The Collective Labor Movement (abbreviated CLM) was a
trade union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
centre in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. The CLM was founded in and consisted of 76 radical and liberal trade unions.
[ Kurihara, Kenneth K. ]
Labor in the Philippine Economy
'. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1945. pp. 74–76 It represented a regroupment of the
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
sectors of the Filipino trade union movement.
CLM was the largest labour organization in the country in the years in the run-up to the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Shortly after the
May Day
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...
celebrations of 1938, 25 trade union leaders met in
Manila
Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
and agreed to form the CLM as a united organization. The founding meeting of the CLM was held on June 26, 1938. Three-thousand workers participated in the conference.
Represented unions included Katipunan ng mga Anak-Pawis sa Pilipinas, Katipunang Pambansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Pilipinas, Federacion Obrera de Filipinas, Aguman Ding Maldang Tagapagobra, the National Labor Union, National Employment Council, National Labor League, Philippine Chinese Labor Federation and Federacion Obrera de Industria Tabaquera de Filipinas.
The movement was inspired by the US
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of Labor unions in the United States, unions that organized workers in industrial unionism, industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in ...
.
The platform of the CLM advocated immediate and full independence of the Philippines, exposure of racketeering union officials, support of the social justice program of the Filipino government.
was elected president of the CLM at its founding meeting, whilst
Guillermo Capadocia
Guillermo Capadocia (1909–September 28, 1951) was a Filipino communist politician and labour leader. He was a prominent leader of the Communist Party in the Philippines (PKP) and different labour movements. During the last one and a half years ...
became the executive secretary. Other presidium members were Isabelo Tejada,
Pedro Abad Santos
Pedro Abad Santos y Basco (, ; January 31, 1876 – January 15, 1945) was a Filipino Marxist politician. He founded the Partido Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PSP) or Philippine Socialist Party in 1932. He ran for several local elections but never w ...
, Mateo del Castillo, Juan Feleo,
Luis Taruc
Luis Mangalus Taruc (; June 21, 1913 – May 4, 2005) was a Filipino people, Filipino political figure and rebel during the agrarian unrest of the 1930s until the end of the Cold War. He was the leader of the Hukbalahap group (from ''Hukbong B ...
, Pedro G. Castro, Antonio Paguia, Manuel Palacios, Manuel R. Joven, Mariano Ponce,
Florentino Tecson
Florentino D. Tecson (March 16, 1906 – September 11, 1962) was a Filipino Visayan lawyer, politician, editor, writer, and labor leader from Cebu, Philippines. He edited pre-war Cebuano periodicals such as '' Bag-ong Kusog'' and published his ow ...
, Mariano P. Balgos, Rufo Covacha, Luis Pilapil and Luis Adriano.
[Guevarra, Dante G. ]
History of the Philippine Labor Movement
'. Sta. Mesa, Manila: Institute of Labor & Industrial Relations, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, 1991. p. 61
Soon after the foundation of the CLM, right-wing trade union leaders began to condemn the organization as controlled by communists.
[Kurihara, Kenneth K. ]
Labor in the Philippine Economy
'. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1945. p. 79 In response to the founding of the CLM, the anti-communist trade unionists organized a convention in August 1938.
[Dennison, Eleanor. ]
Philippine Labor under the Commonwealth
', in ''Far Eastern Survey'', Vol. 7, No. 24 (December 7, 1938), pp. 277–282
References
{{Authority control
National trade-union centers of the Philippines
Trade unions established in 1938
1938 establishments in the Philippines