When rights beget struggle: Lepanto workers’ strike

Around5 AM on June 2, 2005, the 1,685-strong rank and file members of the Lepanto Employees Union (LEU) trooped to the different entry gates to the premises of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC) not to report to work but to man their picket lines.
For the 3rd time since its establishment in 1939, members of the LEU went on strike on June 2 versus the management of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC) as a result of a deadlock on the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)negotiations on April 2. Work operations in the underground and surface grounds of the mining firm were paralyzed as the mine workers assembled their picket lines in the company’s five gates, namely, Nayak, Tubo, Buaki, 900 Level, and Mill Site. The said CBA will covers the years 2004-2007.
In the ensuing negotiations, the workers are open to the meagre wage increase offered by the management so that they can already get back to work. Yet, management insists on having the union leaders dismissed, as a condition to end the conflict. This is unacceptable to the workers, as it was the company’s refusal to agree on their just demands which led to the strike. In the more than two months of strike, a series of human rights violations were committed against the striking workers, forced dispersal of picketlines, arrest and detention of 23 workers, forced eviction from their bunkhouses, and food and medical blockade. The workers were dispersed at least 16 times as of August 18, 2005.
The irony of it is that Lepanto management has accused the workers of human rights violations and even filed criminal cases against them after a peaceful assembly erupted into confrontation when elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) opened fire at the rallysists. Inspite of this, the workers have remained steadfast in asserting their just demands and protecting the integrity of their union, especially now that management dismissed all 19 union officers. Union busting, aside from the economic demands in the CBA (wage increase and benefits), is now the core issue of the labor dispute.
Classic case
The stand-off in the conflict between the LEU mine workers and the management of Lepanto is a classic case of class oppression and exploitation in a system where corporate greed is the dominant force in the production process. From the history of corporate mining of Lepanto, it has earned billions of profit from the blood, sweat and tears of mine workers, to satisfy the greed of its owners/stockholders and top management personnel. On the other hand, mine workers, who work 8 hours a day and face the daily risk of accident and death.
The corporate motto of “least cost, big profit” is how Lepanto conducts its operations. It is then not surprising that Lepanto refuses to grant the workers’ demands for higher wages and additional benefits, because this will mean higher cost, and lesser profit to them. Given the retained earnings of Lepanto in 2004 which is P2,586,768,000, the demand of the workers in the last round of CBA with LEU is amounting to P93,689,232, which is only 4.7 % of this retained earnings. The top gold producer’s retained earnings for the years 2002 and 2003 amount to P2, 716,580,000, and P2, 573,845,000, respectively. Still, Lepanto refuses to grant this small amount of share from the company’s income because it views its labor force as not at all entitled to proper compensation on their production output. Instead, the labor force is simply treated as slaves who should only be fed to survive for work in the next day. When the workers decided to go on strike, Lepanto complained of P6 million daily losses, because to them, their profit is more important than the workers and their families who have to endure their loss of income to assert their right for just compensation.
At present, the workers daily pay is P 351. The company claims to give a total of P610 daily wage and benefits for workers. But this figure already includes non-monetary basic benefits, such as rubber boots, headgear and others. If all deductions are subtracted from the average pay, mineworker could go home with only a little over P50.
The National Coordinating Board and the National Economic and Development Authority states that a family of 6 needs at least P 573 daily to meet their basic needs. Thus, even if the Lepanto mine workers are receiving relatively a higher wage than other workers in the region, this is still not enough to meet their basic needs, especially at present when the prices of goods and services are forever rising. It is then just; moral and rightful, for the workers to go on strike when Lepanto refuses to grant their demands for wage increase and other benefits, which the company can easily afford, given its millions of profit in the previous years. For the workers, this is a matter of survival for them and their families.
Union busting
Another classic case of corporate greed is union busting, if not having a yellow union under the thumb of company management. The present leadership of the mineworkers of Lepanto has been consistently upholding the rights and interest of the workers. In February 2003, it led another strike resulting to the granting of most of their demands. For Lepanto management, this again resulted to loss of profit, and would thereby not tolerate this kind of action by the union in the future. But when this strike again erupted, the Lepanto company is hell-bent on busting the union by all means, because it poses a grave threat to their smooth operation of earning the biggest profits in the future.
Militant unions who assert workers’ rights and welfare is bad news for the corporations’ business, as it is source of serious problems for this party. For the company, the labor force only exists to generate super profits, and not as equal partners in the production process. For Lepanto, the labor union should just be an association of loyal workers who owes the company a debt of gratitude and should thereby be satisfied with what the company offers to them. This is an outright denial of the workers invaluable and vital role and contribution in economic production, have the collective right for equitable sharing of benefits, and are entitled to high standard of health and safety working conditions.
In this inherent conflict on the rights of workers on one hand, and corporate greed on the other hand, it is also deplorable that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has taken the side of Lepanto company, instead of ensuring the recognition of the rights of workers and respecting the integrity and independence of the mine workers union. On May 10, DoLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas issued an Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ) purposefully to avert any form of strike or lock out. The Labor Code provides that striking workers are compelled to return to work upon the issuance of the AJ. The pursuance of any strike, despite the order, makes it illegal and paves the way for the termination of union officers. In the said AJ, it was stated that the mining activities of the company (LCMC) is indispensable to national interest. Since the issuance of the AJ, elements of the 54th Infantry Battalion were deployed to Lepanto, including integrees from the paramilitary group Cordillera Peoples’ Liberation Army (CPLA) and the Civilian Armed Geographic Unit (CAFGU). Several Philippine National Police (PNP) units were also deployed to Mankayan.
Clearly, the policy of the DoLE’s for Assumption of Jurisdiction order is to tie the hands of the union, and simply accept any negotiated benefit by DoLE based on the offer made by the company. The provision for having a strike declared as illegal in violation of the AJ and consequently for the dismissal of union officers are outright violation of the basic collective rights of workers. Worst, even the use of military elements to protect the interest of the company is adding insult to injury for workers who are simply asserting their rights. Corporations and the State have no qualms in using their armed might resulting to systematic human rights violations, just to ensure smooth operations of corporations amassing profits from labor. The use of the military has always been integral in the operations of oppressive companies to protect their selfish interest in the guise of “ maintaining industrial peace as indispensable to national interest”
The ongoing strike of Lepanto workers is a clear demonstration of the Philippine labor situation, where corporations, with the full support and assistance of the State continue to violate and deny what is due to workers and their families. The promotion for industrial peace and harmony for national interest is a deception and ploy to cover up corporate greed, class oppression and exploitation of workers. Because of the distorted framework and one-sided laws and policies on labor and industrial development, there will always be no security, peace, and justice in the workplace, and economic progress for the workers families, until the rights and entitlement of workers are not recognized. Even the use of the armed might and private armies of corporations, cannot prevent the rise of oppressed workers and their families. Despite the harassment, intimidation and violations of their rights, the workers remain steadfast in their struggle for just wages and benefits and in essence, right to life and dignity. The workers also remain unwavering in their support to their union-leaders for standing up and fighting for what is due them.
The Lepanto strike is an unfolding struggle between the mighty corporation and of oppressed workers dreaming to make a better life, and a better world where human dignity, justice and progress belong to the people. #
Postscript:
The Lepanto Employees Union went on strike also in 2003 to assert their basic and democratic rights. Workers achieved most of their demands in the month-long ordeal, including the reinstatement of dismissed union officials. Joan Carling & Sarah Dekdeken