This motion was passed at a GUCU Branch meeting on 23/09/2024
This branch notes that:
- The All UP Academic Employees Union (AUPAEU) is the sole and exclusive negotiating agent of all rank and file academic employees of the University of the Philippines.
- Academics, scholars, researchers, and unionists in the Philippines have faced extensive state repression and persecution in the course of their work, particularly through practices such as “Red-tagging”, that is to say, accusing activists and others perceived to be critical of the state of being participants in the country’s ongoing insurgencies.
- Trade unionists and civil society activists in general face similar kinds of repression in the Philippines.
- The former president of AUPAEU was detained for trumped-up charges, but was later dismissed. Two lecturers and union members from UP Cebu were also victims of state harassment.
This branch believes that:
- All scholars and university workers have the right to pursue their work, research, and social advocacy without fear of persecution or state repression.
- All workers have the right to organise freely, through the organisational means of their choice, to defend their interests and rights at work without fear of persecution or state repression.
- As workers, it is the responsibility of each of us to stand up for the rights of all of us.
This branch resolves to:
- To work towards the establishment of a country-wide network of trade union branches in solidarity with our colleagues and fellow workers in the Philippines.
- To promote and raise awareness of the struggles of university workers in the Philippines within and beyond the Trade Union Movement.
- To contribute to practical solidarity efforts around legal costs and bail funds for our colleagues in the Philippines, whenever possible, when asked to do so. To extend initial financial support of £400 to support our comrades’ legal defence.