May 1 is international workers' day
in many parts of the world and will be a key day for the "Play
Fair" campaign in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
India, Netherlands, Sweden and many other countries.
In the Philippines the Workers' Assistance Centre were
involved in organising a range of exciting street events.
At 6.30am on May 1 the Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW)
cultural group, the Teatro Magdiwang, set off fireworks
and lead chants and songs outside the Cavite Export Processing
Zone gate. From there the action moved to the market place
of Rosario, Cavite where a street play regarding the "Play
Fair" campaign was performed. There were also marches
and speeches in the afternoon as part of the May 1 campaign.
Working conditions at Cavite, including repression of trade
unions and low wages, were described in detail in Naomi
Klein's book "No Logo" and in a recent ICFTU briefing
(http://www.icftu.org/).