The Global Day of Action for the 24 dismissed workers of NXP Philippines, held on July 2, has led to a dropping of the charges that were filed against 5 leaders of the NXPSCI Workers Union over the June 16 protests. On the downside, last July 4, the NXPSCI management still refused to present a proposal before the conciliation conference held by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board.
The Global Day of Action for the 24 dismissed workers of NXP Philippines, held on July 2, has led to a dropping of the charges that were filed against 5 leaders of the NXPSCI Workers Union over the June 16 protests. On the downside, last July 4, the NXPSCI management still refused to present a proposal before the conciliation conference held by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board.
Elmer Labog, Chairperson of Kilusang Mayo Uno, has said that the NXP workers and their supporters plan to intensify their struggle to bring back the 24 union leaders, to demand the resumption of negotiations for Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), and to continue fighting for the right to organize in highly repressive areas like the free trade or export processing zones.
Social media campaigning
The #bringbacknxp24 campaign by workers from an NXP Semiconductors plant in Cabuyao, Laguna, is one fight that has effectively combined an active online drive with on-the-ground protest. The NXP workers have put up an online petition at Change.org and have gathered more than 500 signatures for their cause.
In around three weeks’ time, the Facebook page has drawn over 1,000 likes and boasts of active daily engagement among its base and outer circles – something unusual for a relatively unpopular campaign and for a labor issue in the Philippines at that. The inspiring thing about the campaign is that NXP workers themselves are the ones sharing updates inside the company. Just recently, a worker uploaded a photo of the latest company memo that tries to sow confusion among the workforce. In another instance, a worker uploaded a photo of the company’s anti-union message contained in a paper strip.
The social media campaign is also calling on people to post selfies with placards in solidarity with the NXP workers on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #bringbacknxp24. The workers themselves have posted photos of themselves urging public support for their fight.
The workers organized collective actions on April 9, 17, 19, and May 1 – which are all government-declared holidays – but the management described these activities as ‘illegal strikes’ and cited them as a reason to dismiss 24 union leaders on May 5, 2014.
Read more: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/07/05/filipino-workers-fight-labor-abuse-online-bringbacknxp24/
