The article below is an October 27 statement by the Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party Philippines). It has been reprinted from the socialist e-journal, Links.
The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called for a historic reversal of the strategy of labour export as the October 27-30 government-sponsored Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) opened its first day.
"A one-time, big-time rollback of the failed policy of labour export is just as urgent and necessary as the bloated prices of oil. It is time to think out of the box and shift to domestic full employment instead of promoting overseas employment", declared PM chairperson Renato Magtubo at a big rally led by Solidarity Action of Labour Against GFMD (SALAG).
PM opposes the GFMD since it alleges that the main problem it is trying to solve is how to profit from remittances, rather than how to protect migrants.
"It would have been funny if it were not tragic that the GFMD is steadfastly fascinated with the neoliberal agenda, even though the bankruptcy of globalisation has been exposed by the financial meltdown and economic recession in the US and the world", Magtubo asserted.
He added: "Furthermore, the GFMD had allotted more seats for big businesses with interests in the remittances of migrant workers compared to labour groups with an advocacy for migrant issues."
One thousand members of PM, including members of the Fortune Tobacco Labour Union and unions from Valenzuela City, participated in the big mobilisation. Around 100 representatives of labour centres of other countries and global union groups led the rally, together with local labour leaders and migrant rights' advocates.
According to PM secretary-general Judy Ann Miranda, "Today organised labour in the Philippines and in the world have linked [their] arms in solidarity with the cause of migrant workers who are predominantly unorganised and largely unprotected".
She argued: "The formation of SALAG and the mobilisation of global unions is a first step in establishing a global movement of workers and global unions that transcends borders, which is a key tactic in promoting migrant workers rights and welfare worldwide."
PM supports the SALAG and global union demands for an end to the policy of promoting overseas employment; a stop to the deregulation of the labour export industry; for decent work and pay; and the right to organise and bargain for all migrant workers.
A women-led rally on October 28 again protested the GFMD.