ILPS-US stands in firm solidarity with the shared struggle of the ILWU workers and peasants and farmworkers in the Philippines against C&H Sugar and US Imperialism!
From Negros to Crockett, Put People Over Profit!
On June 15th, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 6 warehouse workers launched an indefinite strike at the California & Hawaii Sugar Refinery (C&H) in Crockett, CA, fighting against C&H attempts to retroactively strip retirees of their retirement medical benefits, eliminate overtime pay after 8 hours of work in a day, reduce the number sick days in half, and replace seniority with C&H dictated shift selection. Not only has C&H brought in scabs and private security, surveilled, fired, and retaliated against the striking workers, they have even replaced ILWU Local 10 longshore labor with a non-ILWU port in Richmond, CA dumping 8,000 Metric tons of sugar alongside poisonous elements such as coal, petroleum, and scrap metal.
It is clear that C&H prioritizes their profits over the livelihood of the workers and the health of consumers. ILWU workers, the Defend Negros Northern California Coalition, and other unions and organizations have militantly stood side by side with workers on the picket lines in demanding People Over Profit!
At the beginning of this bloody sugar supply chain is Negros Island in the Philippines, where generations of peasants and farmworkers have faced severe exploitation, landlessness, drought, starvation, and deadly repression. Known as the "sugarbowl" of the Philippines, Negros is where C&H sources tens of thousands of metric tons of sugar every year. C&H colludes directly with despotic landlords and corrupt millionaire and billionaire compradors like Lucio Tan and the Lopez family to monopolize the land for sugarcane production so farmers cannot grow their own food. They rely on the government's Armed Forces of the Philippines to repress farmers and residents demanding access to their land, decent livelihoods, and better working conditions to keep average wages extremely low - below $5 a day. Also known as the massacre capital of the country, Negros' history of killings was recreated on April 19-20 when the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) massacred 19 farmers, activists, journalists, and even children in the same region of Northern Negros where C&H sources its sugar - two killed included Filipino American human rights activists Lyle Prijoles from Hayward, CA and Kai Sorem from Seattle, WA.
C&H Has Blood On Its Hands!
C&H's bloody supply chain doesn't end with Negros and Crockett: it extends all over the world. C&H and its parent company, American Sugar Refining (ASR), are both owned by the the Cuban American Fanjul Family, which also owns Domino Foods, Redpath Sugar, Florida Crystals, Central Romana Corporation, and Tate & Lyle Sugars among other companies, with operations across the US, Mexico, Canada, the Dominican Republic, the UK, Belize, Portugal, and Italy. ASR and the Fanjul Family are the largest refiners of cane sugar in the world, controlling a monopoly in the industry. They have close ties with and donated millions of dollars to both the Democratic and Republican Party to conduct open corruption, gaining favorable business deals such as promises to add their cane sugar to Coke and the lifting of the importation ban of sugar from their Dominican Republic subsidiary over forced labor. Trump has even discussed his plans with the Fanjul Family to invade Cuba, thereby restoring their private ownership over Cuban people's sugar cane industry.
ILWU workers have pointed out that their issues do not just lie in combating this one corporation or family, but they lie in the political system which gives rise to the consolidation of wealth in a few monopolies, the emboldened attacks against workers' livelihoods, and wars abroad. This repressive and exploitative system is imperialism, and as workers identify the root of their common exploitation along the supply chain, working people from the colonies, semi-colonies, and capitalist countries must unite in solidarity and fight imperialism together as a militant workers movement!
All Workers Unite Against Imperialism!
