Milwaukee, WI – Trade union leaders welcomed the chairman of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, to Milwaukee, October 4 and 5. The KMU is the largest and most militant labor coalition in the Philippines. Its name translates to May First Movement, a reference to the revolutionary workers’ holiday of May Day.

Ka Bong spoke before the full delegate meeting of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, detailing the violent repression that trade unionists are facing from the Philippine government. The Philippine government is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the southeast Asian region. Ka Bong received a standing ovation after his moving testimony, and delegates of the labor council generously raised hundreds of dollars to support and defend Philippine trade unionists.

To coincide with Ka Bong’s visit, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC) renewed its 2019 solidarity resolution with Philippine labor, this time calling for the urgent passage and signing of the Philippines Human Rights Act (PHRA). The PHRA would suspend U.S. military aid to the Philippines. MALC President Pam Fendt presented Ka Bong with the solidarity resolution before the delegate body.

On October 5, Ka Bong joined UAW Local 75 workers on the picket line at the Stellantis parts distribution center in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood. Ka Bong met with local UAW leaders as well as members of AFT Local 212, who also joined the picket in solidarity. He then traveled a short way with local trade union activists to visit the Bay View Massacre historical marker, where seven striking workers and bystanders were shot and killed by state forces during the 1886 general strike for the eight-hour day.

In the evening, Ka Bong returned to the Labor Council for a longer event and potluck hosted by MALC’s Young Workers Committee, the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the Chicago chapter of Anakbayan USA, the U.S.-based branch of an international Filipino youth organization fighting for justice in the Philippines. Representatives of each organization talked about how the struggle in the Philippines is connected to the struggle of workers and activists in the U.S., and they gathered signatures for a petition to stop U.S. military aid to the Philippines.

Ka Bong spoke about the many ways that the new Marcos Jr. regime is just as repressive and inhumane as the old Duterte and Marcos Sr. regimes. Less than 5% of Philippine workers have unions, and the national minimum wage is less than $11 per day – not nearly enough to raise a family under high inflation.

He said critics of the government are being harassed, threatened, disciplined, deported and killed. One of the latest victims of the repressive Marcos regime, veteran KMU union organizer Jude Fernandez, was murdered by police on September 29. Attendees held up “Justice for Jude Fernandez” signs and took solidarity photos to spread awareness of the campaign.

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The militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Workers Movement) condemned the harassment, threats and intimidation towards known labor leaders in Cebu, January 18.

The group expressed deep concern over the safety of progressive individuals and their organizations after an unknown number blasted text messages containing outright threats to the activists' lives and safety.

In the morning of January 17, labor leader Jaime Paglinawan, chairperson of Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo (AMA SUGBO KMU) received texts that he, along with other Cebu leaders and organizers, are targets for the week, most probably to be harmed, because they are “hard-headed.”

The rest of those threatened include Greg Perez and Ronilo Gahator, chair and vice chair of transport group Piston Cebu, and Aldo Serat of ALSA Kontraktwal Cebu, an organization of contractual workers in the province.

Further reports include in the list of threatened individual leaders from the youth and student, urban poor and teachers sectors and even staffers of non-governmental organizations.

“We deplore this cowardly and traitorous act. If anything untoward happens, it is on the government and its troops,” said Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

Labog further asserted that the threatened individuals are not criminals. Paglinawan, he reiterated, is the vice chairperson for the Visayas of KMU and a staunch advocate of workers' rights. Amid the pandemic, AMA SUGBO had launched campaigns for free mass testing and treatment of COVID-19 and safe workplaces. Their campaigns also included demands for economic aid and subsidy for distressed workers and the jobless.

“People's livelihoods are in great peril and workers are left with no recourse but to demand accountability and social justice. And Duterte is afraid of protests and resistance, that's why he is hellbent in silencing dissent and criticism,” Labog added.

KMU asserted that the repression towards the labor movement ultimately aims to railroad anti-worker policies that will benefit big businesses within Duterte's clique.

“Duterte will unleash the fangs of the ATL and sow state terror nationwide to suck more profit from the blood and sweat of the workers and all toiling people for his gang and masters,” Labog said. The Anti-Terrorism Law is set to be discussed in Supreme Court oral arguments starting February. The terrorist law is facing 37 petitions questioning its constitutionality.

KMU will file additional complaints at the Commission on Human Rights and Department of Labor and Employment. It will also seek to expedite the High Level Tripartite Mission of the International Labor Organization to investigate the string of attacks against labor leaders and organizations, with the police surveillance of the KMU national headquarters being the latest case.

#Philippines #Labor #PeoplesStruggles #KMU #Duterte #LaborLeaders #Asia