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Teresa’s Story

(3 votes)

Written by Secrétariat International

Thursday, 05 July 2007

Teresa (Philippines)

My name is Teresa, I am 33 and I come from the Philippines. I have a big family: five brothers and three sisters. Before I was born, my father, in charge of maintaining the wheels of big trucks in a big sugarcane company, had an industrial accident. He had his head seriously injured and was never able to work again.

Just one day after the operation, the company’s lawyer took advantage of my father’s extreme weakness to make him sign a document stating that he would not ask any compensation. Today my father is still very weak and finds it difficult to concentrate.

This was my first strong experience of injustice.

Have a dream!

After the accident, my mother, a really strong woman, worked as a cook for wealthy families. She would get up at 3 o’clock in the morning, would prepare some food or buy products from the neighbours to sell them in the city. We, the children, we produced candies and sold them in the surrounding villages on Saturdays and Sundays. I was so ashamed and shy.

The food we had was just enough but my mother’s philosophy was never to allow us to start eating if one of us was missing. We all lived in just one room, packed like sardines, but we were happy. My mother used to say: “Have a dream and find a job one day!”

My mother had left school at a very young age and my parents wanted to give us the best education possible. I grew up with the idea of building a house and becoming a teacher but I could see that my parents couldn’t afford that.
We only had one pencil and one notebook but we participated in all activities at school. I had no shoes but I could borrow the school uniform. After graduating from high school, I wanted to find a job in Manila but I became sick and my brother encouraged me to study secretarial work.

My first struggle and my encounter with the YCW

When I finished my studies, I started working in Manila in a factory called “Catchline”. I was one of the first ten workers in the company, which later grew to more than 200 workers. We called ourselves “pioneers”. I was working six days a week, from 7 am to 4 pm for 88 pesos a day (around US$2). We were doing the hook tier (fishing reel) production, and we had to attach the hooks to the line without any safety equipment. The effect on my eyes was very bad and my fingers were bleeding every evening.

After having worked hard in the factory for three years, I still didn’t have a contract. Together with my sister, who was also working there, we complained. The management accepted to legally recognize 10 workers out of 200 (!): they got holidays, medical insurance, overtime payment, and they received 250 pesos per day. I was among those ten people but I wasn’t happy. The manager offered to give me a secretarial job but I didn’t accept. I wanted to stay with my co-workers in the production line.

Our factory was a Mustad daughter company but in Mustad, the workers had trade unions. I was invited to attend some of their meetings and this is how I got to know the YCW: the union president, Cali, was also a YCW member.

Once my sister and I didn’t go to the factory and the next day we were not allowed to start work. Tired of having to wait for the manager, we went home. The following day, the manager suspended us from work for one week. We immediately went to court and filed a case for unfair dismissal as well as for unpaid holiday and unpaid overtime.

I began to organize my co-workers. Together with seven of them, we started a secret group inside the company – our goal was to form a trade union inside Catchline. Each one had to contact a new colleague and gradually there were 70 of us meeting during lunch break. The YCW fulltimer also came to meet us regularly. We had elections and I was elected president of the union!

I just insisted on my rights… on our rights!

The manager would call me to her office every day, trying to make me feel guilty for refusing the job as a secretary she kept offering me. But I just insisted on my rights… on our rights!

I participated in YCW activities and I also shared about the YCW at our union meetings. After several months of struggle, they simply closed down our factory. But I continued the action in court and after three years, my case was won.

My struggle goes on in other places

After working as a volunteer in the YCW, I became a fulltimer for the Metro Manila region and I was responsible for organizing workers in the Sackline factory. Using my experience, I started with five workers, meeting them during their breaks. Then again, each one organized another two workers, and so on.

I don’t know if Sackline is a positive experience because the same happened as with Catchline. Some cases were taken to court, then the company decided to close down and the workers lost their jobs. But three leaders became YCW fulltimers and are still contributing to the struggle.

As far as I am concerned, I became the national president of the Philippines YCW, then a member of the Asia Pacific team. My struggle goes on at another level, but always by the side of ordinary workers.