BY KARL MILLER
MELBOURNE — Philippines sugar workers leader Ariel Guides has been warmly welcomed by the trade union movement and rank-and-file workers during his October 28-31 visit here. Guides is a leader of the Solidarity of Philippines Workers (BMP) union federation and the Freedom from Hunger Coalition on the island of Negros.
Guides addressed 200 shop stewards from the metals division of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and had extensive discussions with workers at AutoLiv, a car components factory. Some stewards and workers were clearly shocked by the conditions sugar workers face in Negros.
Guides also met with officials from the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union and discussed the similar problems garment workers in the Philippines and Australia face, in particular the use of labour-hire firms. The potential for joint union action against Australian companies operating in the Philippines was raised. Guides also spoke with 30 workers at a mass meeting at the Melded Fabrics textile plant in Dandenong.
Leaders of the Victorian branch of the Maritime Union, which contributed financially to the tour, discussed assistance for projects of the Freedom from Hunger Coalition with Guides. Guides gave greetings to the MUA's 100th anniversary celebration.
Guides attended a fundraiser for a sacked postal worker, a member of the Postal and Telecommunications Union. He made contact with union activists who support the progressive leadership of that branch of the union.
Guides also addressed the Geelong Trades Hall Council, where a whip-around raised $120 towards the cost of the tour.
Guides attended a meeting of the Australia Asia Workers Links executive. The AAWL decided to develop contacts with the BMP in addition to its existing support of the May 1st Movement (KMU), the other main Philippines union federation, including the possibility of meeting with the BMP the next time an AAWL delegation visits the Philippines.
Guides spoke at a public meeting organised by Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, in conjunction with the Globalism Institute of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), and also met with activists from Friends of the Earth.
From Green Left Weekly, November 5, 2003.
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