 227 of whom were dismissed without warning following peaceful protests in March 2001.

Recently, both the Philippines supreme court and the International Labour Organization committee for trade union freedom ruled in favour of the union.

I likewise support the TMPCWA’s claims, particularly its demands for Toyota to:

– immediately sit down at the negotiating table with it;

– rehire the workers illegally dismissed in 2001.

I request that, as president of Toyota France, you transmit my concerns to the management of Toyota Motor Corporation International, and urge them to intervene. I furthermore wish to take this opportunity to emphasize my attachment to the application of universal human rights in the workplace by firms such as yours.

Yours faithfully,

(Signature)

(Name)