February 4, 2007
Toyota employees in the Philippines are seeking international support to force Toyota to recognize their union. Because of Toyota’s high global profile, they provide a promising target for international pressure. Unions in Asia and Europe have demanded that Toyota recognize and bargain with them. A modest effort by U.S. trade unionists could substantially increase the pressure on Toyota.
The fight illustrates that it’s not just in the United States that organizing is a difficult, time-consuming process that demands creativity, tenacity, and courage. The fight also demonstrates the power of international solidarity against global corporations.
In March, 2001 the Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Workers Association (TMPCWA) won a certification election granting them the right to be recognized as sole bargaining agent for the rank and file workers of the Toyota Philippines Corporation. Toyota subsequently unlawfully dismissed 233 workers, including the entire union executive committee. It is now promoting the formation of a “company union” that has petitioned for its own representation election.
In September, 2003 the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association requested the Government of the Philippines to initiate negotiations and reinstatement of the dismissed workers (case 2252). In a November, 2004 report (Report No. 335) it expressed regret that the Government had done nothing in response after a year.
In an innovative if not unique form of international labor action, in September, 2004 TMPCWA affiliated with an independent Japanese union, an action not precluded by Japanese labor law. The union then asked the Toyota Motor Company headquarters in Japan to open negotiations. After a great deal of legal wrangling and direct pressure, Toyota agreed to begin negotiations in August 2005 in Japan.
As a condition of opening negotiations Toyota demanded a suspension of international activities by the union and an embargo on news of the negotiations. But this week important decisions will be made by the Philipine DoL and international pressure is needed. The talks have run aground on a number of critical issues, including re-instatement of the 233 dismissed workers, a new certification election involving the company union, and a dispute over who is eligible to vote in the election.
Toyota’s position, backed in part by the Philippines Department of Labor, ignores Toyota’s long history of union busting including the firing of union activists, the failure to engage in good faith collective bargaining, and interference in the right of workers to select representative of their own choosing to bargain for them. The Philippines DoL has made rulings that ignore Philippine Supreme Court and ILO rulings and recommendations.
The Protest Toyota Campaign regularly prepares sample letters of protest that U.S. trade unionists can send to Toyota and the Philippines government. Obviously such communications would have greater effect if combined with public statements and actions.
There are also opportunities for innovate forms of action. For example, in March 2003 the union and supporters filed a complaint with the OECD contact point in Japan charging gross violation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The text of the complaint is available in English; a similar complaint could probably be filed with the OECD contact point in the US.
To US workers, this whole episode sound all too familiar. But the Filipino Toyota workers have shown real initiative and have developed an international strategy that has helped keep their fight alive and moving forward. Our task should be not only to respond to their requests for help, but to find ways to institutionalize this kind of global solidarity buy organizing appropriate contact centers within each national labor movement to facilitate cross border support and solidarity.
For more information about the Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Workers Association (TMPCWA), and for sample letters of protest to Toyota and the DoL in the Philippines, visit the TMPCWA website at: http://www.tmpcwa.org.