Filipino Workers Face Arrest, Firing, and Worse For Trying to Organize

When individual Dole workers spoke out about chemical safety hazards, the company used its political weight to get them arrested for defamation. Even holding down their jobs has become more difficult for full-time workers, as up to three-quarters of the workforce is being replaced by contractors.

After workers voted to unionize in 2006, Dole Philippines managers refused to meet with union representatives or members. Instead, the International Labor Rights Forum reports, they began meeting with local military and paramilitary thugs to crush the union by force, propaganda, and intimidation.

Threats against unionists carry real weight in the country: four Filipino union leaders were murdered in 2008, one was abducted and tortured, and four others were arrested.

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ILRF says Dole’s actions in the Philippines have been so severe that the company withdrew an application for expanded trade preference in the United States, anticipating that it could not defend itself under scrutiny.

To investigate these claims, ILRF attorney Brian Campbell met with union members in late January. In retaliation, Dole fired some workers within hours of the meeting.

You can send a letter to Dole executives in the U.S. and the Philippines demanding improved conditions and recognition of the plantation workers’ union, here.