Submitted by Mike Grenville on Wed, 14 Dec 2005 09:59

Faced with the employers' systematic breaches of both international standards and national labour laws, a trade union in the Phillipines is targeting young workers and using text messages as a campaign tool to counter employer hostility.

Low wages and bad working conditions can still be seen as the central issue in many EPZs. Companies take a long time implementing a new wage increase. Some immediately comply, others postpone paying while waiting for petitions for exemption. Many of the garment workers in the companies are still paid on a piece-rate mostly on a contractual and apprenticeship bases. They also do not really know how their salaries are being calculated.

Aside from salaries, women are often discriminated against as they must undergo a pregnancy test prior to hiring. Compulsory overtime work is also rampant. Two years ago, some garment workers were given amphetamines-not ordinarily prescribed by doctors- by the management to keep them awake during once a week overnight work as shipments came in. However workers experienced various side effects such as extreme insomnia, nervousness and constipation after taking the drug. People were used like machines which just need to be fuelled in order to function.

Although the Trade Union's “anti-sweatshop campaign” program ended in 2003, the program is still being carried out and sustained by the coalitions at the local level.

"Going house-to-house still works to mobilise workers, but it takes a lot of time and money since workers usually do not live close to each other" said Anna Lee M. Fos, Research Officer from Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP). "Moreover, this kind of activity can take place only after the working day at night, on Sundays or during rest days. Distributing leaflets is also good but workers are often tired of reading papers. If they do not feel personally and directly affected by an issue, they don’t read them."

"“Texting” is especially appropriate when going door-to-door is difficult. Every time we conduct Focused Group Discussions or local-level orientation sessions, we ask workers to fill up a registration form including their cell phone number. We can text them reminders such as “come to the certification election” even if they are not union members yet."

The Union uses internet-based SMS service Chikka (www.chikka.com) to send text messages for free to a lot of people at the same time. "You just go to an internet café and then send the same text messages to scores of workers through this technology" said Fos.

"As the management’s anti-union tricks are becoming more “high-tech”, creative and keep changing all the time, today’s union organizers should in response be knowledgeable, innovative and do multi-tasking on almost everything, from labour code to internet surfing" said Fos.

Source: The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)