These two pages of the VOICE reprints parts of a booklet made for hotel workers union in the Philippines by the International Union of Food and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF). The principles expressed in the booklet are identical to those of the ILWU. This tells us that workers and unions have the same goals no matter what country they live in.

Workers have learned that if they act alone they cannot achieve anything in terms of protecting themselves from the harmful acts of employers (such as arbitrary dismissal) or in securing better working conditions or in seeking the passage of laws protecting workers.

A worker soon finds himself utterly powerless and at the employer’s mercy. The prospect of termination from work hangs over him perpetually.

A worker’s situation is one of complete dependence on his wage or salary, which means his job. But the job can be given or taken away at the whim of the employer. The worker, therefore, becomes completely dependent on the employer’s goodwill. This means, the worker is not a free man. He has to serve his employer or he will starve.