Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

To:
Trade Ministers and Agriculture Ministers

Cc:
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, United Nations
Jacque Diouf, Director General, FAO
Pascal Lamy, Director General, WTO
Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Angel Gurría, Secretary General, Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

The WTO’s Doha Round Will Not Solve the Global Food Crisis – Time for Real Solutions

Dear Minister,

The global food system is in crisis. Millions of people can no longer afford or access the food they need, increasing global hunger and malnutrition. The worlds’ governments need to act now. But the answer does not lie in deeper deregulation of food production and trade. We, concerned non-governmental organizations and social movements, urge you to reject the claims by the leaders of the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), that concluding the Doha Round is a solution to the current crisis.1

We believe the Doha Round as is currently envisioned will intensify the crisis by making food prices more volatile, increasing developing countries’ dependence on imports, and strengthening the power of multinational agribusiness in food and agricultural markets. Developing countries are likely to lose further policy space in their agriculture sector, which would in turn limit their ability to deal with the current crisis and to strengthen the livelihoods of small producers.

The inability to manage the current food crisis is an illustration of the failure of three decades of market deregulation in agriculture. We need a new model for the trading system that puts development, employment and food security objectives at the centre. We are calling for real solutions that will stabilize food production and distribution to meet the global demand for healthy, adequate, and affordable food. Governments must start to take a long-term view of the challenges facing agriculture. The recent report of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development [IAASTD], endorsed by 57 countries, says, “Modern agriculture has brought significant increases in food production. But the benefits have been spread unevenly and have come at an increasingly intolerable price, paid by small-scale farmers, workers, rural communities and the environment.” Support has to be directed at a different model of agriculture that can sustainably meet the needs of a growing population.

The WTO’s Doha Round and other bilateral and regional trade agreements currently under negotiation will not solve the food crisis, for the following reasons:

1. Existing WTO and bilateral and regional trade agreements push across the board liberalization, which worsens volatility of food prices. This leads to increased dependence on international markets and decreased investment in local food production. Trade liberalization has eroded the ability of a number of developing countries to feed themselves, for example, Mexico, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Mali. The removal of tariff barriers has resulted in dumping of heavily subsidized commodities in developing countries, such as Ghana, Kenya, the Philippines, Jamaica and Honduras, while undermining local food production.

Developing countries have turned from net exporters of food to net importers of food.2 Two-thirds of developing countries are net food importers and are extremely vulnerable to volatile world food prices. The current proposals under the Doha Round will increase countries’ dependence on food imports while further eroding their ability to feed their own populations.

2. High food prices provide enormous benefits to transnational agribusinesses and commodity cartels that control the trade in food and agriculture. One of the largest global grain traders, Cargill, announced in April 2008 that its third quarter profits rose 86 percent to US$1.03 billion, in the midst of the global food crisis.3 Bunge saw its profits in the last quarter of 2007 increase by 77 percent compared with the same period in 2006. Archer Daniel Midland’s (ADM’s) profits in 2007 rose by 65 percent.4 The Doha Round will strengthen the position of transnational companies in agricultural markets, who thrive on market deregulation.

3. The Doha negotiations do not tackle the major challenges facing the global food system, which include climate change, natural resource depletion, the quadrupling of oil prices, the lack of competition in world commodity markets, financial speculation and the rapid expansion of unsustainable agrofuels production.
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Isang marubdob na pakikiramay at mahigpit na pakikiisa ang ipinaaabot ng Alliance of Progressive Labor sa mga naiwan ni Kasamang Crispin Beltran, na yumao na kaninang umaga. Pangunahin itong ipinaaabot ng APL kay Ka Osang, ang pinakamamahal na katuwang ni Ka Bel, at sa kanilang mga anak at mga apo. Inihahatid din ito ng APL sa partidong Anakpawis, na siyang kinakatawan ni Ka Bel sa Kongreso, at sa iba pang mga samahan na naging bahagi siya, laluna ang Kilusang Mayo Uno na kinikilala namin bilang kasamahan sa kilusang paggawa ng bansa.

Malaking kawalan ang pagpanaw ni Ka Bel – hindi lang sa hanay ng partidong Anakpawis at ng KMU, kundi sa kabuuang kilusang paggawa at sa progresibo’t militanteng pulitika sa loob at labas ng Kongreso.

Malaki at mahalaga ang mga naiambag ni Ka Bel sa mga pagkilos para ipagtanggol at isulong ang mga karapatan at interes ng mga manggagawa at mamamayan, laluna noong madilim na panahon ng batas militar hanggang sa kasalukuyang madilim pa ring rehimen ni Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at sa maka-kapitalistang globalisasyon na humahagupit sa buong mundo.

Dapat lamang kilalanin at ipagpugay ang mahaba at dedikadong paninilbihan at mga sakripisyong inilaan ni Ka Bel para sa mga manggagawa at taumbayan sa mahigit 50 taon ng kanyang 75 taong pagkabuhay! Mula sa pagiging unyonista at lider ng mga drayber ng taksi noong dekada ‘50 hanggang sa tuluyan niyang paglusong sa pag-oorganisa at pamumuno ng mga samahang manggagawa, gaya ng Panalo at Anglo, at hanggang sa rurok nito, ang KMU. Dapat lamang kilalanin at hangaan ang hindi niya pagbibitaw sa kanyang prinsipyo, kapalit man ay kagipitan ng pamilya at ng sarili, at sa kabila man ng mga panunupil ng estado at ng naghaharing uri.

Paalam, Ka Bel. Maraming salamat sa pagpapaangat mo ng kilusang paggawa at ng militante’t progresibong hanay.

Josua Mata
Secretary General
Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

The P20 minimum wage increase in Metro-Manila was lambasted by the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) as an “insult to the working class!”

“We demand a legislated, across the board, nationwide wage increase and 0% tax exemption for minimum wage earners,” Daniel L. Edralin, APL Chairperson, said.

Edralin said that the P20 wage “hike” would not even make a dent in alleviating the pressures of increasing prices of oil, food and power costs. Worst, it would not be enjoyed by all minimum wage earners, he added.

The APL explained wage orders come with numerous exemptions that limit the effective coverage of the of the minimum wage adjustment. That in addition, there is a “BAMBI Law” or the RA 9178, which automatically exempts workers employed in micro business enterprises or BMBES. But that the bigger problem is the fact that the minimum wage laws are wantonly violated.

“This proves once again the need to reform the wage setting mechanism in the country,” Edralin said. The regional wage boards simply cannot live up to their mandates of ensuring the workers’ equitable share in the fruits of his labor,” he added.

Edralin explained that instead of regional minimum wages, what is needed is to have a national minimum wage that acts as the “floor wage” for all workers and then higher industry minimum wages set by industry-wide wage boards.

Today, 17,000 members of the Federation of Iloilo Jeepney Owners and Driver Associations (FIJODA-NCTU) launched a crippling province-wide transport strike to press for the removal of the 12% VAT on petroleum products and fro the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law.

“Government’s inaction in the face of skyrocketing oil prices forced us to take this drastic measure,” declared Proceso “Ka Porcing” Pareño, President of FIJODA-NCTU.

The FIJODA is echoing the demands of its mother organization, the National Confederation of Transportworkers’ Unions (NCTU). As the global crude oil prices breached the US$ 120 mark, the NCTU called on government to implement a package of reforms: remove the 12% VAT on petroleum products, pass the P125 wage increase and scrap the Oil Deregulation Law (RA 8479).

Removing the 12% VAT would lower diesel fuel prices from P4.78 - P5.28. “This would ease the burden not only of transport workers but more so of the general public,” Ka Porcing said. “It would also go a long way in easing the rising cost of food and other basic necessities,” he added.

Ka Porcing also said that they are not inclined to ask for fare hikes unless workers receive a wage increase. That is why FIJODA-NCTU is supporting the passage of the P125 legislated increase for minimum wage earners.

Ka Porcing also explained that for years transport workers have been asking government to scrap the Oil Deregulation Law. “A decade of living under RA 8479 is enough proof that the law is a complete failure,” Ka Porcing said. “Rather than benefit of the working class, it has only allowed the oil companies to further enrich themselves,” he added.

Oil companies have jacked up pump prices by P1 per liter this weekend, and are threatening to further increase their prices on a weekly basis.

While admitting that the scrapping of RA 8479 would require Congressional action, Ka Porcing said that Malacañang can certainly speed things up by certifying the repeal of RA 8479.

“This is just a warning shot against government,” Ka Porcing said. “Should government remain deaf and blind to the worsening condition of the transport workers and the riding public, we will launch more crippling strikes,” he added.

FIJODA is a newly established federation of 20 transport organizations in Iloilo. Its members ply all the routes outside of Iloilo City.