📷: Kawasaki United Labor Union (KULU) | FB
To show to the entire world just how bad workers are faring in the country, workers at the Kawasaki Motors Phils. Corp. (KMPC) struck on May 21, 2025, barely nine days after the irregularity-riddled, vote-buying and red-tagging midterm election was held on May 12, 2025.
Workers belonging to the Kawasaki United Labor Union (KULU) walked out of their jobs after KPMC management found it beneath its dignity to resume the collective bargaining negotiations with the union and break the deadlock. So serious was the disagreement that KULU staged the strike, the first in its 57 years, to dramatize the intractable stance of the management. KULU staged the strike at the company’s plant in Muntinlupa City in protest over the company’s shameless refusal to negotiate.
KULU disclosed that the negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) started nearly a year ago, with the company eventually offering a 7% wage increase to put some substance on the discussion only to walk back on its offer, using the excuse that the company’s profit was retreating. Apparently, the Japanese managers of KMPC have no truck with Bushido, the code that governed the samurai. Moreover, they do not understand that in late capitalism, the rate of profit eventually falls even as the rate of exploitation intensifies and dead labor replaces living labor.
By advancing the idea that KMPC’s word is now worthless, the company is telling the striking workers that the company would wage a war of the mattresses pushing the CBA out the window and burning the seven Bushido rules on gi (righteousness), chugi (loyalty), meiyo (honor), rei (respect), sei (honesty), yu (courage) and makoto (consistency.) KMPC is one of the country’s biggest motorcycle manufaacturers, churning out 18,000 motorcycles a month at its Muntinlupa plant, along with motorcycle components and power products for export. It also offers spare parts service and repair.
KULU refuted KMPC’s claim that the company is losing, arguing implicitly that by pushing for higher wages, the union is forcing the hand of management to consider shutting down the business entirely. This is a timeworn tactic, a page torn out of a dog-eared playbook by corporate lawyers and labor dealers. KULU insists its demands are reasonable and will not cause financial loss or outright closure of the company. “Our demand for right benefits and just wage increase is for our families to survive economic inflation,” the union said. “Ang aming welga ay pagpapakita sa mga kapitalista o kumpanya ng aming kahalagahan o importansya sa kumpanya. Sa kabila ng pagod at sakripisyo sa pagbubuo ng produkto na nagbibigay kita ng bilyon-bilyon sa mga kapitalista ay hindi maibigay ang tamang benepisyo at nakabubuhay na sahod sa aming mga uring manggagawa,” KULU argued.
The strikers also complained of harassment since the launch of the strike as KMPC cut the branches of trees near the company premises that provide shade to the strikers. Worse, the company has been polluting the area with loud noise to harass the unionists KULU however said its demands are reasonable and will not cause financial loss or outright closure of the company. “Our demand for right benefits and just wage increase is for our families to survive economic inflation,” the union said. KULU also complained of harassment since the launch of the strike, with the KMPC cutting off the branches of trees near the premises that provide shade to the unionists. Worse, the company has resorted using huge loudspeakers to pollute the strike area with deafening noise. “Ikalawang araw na patuloy na pagpapakita din sa amin ng management kung gaano sila kawalang puso,” KULU added.
On the same day that KULU struck, workers trooped to the Manila office of the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) to demand the approval of the P1,200 family living wage as well as the congressional approval of the P200 wage increase. The petitioners belonged to the Unity for Wage Increase Now (UWIN) in the National Capital Region (NCR), Workers’ Initiative for Wage Increase (WIN4WIN) of Region IV-A and Central Luzon Wage Increase Now (CLWIN) of Region 3 that demanded wage increases. Steel workers from Nagkakaisang Samahan ng Manggagawa ng Regan, thread workers of Pinagkaisang Lakas ng Manggagasa ng Manila Bay Thread Corp., and freight workers of Samahang Maggagawa ng Philippine Span Asia Carrier formed bulk of the protesters.
Workers have been pressing for the immediate approval of the legislated P200 minimum wage increase but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. refused to certify it as urgent, nipping the proposal in the bud. By doing so, Malacanang signaled to the obedient members of the House of Representatives and the Senate that they must refuse any support to the proposal even as they vowed to promote the welfare of workers and farmers during the campaign period. With the campaign over and the result of the election another betrayal of the people’s interest, the die is cast for more protests in and out of Congress, in the factories and offices, in the streets and wherever working men and women congregate.
