Plastics workers decry coercion on tariff issue

Workers of plastics manufac—turers are complaining that they are being coerced and harassed by their employers into signing a petition to demand a lowering of tariffs on petrochemical and plastics products, according to Carlito Rallistan, president of the Association of Democratic Labor Organizations (ADLO), whose members include some plastics workers unions.

Rallistan said the petition reportedly authored by the Philippine Plastics Industry Association (PPIA) is now being routed in various plastics factories in Metro Manila, particularly in Valenzuela City where most of them are situated.

"According to reports relayed to us, the plastics workers are being forced by their management to sign the petition which calls for the lowering of tariffs on petro—chemical and plastics products, which ironically will bring in more imports," Rallistan said. The petition calls for lowering of tariffs on petrochemical products to only five percent.

Rallistan said the position paper is an apparent attempt by the PPIA to counter an earlier position of the plastics workers unions allied under the Plastics Unions Labor Alliance (PULA) which called for an equal rate of tariffs at 15 percent for both petrochemical and plastics imports. PULA argued a 15-15 percent tariff parity between the two sectors will allow the survival of the local petrochemical and plastics industry, and prevent the flood of imports that could cause the demise of the industry and the loss of jobs by its workers.

Rallistan warned the coercian employed by management of plastics plants for their workers to sign the petition could trigger unrest in the plastics sector. The petition being circulated for signing by the workers cites similar arguments earlier con—tained in a series of paid adver—tisements by the PPIA, which called for a reversal of the position of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to postpone tariff reduc—tions on resins.

The President had earlier directed Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II to invoke a protocol under the Asean Free Trade Area-Common Effective Preferential Tariff (AFTA-CEPT) to defer tariff reductions on petrochemicals, currently at 15 percent, to allow the four-year old industry to develop and strengthen before being subjected to full libera—lization. Under the AFTA-CEPT, tariffs on a wide range of products will be lowered to a uniform rate of from zero to five percent.

Plastics products, however, are slapped only five percent tariffs, creating a distortion when ranged with tariffs on petrochemicals. To correct the distortion and preserve their jobs, the workers under PULA have petitioned for an increase in tariff rates at 15 percent for finished plastics products while maintaining the current level of resin tariffs also at 15 percent.

The position of the organized plastics workers is in contrast with the PPIA, whose members are owners of plastics manufacturing firms, which is advocating for a reversal of the decision of the President to defer tariff cuts on petrochemicals.