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Issue Number 22, January 2003
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 22, January 2003
EMILIA DAPULANG:
Extremely Successful NZ Tour By KMU Leader
- Murray Horton
The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU - May First Movement) is one
of PSNA's oldest partners in the Philippines, going back
to the KMU's formation in the mid 1980s. In 1999 we
organised a very successful national speaking tour by the
KMU's veteran National Chairperson, Crispin Beltran (Ka
Bel), to coincide with activities opposing the APEC*
Leaders' Summit in Auckland (Ka Bel is now one of the
three Representatives of the Bayan Muna party in the
Philippine Congress, that party having topped the Party
List vote in the 2001 Congressional elections). More
recently, we financially helped Michael Gilchrist, the
Secretary of the then NZ Trade Union Federation (since
merged back into the Council of Trade Unions [CTU] ) to
attend the KMU's 2000 International Solidarity Affair, in
the Philippines. *APEC = Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation.
2002 being election year, we felt it appropriate to bring
out a speaker who could provide a critical analysis of
globalisation (which should correctly be called corporate
globalisation) and spell out its impacts on the Third
World. We thought the speaker should be a woman who could
talk about the adverse impact of globalisation on Third
World women workers. We asked the KMU for suggestions and
we mutually decided on Emilia Dapulang, the National Vice
Chairperson. Once again, I pay tribute to Norma Binas,
the KMU's veteran International Secretary - she was our
point of contact throughout the whole two years of
planning for this tour (our very limited resources, of
people and money, mean that a long preparation time is
essential for such projects by PSNA). Emilia's topic was
"Globalisation, Women Workers And The Struggle For
Justice". You will find that speech inside this
issue, plus two others that she brought to NZ.
The plan was to tour Emilia as part of the build up to
the election campaign and to help put globalisation on
the election agenda - that's why we chose September, as
elections are traditionally held in November. Of course,
Helen Clark's calling of an early election put paid to
that, and illustrates one of the pitfalls of such long
term planning. There was no question of us being able to
move Emilia's tour forward to accommodate the early
election - that wasn't an option. We correctly decided
that the issue of globalisation was relevant regardless
of the election, and having the campaign out of the way
before Emilia arrived gave us the extra bonus of a
network of local organisers and activists freed up to
work on her tour without the distraction of also being
involved in the election.
Visa Refused
Organising international speaking tours can be an
exhausting and nervewracking business - the Government
did its level best to stymie this one. Immigration
refused Emilia a visa just weeks before her scheduled
arrival (nothing political, just the racist and sexist
criteria applied to poor brown Third World women. My
Filipina wife, Becky, and I had had to deal with exactly
the same situation when sponsoring my oldest
sister-in-law for a 1997 family visit), so I had to
negotiate a visa for Emilia, via international fax and
phone. It was done but PSNA had to pay a Limited Purpose
Visa fee of more than $100, and Emilia had to sign a form
waiving any right of legal appeal should she decide to
become an illegal overstayer once in NZ. I had personally
sponsored Emilia for a tourist visa, exactly as I had
successfully done with Ka Bel in 1999. Obviously there
are different criteria applied to tourist visa
applications from 60 something Third World men, as
opposed to 40 something Third World women. The unspoken
implication behind such a refusal is that a Filipina
factory worker and unionist will gleefully take the
opportunity to not leave NZ once allowed in. PSNA has
toured three Filipino speakers through New Zealand
(Leonor Briones, in 1995, was the first) and we have
encountered three different approaches from Immigration.
Consistency is not its strong point.
She toured the country for two weeks, in September 2002,
speaking at eight venues from Dunedin to Whangarei,
accompanied by women activists and union leaders
(specifically, Leigh Cookson of ARENA* & GATT**
Watchdog, in the South Island, and Maxine Gay of the
Clothing Workers Union & ARENA, in the North). She
spoke to public meetings throughout the country (the
biggest crowd was in Christchurch); she spoke at two
universities (Canterbury and Waikato). She met one Mayor
(Dunedin's Sukhi Turner) and one party leader (the
Greens' Rod Donald). *ARENA - Action, Research and
Education Network of Aotearoa. **GATT - General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade, now the World Trade Organisation
(WTO).
Excellent Response From Meetings & Media
The people who attended her meetings throughout the
country were extremely responsive and eager to help the
Philippine struggle. For instance, Maxine Gay reported on
Emilia's Suffrage Day talk to a group of women at the
Auckland Women's Centre: "They loved having Emilia
talk to them and there were plenty of questions. They
wanted to know what practical ways they could assist the
struggle in the Philippines. This gave Emilia an
opportunity to ask for e-mails and faxes to be sent (to
the KMU) in support of the minimum wage campaign".
Tim Howard, our tour organiser in Whangarei, reported:
"The meeting went extremely well and Emilia's clear
presentation ... was well received. Some debate ensued,
particularly among the Filipino community, to which
Emilia's responses were clear and uncompromising - and
presented most palatably...One outcome was a collection
that took up $100 which went with Emilia to the striking
Nestle workers in the Philippines. Another result was the
interest in setting up training sessions for the Filipino
communities in Auckland and Whangarei with the KMU
'Migrante' programme for expatriate Filipinos, and some
vehicles for actually doing that. Personally I think
significant outcomes also included an increased
understanding of Filipino practicalities and of
globalisation at the grassroots level in the Philippines,
a reaffirmation of the parallel nature of the effects of
globalisation both here and there, and a contribution to
the solidarity between our peoples. Hopefully those links
can be strengthened". And Brian Turner, our Nelson
organiser, said: "Emilia was very good value...[she]
was a great advocate for worker rights in the Philippines
and a very credible commentator on globalisation and its
effects for Aotearoa-NZ as well as elsewhere". *
ARENA - Action, Research and Education Network of
Aotearoa. ** GATT = General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade, now the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
We were able to get her very good media coverage (for
example, an excellent National Radio interview with Linda
Clark, a regional TV interview, a number of provincial
newspaper articles and interviews in union, student and
community papers). Nine To Noon With Linda Clark is a top
rating show, listened to by hundreds of thousands of
people throughout the country. Getting Emilia on this was
a real coup (we owe a vote of thanks to Lyndy McIntyre,
the CTU's media adviser, who played a key role in getting
Emilia on the show). It is worth noting that we were not
able to get Ka Bel any equivalent national media exposure
when we toured him in 1999. "Emilia was stunning on
the Linda Clark interview - it clearly rattled the
pro-trade liberalisation lobbyists" (Maxine Gay). So
much so that the following week's show featured a hastily
arranged pro-globalisation speaker.
Organisationally it went very smoothly. The tour cost
$4,000+, well over half of which was the international
air fare. It cost significantly less than the 1999
Beltran tour, because nearly all travel was by car, as
opposed to plane. PSNA was in the fortunate position of
being able to underwrite it, in advance, whilst
fundraising, and we came within $70 of breaking even on
it. The single biggest donation came from Christian World
Service, which has always backed our work with
substantial financial support. Other major donations came
from the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) and a
couple of individuals. As with previous such tours, PSNA
strung together a network of local organisers and hosts,
ranging from union officials to clergy, academics to
activists.
Extensive Union Involvement
Emilia met extensively with rank and file workers and
union officials, and right up to the highest levels of
union leadership, namely CTU head, Ross Wilson, which was
a first for a visiting KMU leader. "In welcoming
Emilia, Ross said that it was important that we are
reminded from time to time of the difficult circumstances
in which some people practise their trade unionism and
during his summing up he thanked Emilia for coming and
pledged ongoing support" (Maxine Gay). A number of
unions and union officials played a very key role in the
tour - foremost was Maxine, the secretary of the Clothing
Workers Union. She hosted and organised Emilia in
Wellington, and then personally drove her throughout the
North Island, with all costs being donated by the union.
The SFWU, apart from being a major donor, played a big
role in her Auckland visit (specifically SFWU organiser,
Nadine Rae) and its Dunedin secretary, Campbell Duignan,
hosted and organised Emilia's visit there. Lindy McIntyre
of the CTU was instrumental in getting Emilia's tour very
well advertised throughout union networks, particularly
the womens' networks and got it advertised on the CTU
Website. The National Distribution Union (NDU) structured
a women delegates' seminar in Christchurch around
Emilia's participation. The Seafarers' Union, which has
its own relationship with the KMU, invited Emilia to
address a monthly stopwork meeting in Lyttelton. Andrea
Rushton, the NDU's Nelson organiser, was co-organiser of
Emilia's visit to that city. Everywhere she went she met
with women union officials, activists and workers. She
had an excellent response from her meetings, particularly
those with women unionists. In particular, she met with
women workers and union officials. She visited a variety
of workplaces and met Kiwis on the job (a highlight was
her visit to the Nestle factory in Auckland, as the KMU
has been heavily involved in the strike by Nestle workers
in the Philippines, which ran throughout 2002).
When she left NZ, she spent a few days on an Australian
speaking tour before going home. This is the first of the
Filipino speaking tours we've organised to have had any
Australian component and it put us back in touch with
Australian Philippine Solidarity activists with whom we'd
had no contact for many years. By all accounts, her
Australian tour was also successful.
It wasn't all work. Maxine Gay took her 80 year old Mum
with them for the several days that she drove Emilia from
Wellington to Auckland (other people took her to and from
Whangarei). The three of them had a great time. As they
headed through the Central Plateau, Emilia mentioned that
she'd only ever seen snow in pictures (ever Filipino I've
ever met goes delirious over snow, it doesn't exist in
the Philippines). So they did a quick detour up to the
Turoa skifield, on Mount Ruapehu. "It was fantastic
to see her reaction to being in the snow...she was the
only one on the mountain in a suit and I'm the only one
in a skirt!! We looked a sight but we did have such fun.
From there we went to Waitomo Caves and got there just in
time to take a tour down the caves and see the glowworms.
Our tour guide was one of the SFWU delegates so we talked
union all through the tour" (Maxine Gay).
Much Better Than We Could Have Hoped
Maxine, who spent the longest period of time with Emilia,
has no doubt about the value of her tour: "This was
a great trip, well planned and very useful to us in New
Zealand... The public meetings were great but people who
come to those already have a level of awareness, which is
perhaps confirmed or enhanced by the exchange. No matter
how much information we give people on the factory floor,
getting it straight from Emilia was extraordinarily
valuable and had a very visible impact...It was a great
privilege and pleasure to be Emilia's companion and I
want to thank PSNA for the opportunity".
Emilia raised the profile of Filipino issues, especially
the situation of Filipino women workers. More than that,
she was the highest profile critic of corporate
globalisation to tour New Zealand in the recent past. Her
tour was PSNA's biggest project in several years and one
which we consider cemented extremely valuable contacts
both in the Philippines and throughout New Zealand. All
in all, it went much better than we could have hoped, and
we are very pleased with it.
Murray Horton is editor of Kapatiran and PSNA
Secretary. He has visited the Philippines several times,
most recently spending a month there in 1998.
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