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Resolution Supporting the International Solidarity Work of APALA in the Philippines

January 16, 2025

WHEREAS, for the eighth straight year, the Philippines is rated by the International Trade Union Confederation amongst the ten worst countries for workers citing that workers and unions remain to be victims of red-tagging, violence, abductions and arbitrary arrests;

WHEREAS, in 2023 the International Labour Organization (ILO) sent a High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) to the Philippines to conduct an investigation into the atrocities targeting union organizers and worker activists;

WHEREAS, the ILO HLTM investigation reports that since 2016 there have been an alarming increase in violations that infringed on worker’s freedom of association: 69 killings of trade union leaders and organizers, 3 cases of abductions and enforced disappearance involving 5 individuals, 41 cases of arrests and detentions on trumped charges, 111 arrested workers during strikes and protest actions, 90 cases of forced disaffiliation, 58 cases of red-tagging or terrorist-tagging, 127 cases of threats, intimidations and harassment and 19 cases of other types of anti-union activities;

WHEREAS, the ILO has presented a list of recommendations to the Philippine government including the formation of a Presidential Commission to adequately investigate these incidents and to bring to justice those responsible and that the government must address issues and policies that impact workers’ freedom of association and to collective bargain;

WHEREAS, there has been a long history of Washington state’s labor movement building international solidarity with Philippine workers stemming back from the Filipino workers in the Alaska canneries and agricultural industry in the 1940s-1950s, to ILWU, Local 37 under the leadership of slain labor leaders, Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes;

WHEREAS, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) AFL-CIO will be sending a labor delegation in February 2025 to continue building international solidarity relations between our labor movements;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that MLK Labor condemns the continued violations of human rights against workers in the Philippines and demand  that the Philippine government led by Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.  address the systemic violations of workers’ freedom of association and to collective bargain;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that MLK Labor pursue efforts to pressure the Philippine government to implement the ILO HLTM recommendations;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that MLK Labor support the 2025 APALA delegation to the Philippines by contributing $500 financially to support a delegate from Washington State to participate in the delegation and utilize its network to disseminate the APALA delegation report.

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