BY PIP HINMAN
SYDNEY — Indonesian union leader Romawaty Sinaga, of the the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI), and Francisco Pascual, of the Philippine People's Development Resource Centre, are the two international guest speakers at seminars in Melbourne on August 27 and Sydney on September 2. The seminars will discuss labour movement resistance to corporate tyranny in the Asia-Pacific.
Pascual, a key participant in the National Debt Forum held in July in the Philippines, told Green Left Weekly that 30-50% of his country's total national debt has gone to debt servicing. His centre does not believe that "institutions which serve the current unjust economic order can ever address the fundamental problems that have kept nations and peoples impoverished and powerless".
Pascual said, "Globalisation is the biggest stumbling block towards genuine social development. It drives poor countries further into underdevelopment and the people to a more miserable situation. It deprives peasants of their land and workers of decent employment. The acute underdevelopment of the majority of the world's population cannot be cured by simply instituting reforms."
The Philippine People's Development Resource Centre demands total and unconditional cancellation for all the Third World countries' debt.
The FNPBI, formed just a year ago, is one of the most significant of the new trade union formations in Indonesia. Led by former political prisoner Dita Sari, it now has more than 15,000 members, mostly women workers from the textile and garment, food and drink, chemical, pharmaceutical, metal and transportation industries. These workers receive on average just $1.50 a day, not enough to make ends meet.
The FNPBI resolved at its recent congress, held July 24-26, to continue its campaign for a minimum 100% pay rise, an end to all sackings and for a 32-hour week.
Sinaga told Green Left Weekly that the union resolved to pressure the Indonesian government to assist in the economic recovery of East Timor and to campaign for a democratic resolution to the conflicts in West Papua and Aceh.
The FNPBI has been at the forefront of the campaign against the Indonesian government's neo-liberal economic measures, a campaign which successfully forced the government to postpone a hike in the price of fuel.
The FNPBI was central to coordinating a mass May Day rally in Jakarta and other cities this year and is campaigning for that day to be declared a workers' holiday. Sinaga said the union is critical of proposed law governing unions which will allow the state to interfere in the affairs of unions.
"Sinaga and Pascual will be in a position to provide trade unionists and students with an account of their experiences in the struggle against the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation policies", Melanie Sjoberg of Unionists Against Corporate Tyranny, the group organising the seminars, told Green Left Weekly.
"International solidarity is crucial in our struggle against corporate tyranny because it strikes directly against the so-called 'national interest' being pushed by bosses and their mates in government to justify their harsh industrial laws and profits-first policies", she said.