AMWU president Julius Roe, IMF general secretary Marcello Malentacchi and AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron addressed the situation at Toyota Philippines at the biennial national conference of the Australian Manufacturing Workers・Union in Sydney. The 100 delegates to the conference cheered the address of Virgilio Colandog, member of the TMPCWA board of directors.

The AMWU has a good collective agreement with Toyota but our members are concerned that the company must respect ILO standards wherever they invest. The anti-worker laws in Australia provide opportunities for companies to also attack our hard won rights. The workers must be reinstated and the union recognised,・Roe said.

Roe announced that the AMWU would give AUS$2,000 (US$1,500) to help support TMPCWA efforts. Amicus, the Canadian Autoworkers Union, CWA and the New Zealand EPMU, pledged to match the AMWU, and an additional $750 was collected from conference delegates.

Delegates resolved to support solidarity actions and further fundraising in support of the Toyota workers.

This is an important struggle not only for Filipino workers at Toyota, but metalworkers around the world who repeatedly face company intimidation, government intervention, and gross violations of fundamental workers・rights,・said Marcello Malentacchi.

Several Filipino born AMWU delegates at the conference supported Virgilio, including one from the large Toyota plant in Melbourne. There are more than 150 AMWU members of Filipino background at the Melbourne plant. Virgilio will hold special meetings with Toyota workers in New South Wales and Victoria later this week. Toyota workers in Australia will continue to pressure Toyota to respect workers rights in the Philippines.

The IMF and its affiliates have launched an international campaign calling for the immediate reinstatement of the TMPCWA workers illegally fired by Toyota.

Read more about the campaign to Reinstate Them Now!

[July 26, 2006] KP