International Solidarity Movement Forms Against Toyota's Rejection of Workers' Rights

Toyota is hostile to unions.  Toyota and its subsidiaries utilize all tactics at their disposal in order to undermine workers' right to organize worldwide.  In order to combat the global violation of a universal workers' right, international solidarity is crucial. 

According to a report published by the Asian TNC Monitoring Conference, employees of the Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMPC) formed a union through completing the necessary steps for recognition.  However, TMPC has been engaged in inimidation, retributive firing, and management refusal to negotiate with or recognize the union itself.  In 2001 arbitration disputes and strikes between the union and Toyota led the TMPC to threaten the Government of the Philippines with withdrawing from the country if the government did not settle arbitrations in the companies' favor and put an end to the strikes.  The government conceded, declaring a number of the strikes illegal, naming a number of union members criminals, and prohibiting the reinstatement of hundreds of employees' payrolls. 

The workers in the Philippines were not alone, however.  NGOs and labor unions in Japan stood in solidarity with the Philipino workers, pressuring Toyota in Toyko to recognize the rights of the workers employed by TMPC.  The Japanese NGOs and unions were able to get Toyota to agree to a meeting in Toyko, but the leaders found the meeting to be largely symbolic and no substantive gains have been thus far made on behalf of the Philipino union.  However, the Japanese and Philipino workers of Toyota have continued to forge ties in order to more effectively campaign for the recognition of workers rights across borders by transnational corporations. 

The primary obstacles to this and other solidarity movements are language differences, differences in labor laws, and lack of financial resources.  The reluctance of the media in both countries to report on labor disputes involving Toyota is a further difficulty.  However, email, cooperative translators, shared experiences of unfair treatment by Toyoa, and networks of NGOs are helped to bolster the solidarity movement. 

International solidarity movements which coordinate the specific claims of workers rights across national borders and connect these to international labor standards and sympathetic NGOs with various resources are an increasingly prevalent and important source of power in the struggles for fair working conditions and sustainability in the practices of multinational corporations.  The Global Corporations Portal on SourceWatch was established in order to help facilitate these solidarity networks.

For more information about the Toyota campaign, you can read the attached article from the Asian TNC Monitoring Conference.