Correspondence reports:
Victories and valuable lessons from the Central Azucarera de Tarlac strike

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The fires of a general strike by workers and farm workers of Hacienda Luisita and the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) blazed in February 2003, rapidly spreading in their communities until victory was achieved.

Hacienda Luisita and CAT are owned by the family of former Pres. Corazon Aquino and former Rep. Jose Cojuangco Jr., who is now one of Arroyo�s advisers. CAT is the country�s second largest sugar refinery and supplies almost all of Luzon. It is also where 70% of the country�s imported sugar is refined.

It had been more than a year since the workers laid down their demands before the CAT management against contractualization and the denial of medical benefits that they had previously enjoyed, as provided for in their collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

By December 2002, the situation had reached boiling point and the workers could not wait any longer. They decided to pursue their fight just before the end of kabyawan, the sugar cane milling season. The paralization of milling operations at this point would threaten to destroy relations between Cojuangco and the other landlords in the area who supplied sugar cane to CAT. The workers won over to their side vacillating union officials who were otherwise upright and isolated the yellow ones in order to advance their struggle with full determination.

The full mobilization of workers throughout the enterprise began in January 2003. From January to early February, the workers launched a series of collective actions to assert their demands. At the same time, the workers repudiated the corruption and economism of yellow union leaders and paved the way for their expulsion.

Management asserted that the workers� actions were illegal and attempted to pin down the union through long-drawn and endless negotiations involving the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The workers were not deceived and instead declared a strike. The DOLE immediately issued an Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ)¹ order to stop the strike. Despite management�s outright bribery and coercion, the workers militantly set up their picket line on Friday evening, February 21 to prevent the strike from being nipped in the bud by an AJ order.²

Subsequently, the operations of the azucarera (sugar mill) ground to a halt and 1,000 workers and their supporters encircled the enterprise. Nearby communities of farm workers heeded the call for a work stoppage and joined the strike. Even before the strike, the workers staged a rally joined by more than 500 supporters, including tricycle drivers, other hacienda workers, farm workers, students and other residents. About a thousand more joined the picket line each day. By the fourth day, the number of workers and farm workers who militantly stood their ground at the picket line had swelled to 4,000. Management could do nothing but negotiate directly with the workers outside the processes defined by DOLE. A thousand workers and farm workers came to the negotiations.

Within three days of negotiations, the workers were able to win all of their demands. They were able to have their medical benefits restored and the contractualization policy junked. Negotiations were also opened to implement wage orders, which management had slyly removed from the last CBA.

Over 800 workers of CAT benefited from the strike. In addition, management also granted farm workers� demands for a guaranteed minimum of 80 days of work for every milling season, and for free hospitalization, medicine and other basic needs. Electric power, which CAT had cut when the workers decided to go on strike, was restored in the communities. Management also agreed to help prevent any attempt at militarizing the communities where workers and farm workers resided. Even the issue of the impending land-use conversion of the hacienda was opened. The strike ended in victory within a week.

Victories and lessons

The workers� militant stand was the key to the strike�s victory, at a time when their opportunist leaders� inclination towards yellow unionism had weakened their union. The workers prevailed because they were in possession of the correct analysis, were determined to fight, and used excellent tactics that enjoyed the support of the general membership as well as of other residents.

The corruption and the collusion with management of certain union leaders were thoroughly exposed. Such leaders were isolated in the course of the struggle and during the strike. By tirelessly explaining the issues to the members, the organizers were able to combat the deep-seated economism and other influences of yellow unionism that had long obstructed their advance. Thus, the members further imbibed the spirit of genuine unionism and further raised their class consciousness.

The large number and militancy of the forces that the workers were able to mobilize were a great help to their struggle. The workers of CAT were able to prove that it was possible to wage negotiations with management independently, without being confined by the bureaucratic and anti-worker policies and processes of DOLE. They were able to skillfully make use of, and benefit from, the strength and influence of their union in local politics, their strike�s excellent timing and the particular economic and political circumstances that the hacienda and the Cojuangco family were in. In this manner, the negotiations became more fast-paced and more flexible.

The work stoppage, which began as a strike at CAT, culminated in a general strike involving the entire hacienda. It grew in scope due to the participation of the hacienda�s farm workers and their communities, who also put forward their demands and joined the negotiations.

The joint action further broadened and strengthened the workers� links and alliances with other sectors and forces both inside and outside the hacienda. Members of other militant unions in the hacienda, mass organizations and middle forces directly participated in the mobilizations. The barangay captains in barrios within and adjacent to the hacienda helped defend the strikers by blocking the approach of military forces. Support poured in from students, the middle forces and even from local politician-allies.

The strike at CAT and Hacienda Luisita has been hailed not only as a strike of one union against an avaricious bourgeois-comprador, but as a struggle of the working class, together with the peasantry, against the big landlord-comprador bourgeoisie and the policies of the reactionary government.

__________________

¹ The AJ or Assumption of Jurisdiction order is often used to declare a strike illegal and force the union to negotiate even if the strike has a legitimate basis and has gone through legal processes. Through the AJ, the DOLE secretary arrogates the right to resolve the issues behind the strike. He issues a return-to-work order and uses the police to enforce it. [Back]

² Because the following days were Saturday and Sunday, no official AJ order could be issued to the workers. [Back]

07 July 2003
English Edition

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