Intensifying union struggle at SMC
"Crush IBM-SMC (Ilaw at Buklod ng Manggagawa-San Miguel Corporation) before the end of 2003" was the instruction Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco's gave to his men in the second half of 2002. Cojuangco's minions immediately began a comprehensive attack on unions affiliated with IBM, the federation of genuine, militant and patriotic unions in the San Miguel Group of Companies. Also among those under attack are the union in Cosmos Luzon (which Cojuangco purchased from the Concepcions in 2001) affiliated with NAFLU (National Federation of Labor Unions), another militant federation. IBM and NAFLU both belong to the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).
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The IBM plays a huge role in advancing the welfare of workers in one of the Philippines' largest and most profitable enterprises. In the last three years, the IBM led collective bargaining negotiations and other union struggles and attained meaningful benefits for the masses of workers. Some of the corporations under the San Miguel Group of Companies that almost simultaneously signed collective bargaining agreements (CBA) favorable to the workers are the SMC Brewery; Campo Carne; La Tonde�a Distillers Inc. (now called Ginebra San Miguel Inc.) in Cabuyao, Laguna; Phil-ippine Dairy Products Corporation (now called Magnolia Corp.); and Primepak.
Because of the IBM's uncompromising stance for the welfare of the workers, it is now being subjected to further attack. Seven unions under the IBM are now in the thick of intense struggles. These are the unions in SMC Brewery in Metro Manila; Ginebra San Miguel Inc. in Cabuyao, Laguna, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan and Lucena City; Campo Carne; Cosmos in Canlubang, Laguna; and Monterey. In addition, the San Miguel Group Cooperative is also feeling the heat. Altogether, over 4,600 workers are affected, including thousands of casuals.
The largest among them, the union in SMC Brewery in Metro Manila which encompasses more than 2,000 workers from the Polo Brewery, Glass and Metal Closure, Pandacan Complex and three large warehouses, is likewise suffering an all-sided attack from management. Every year since the last quarter of 2001, Reggie Regala, a yellow labor leader and a management stooge, has filed contrived cases against the union that include financial opportunism and non-compliance with certain technical requisites of the Bureau of Labor Relations. On this basis, Regala has been trying to raid the IBM-affiliated union and align it with the Association of Genuine Labor Organizations (AGLO) led by opportunist renegades. The union has lost the series of cases filed against it, and even its appeals have been junked by the courts, which are on the take.
Meanwhile, because of successive attempts to destroy the union, the termination or forced retirement of 118 workers, and brazen violations of the CBA, the workers of SMC Brewery filed a notice of strike in March, which was blocked through an Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ) order from DOLE in May. Although the SMC management is now using the AJ to thwart any moves on the part of IBM, the company refuses to be tied by the AJ and has gone ahead in firing an even greater number of workers.
In the case of the Ginebra San Miguel in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan, the courts have turned out to be inutile when management disregarded the series of legal decisions favorable to the workers. Through a certification election held in September 2002, the workers succeeeded in ousting the yellow Association of Labor Unions-TUCP as their bargaining agent. Management, however, has refused to recognize the new IBM-affiliated union and continues to foist on the workers the worthless "sweetheart" CBA forged by the company in collusion with the yellow leaders of ALU.
ALU has lost all the legal cases filed, from the DOLE all the way up to the Supreme Court. Due to management's continued disregard for the court decisions, a workers' strike erupted in January 2003. The DOLE issued an AJ after nine days. The workers have been defying the AJ for seven months now and the strike has been able to paralyze the production from time to time.
Although there is a rift between Gloria Arroyo and Cojuangco regarding control over the SMC and related enterprises and they are now in a tussle in preparation for the 2004 elections, what remains striking with respect to the struggles taking place within the San Miguel Group of Companies is the continued collusion of Cojuangco with the Arroyo government in crushing militant unionism. Particularly in San Miguel, whoever prevails between Arroyo and Cojuangco will certainly benefit from IBM's demise or its replacement with a company union. Both Cojuangco and Arroyo believe that the destruction of militant unionism in SMC will be tantamount to the eventual destruction of the progressive labor center KMU.
In cahoots with Arroyo and Cojuangco in the attempt to destroy militant unionism are the federations controlled by the opportunist renegades. Cojuangco particularly favors the Alab-Katipunan led by RPA-ABB chief Nilo de la Cruz, as a replacement for IBM, because the RPA-ABB has already become his private army in Negros. However, Cojuangco opened up to other yellow federations after his own lawyers objected to his preference for the Alab-Katipunan. His lawyers were uncomfortable with the treachery displayed in the past by de la Cruz and the RPA-ABB.
The attempt to destroy IBM is but part of the intensifying pressures brought to bear on workers' ranks and the withdrawal of benefits won by the labor movement in a century of struggle.
Cojuangco and the Arroyo government's sinister plan to crush IBM and other genuine, militant and patriotic unions under the KMU must be thoroughly exposed and opposed by the people and other forces upholding the working class struggle and the struggle for democracy, freedom and social justice.
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