28 June 2020

A union of banana plantation workers in Davao de Oro province expressed alarm over they were red-tagged by a vice mayor and military in a news report.

A local news outfit reported on the settlement of the labor dispute between the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Suyapa Farms (NAMASUFA) with the big Japanese firm Sumifru Philippines Corporation [...].

The report quoted Compostela town Vice Mayor Levi Ebdao and the military saying that the settlement will benefit "peace and order" especially that some NAMASAUFA members are New People's Army (NPA) returnees.

[...]

The union denounced the allegation. "None of us are members of the NPA," said NAMASUFA in a statement posted on their Facebook account.

"This very act of a local executive, supported fully by the AFP, of tagging mere workers as rebel surrenderees is a death sentence," it added.

NAMASUFA said that they are a duly-accredited labor union and recognized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The union has been subject to vilification and harassment since 2018. On October 1 that year, the union launched a strike demanding the Sumifru management to face the workers in negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The union asserted their right after a 2017 Supreme Court decision recognized their petition that Sumifru is their employer and had to face them in collective bargaining.

[...]