Local labor groups are now eyeing an audience with International Labor Organization (ILO) Director General Gilbert Houngbo after being given only five minutes to speak during the Asia Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) in Singapore next week.
In a press conference last Tuesday, Elmer Labog, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chair and the Philippine labor representative at the APRM, disclosed he was given five minutes to speak in the plenary session in the event, which will be held from Dec. 6 to 9.
“Even if it is not in the program, they committed to our sector, the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation)-Philippines, will be given time to speak in the plenary session as long as it will not exceed five minutes,” Labog said in Filipino.
This after Labog, together with Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President Sonny Matula, Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) Secretary General Josua Mata, Trade Union Congress President (TUCP) President Raymond Mendoza sent a letter addressed to Houngbo last Nov. 4 calling out why Philippine labor groups were not given “speaking parts” in the APRM agenda.
“Conspicuously missing in the agenda are speaking parts for workers who want to air the blatant violations of freedom of association principles, including the killing of trade union leaders and organizers,” the group said in the letter.
They said they wanted to raise the issue of the labor rights violations in many countries in Asia and the Pacific, particularly those in Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines.
Mata noted some governments in the Asia-Pacific region are not keen on the discussion of their labor agenda in the APRM.
He said they are now hoping the ILO would grant their request for labor representatives from ITUC and Filipino workers to be given a hybrid “side meeting” with Houngbo during the APRM since the five-minute speech will be too short for them to effectively raise their concerns.
Image credits: Roy Domingo