OPEN LETTER TO PM TRUDEAU: Call for the release of trade unionists and political prisoners in PH
OPEN LETTER TO PM TRUDEAU: Call for the release of trade unionists and political prisoners in PH
January 6, 2021
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington St., Ottawa
Ontario K1A0A2
VIA Email: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,
I write on behalf of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, with its approximately 100 affiliate unions and over 60,000 members, regarding the mass arrest of trade union organizers which took place in the Philippines in December.
The arrests took place on Intern<:1tionaHl uman Rights Day, December 10. Among the arrested are union organizers Velasco of Defend Jobs Philippines, Romina Astudillo, Deputy SecretaryGeneral ofKilusang Mayo Uno-Metro Manila, Mark Ryan Cruz, Regional Executive Committee of KMU-Metro Manila, Jaymie Gregorio Jr. ofKMU-Metro Manila, Joel Demate of Solidarity of Labor Rights and Welfare (SOLAR), Rodrigo Esparago ofSandigang Manggagawa sa Quezon City (SMQC). Also arrested was journalist Lady Ann Salem, Communication officer of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television, and editor for Manila Today. Only days earlier, Jose Bernardino of Workers Alliance in Region III, a union organizer, and former President of the Young Christian Workers, was also arrested.
As in other recent arrests of union organizers, obviously manufactured charges of illegal
possession of firearms and explosives have been filed against those in question. Since the AntiTerror
Law came into effect in September 2020, it has been used as a bludgeon against union activists and organizers. This has generated grave concern for the state of workers’ rights in a country which already has a lengthy history of being among the ten worst countries for working people according to the International Trade Union Confederation Global Rights Index.
I have written previously regarding the intensifying campaign of criminalization and violence being carried out by the Duterte regime against the trade union movement in the Philippines. The repression also extends to other groups who are viewed as a source of opposition to Duterte’s increasingly authoritarian government. These groups include journalists, lawyers, environmental, labour, peasant, indigenous and political activists. All of the above have faces instances of arrest, imprisonment, assault, harassment, and murder. This has been aided by the impeachment of the chief justice of the supreme court, and utilization of the judiciary as a political weapon, as well as by the shuttering of the country’s main opposition television station.
We are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of imprisoned trade union organizers, and other political prisoners held by the Duterte government. We join with our colleagues in the Philippines and internationally in demanding respect for workers’ rights and human rights. We ask that your government do all that is within it power to press for the same.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yours Truly,
Stephen von Sychowski
President, VDLC
Cc: VDLC Executive Board
International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines – Canada
ichrp.bc@gmail.com
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