US puts RP on ‘trade review’ for labor killings

MANILA, Philippines — The United States Trade Representative (USTR) will keep the country under “active scrutiny” for possible violation of international labor standards in its “no union, no strike” policy in special economic zones that has allegedly resulted in the rise of killings of labor leaders between 2001 and 2007, an official from an international watchdog said Thursday.

The July 3 USTR decision was in response to a petition by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) in June 2007 requesting a USTR inquiry into whether the Philippine government has ensured that all Filipino workers enjoyed the right to freedom of association, ILRF lawyer Brian Campbell told INQUIRER.net in an exchange of e-mail.

US law requires that a country afford its workers’ “internationally recognized worker rights,” including the right to freedom of association, in order to participate in its Generalized System of Preferences program.

The USTR ruling, thus, puts in possible jeopardy the Philippines’ participation in the GSP program which extends preferential treatment to Philippine exports to US.
The US remains the Philippines’ largest trading partner with more than a billion dollars in trade between the two countries every year.

While the USTR ruling does not suspend benefits to the Philippines, Campbell said the US office would closely monitor reforms by the Philippine government.
“[The] USTR will…convene another hearing this fall to assess whether the GRP [government of the Republic of the Philippines] has made any steps to remedying the problems raised in the petition,” he said.

The USTR also ruled that it would continue to review whether the Philippines was eligible to participate in the GSP program. It seeks to ensure that the Philippine government is protecting its workers’ internationally recognized labor rights.
“We welcome the USTR’s decision to deny the Philippine government’s request to end the inquiry and instead to keep the review open,” Campbell said.

“We hope that the Philippine government will take the necessary steps to end the impunity enjoyed by those who kill and harass trade unionists so that businesses in the Philippines can continue to enjoy preferential trade benefits under the GSP program,” the ILRF said.

Aside from the rise in killings of trade union leaders between 2001 and 2007, the ILRF also cited efforts by Philippine government authorities to deny its workers the freedom of association through enforcing “no union, no strike” policies in the special economic zones and by assuming jurisdiction to end labor disputes in violation of international standards.

After a hearing conducted by the USTR in October 2007, Campbell said ILRF requested that the inquiry remained open pending a showing by the Philippine government that it had taken concrete steps to implement all of the recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, Phillip Alston, as well as the recommendations of the International Labor Organization’s Committee on the Freedom of Association, which has repeatedly found the Philippines’ assumption of jurisdiction regulations in violation of international standards.

“We are hoping that the Philippine government will take this seriously and begin to implement reforms that the international community has been calling for years and not needlessly place the nearly one billion in trade benefits it receives at risk,” he said.–Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net