Kim Scripes interviewed a top leader in the Kilusang May Uno (KMU, or May First Movement) Labor Center in 1986 about what it meant to be a genuine and militant trade union:
By “genuine,” we mean that the KMU is run by its members. The members are given all information and decide the policies which run the organization. By “militant,” we mean that the KMU will never betray the interests of the working class, even at the risk of our own lives. The KMU believes workers become aware of their own human dignity through collective mass action. By “nationalist,” we beleive the wealth of the Philippines belongs to the Filipino people and that national sovereignty must never be compromised. The KMU is against the presence of the U.S. bases. (Scripes, 10)
Scripes states that:
The statement about never betraying the interests of the working class, even at the risk of KMU leaders’ own lives, is not hyperbole; many KMU organizers, leaders and members have been arrested and or killed. (ibid.)
Source
Scripes, Kim. KMU; Building Genuine Trade Unionism in the Philippines, 1980-1994. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers, 1996.
2 Responses to “Genuine Trade Unionism in the Philippines”