We express our support for the fight of women workers of the electronics company Lakepower Converter Inc. who are facing union busting and discrimination by management. Likewise we voice our condemnation of the violent dispersal by Cavite export zone security personnel of the picketline during the dead of the night and early morning of December 7 to 8.
Security guards contracted by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) led strike breakers at the picketline. Two women workers—Maricar Orque and Magdalena Peña—were hurt in the commotion that followed the forcible dismantling of the picketline.
Company guards, export zone security guards and other men wearing ski masks but clad in PEZA police uniforms repeatedly tore down placards and makeshift tents. The men arrived in motorcycles and bearing side arms.
The strike started on the afternoon of December 7 after mediation meetings collapsed as management refused worker’s demands that the termination and suspension of union officers and members be stopped.
A PEZA firetruck along with security guards went to the picketline area. They also set up barricades at two points leading to the factory and refused entry to workers going to the picketline. All these are violations of the official “Guidelines on the Conduct of Police and Security Personnel During Labor Disputes.”
We hold the PEZA and Atty. Norma Tañag, administrator of the Cavite ecozone, responsible for the violent attacks on the women workers strike. Aside from the direct involvement of PEZA police, firefighters and guards in the harassment and attacks, PEZA has administrative control of the ecozone and is liable for such repeated incidents of violence.
Unrest has festered at Lakepower for the last few months. Among workers grievances is the removal of the door of the women’s restroom so that the company can spy on workers. Almost all of the 200 workers in the factory are women. They are also outraged at the unreasonable limits on the use of the restroom which has led to numerous cases of workers suffering from urinary tract infection. Workers are also complaining of excessive quota and the exclusion of unionists from receiving Christmas packages.
Workers are unionizing in the ecozones to improve their working conditions but are being met by extreme interference from capitalists unwilling to share the fruits of production.
Lakepower is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Taiwanese company Coil Technology Corp. that manufactures transformers for electronic components.
Stand with the Women Workers and all workers in EPZs! Send this letter to:
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III
Ma. Zenaida Angara-Campita
DOLE Calabarzon Regional Director
BGen Charito B. Plaza
PEZA Director General
Atty. Norma B. Tañag
Administrator, Cavite Economic Zone
Coil Technology Corporation
No.206 Feng-Reng Rd. Feng Shan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Lakepower Converter Inc.
Cheng Jen Chao
Vice General Manager
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