[asia-apec 1369] Women Workers in Triumph Int'l on Strike

[GABRIELA-Philippines]

              GABRIELA SUPPORTS WOMEN BEHIND MILLENNIUM BRA

The Millennium Bra weighs 8 times heavier than a regular one. It is made
with gold thread.  A diamond is imbedded at its center.  It costs $1.9 M.
But behind this extravagance is more than a thousand women who couldn't get
a decent wage increase.

In a press conference this morning, the women's group GABRIELA said that
the 1,139 workers under the union, Bagong Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa
Triumph International (BPMTI-Ind.),  were forced to go on strike last
November 18 following a deadlock in the CBA negotiations.  Management is
offering only P45 in response to the union's demand of P140 wage increase.
Management, likewise, refuses to meet the other economic demands of the
workers.

"While Triumph Philippines registers an annual 10% increase in its sales,
it refuses to accommodate the very basic right of women workers for a decent
wage.  This is a concrete example of how global competetiveness in the era of
"globalization" bleeds dry women workers by undervaluing women workers'
labor,"
said Nanette Miranda-Tampico, secretary general of Kilusan ng Manggagawang
Kababaihan (KMK) - GABRIELA. 

"These women spend the prime of their life working in Triumph.  Their
skills are the reason why Triumph Phils. is among the top earners of Triumph
International" said Tampico.    

The women's group said that the average age of workers, mostly women, in
Triumph Phils. is 40 years old, with some having worked for as long as 25
years.  Their average daily income only amounts to P300 while the cost of
living in the National Capital Region is already pegged at P446.

According to KMK-GABRIELA, the job security of Triumph workers is also in
danger. Women workers of Triumph fear that they will lose their jobs in
the event of a plant transfer set in 2004.

According to the women's group, the Triumph workers' fear is not unfounded.
"Contractualization is widely implemented in sectors dominated by women such
as service and garments manufacturing.  Contractual hiring is the current
by-word ruining the lives of workers, again, in the name of global
competetiveness."

GABRIELA and KMK expressed its support to the striking workers of
Triumph International Philippines, the same way that they supported the
Shoemart (SM) union. The latter won in the collective bargaining agreement
negotiations after having been forced to call a strike which drew wide
support from the people's movement and the different sectors of society.