The massacre of striking workers at Hacienda Luisita demonstrates once again that the path to a better future means a life and death struggle for the toiling masses, as those who lord over society will never willingly surrender their wealth and power.
Join us in commemorating the courage of the Hacienda Luisita mill & farm workers and supporters, and oppose the violation of workers’ rights.
Monday, November 16
6:30 pm, Victorian Trades Hall
Cnr Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton
Speaker – Rene Galang, President of United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU – one of the workers’ unions in Hacienda Luisita, Philippines)
Film Showing – “Sa Ngalan Ng Tubo” (In the Name of Sugar Cane) A documentary film on the struggle and the massacre of the workers and supporters at Hacienda Luisita, Central Luzon, Philippines.
For further information:
George Kotsakis – 1300 366 674
Reyvi Marinas – 0421 119776
AAWL – 9663 7277
Organised by: Migrante Melbourne
Endorsed and Supported by: Australia Asia Workers Links (AAWL), Philippines Australia Solidarity Association (PASA) and Gabriela Australia
The massacre of striking workers at Hacienda Luisita demonstrates once again that the path to a better future means a life and death struggle for the toiling masses, as those who lord over society will never willingly surrender their wealth and power.
Join us in commemorating the courage of the Hacienda Luisita mill & farm workers and supporters, and oppose the violation of workers’ rights.
Monday, November 16
6:30 pm, Victorian Trades Hall
Cnr Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton
Speaker – Rene Galang, President of United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU – one of the workers’ unions in Hacienda Luisita, Philippines)
Film Showing – “Sa Ngalan Ng Tubo” (In the Name of Sugar Cane) A documentary film on the struggle and the massacre of the workers and supporters at Hacienda Luisita, Central Luzon, Philippines.
For further information:
George Kotsakis – 1300 366 674
Reyvi Marinas – 0421 119776
AAWL – 9663 7277
Organised by: Migrante Melbourne
Endorsed and Supported by: Australia Asia Workers Links (AAWL), Philippines Australia Solidarity Association (PASA) and Gabriela Australia
While workers are the key to creating the world’s wealth circulating in society, they not only earn barely enough to subsist from one day to the next, they suffer from all forms of violence whenever they assert their basic right.
November 16 is not simply a sore point of commemoration of workers’ rights that are under attack, it has become a rallying cry to hold high the unfinished struggle of workers everywhere for justice and freedom. 16 November 2009 will mark the fifth-year anniversary of the infamous Hacienda Luisita Massacre during which seven striking farm workers, mill workers, and supporters were killed in a violent dispersal by police, military, and paid goons under the order of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s government. The day has since become a dark reminder of the ruthless repression workers are hit with when they take collective action not only in the Philippines, but in countries all over the world.
The right to humane conditions at work, fair wages and benefits, job security, freedom of association, the right to collectively bargain and to strike, self-determination, and the end of discrimination are not just legitimate demands of workers and the trade union movement, they are internationally recognized rights that should be enjoyed by everyone regardless of a country’s level of development.
