| On behalf of 75.000 members of Japan Confederation of Railway
Workers’ Unions, I, with deep sadness and rage, denunciate strike
busting and massacre of workers of Central Azucarrera de Tarlac
Labor Union(CATLU) and United Luisita Workers Union(ULWU) at
Hacienda Luisita in the Philippines. The Hacienda is owned by the family of former president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. The police and army broke into the rally and sprayed bullets into unarmed strikers with a “return to work order” issued by Department of Labor and Employment. Among killed fourteen people there were two children, aged two and five, who died from suffocation by the tear gas. We heard some 35 workers were badly injured by gunfire, hundreds more were wounded, and many workers are still missing. Unions went on strike in defense of 327 fired workers by management. The company of more than 3 billion property rejected the wage increase and aimed union busting through dismissing workers including union leaders. The company’s solution was massacre. We impeach this act of violence. At this moment invasion of workers’ life and rights are getting more and more aggressive, and workers around the world are forced the “Race toward the bottom”. They cut down their life and working condition, and at the same time they are laid to fierce attack by companies and government. To destroy labor unions they use every conceivable means, and trample workers’ rights such as right to organize. There are oppression such as one on Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Unions(JR URAWA incident), on Korean workers (a bill on labor market flexibility and depriving the right to strike of civil-service workers). The strike bust and massacre were one of this oppression on the labor movement. We make a strong protest to management of Hacienda Luisita, Cojuangco family, police authority of the Philippines and Filipino government against such brutal attack on our Brothers and Sisters. We also call for a full investigation of what THEY did, and request to protect basic workers’ rights. Brothers and sisters, we know you are fighting in the midst of the biggest grief. However, workers all over the world witness what your comrades exposed in exchange for their lives. We support CATLU and ULWU workers who fight on inflexibly for the retraction of dismissal and defending workers’ rights overcoming the tragedy of losing comrades in solidarity with workers all over the world. Yours in solidarity, Yuji Oda |