CAW along with KAIROS strongly condemns the rise of political killings in the Philippines. We urge the Government of the Philippines to stop the senseless killings of church people, human rights advocates, journalists, and political activists. Almost 100 activists, religious leaders, human rights defenders and trade union leaders have been killed since the beginning of this year. We ask you to take a moment and send letters to the Philippines embassy in your country. Your solidarity is needed in this moment of crisis.

We, the women workers sacked by Gate Gourmet, urge you to publicise our experiences

at the hands of the brutal management of this multinational corporation and their utter

disregard for our basic rights and dignity. We would also like to remind you that our struggle continues, and we need your support. Gate Gourmet is the worlds largest supplier of in-flight meals and operates in over 29 countries. Internationally, the company has been making profits of ฃ1.05bn and has assets of ฃ15 billion. In Britain, Asian women form the majority of the workforce, many of us - mothers and grandmothers are the sole wage earners for our families.

Our wages are o­n average between ฃ6.00 and ฃ7.00 an hour. We had been struggling for

one year to get the positions of those of us who were employed o­n a temporary basis

regularised. The management told us in January 2005 that they were planning to make

670 people redundant because they were surplus workers and negotiations had been going o­n over this between our union, the TGWU, and the management.

Today, we are deeply saddened and outraged by the report that a respected trade unionist has been brutally shot dead by unidentified gunmen o­n his way back from the picketline in Barangay Paciano, Calamba City, Philippines. Nestle Philippines Trade Union President Diosdado "Ka Fort" Fortuna was a committed trade union leader who has always been at the centre of the prolonged struggle with Nestle - the Swiss multinational giant company known for its speciality for union busting wherever it goes. Killings of trade union leader and human right activists are not rare in the Philippines under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo�s regime. In April 2003, two other activists, Eddie Gumanoy and Eden Marcellana were also murdered brutally.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) {Communist Party of India (Marxist)} congratulates the working class all over the country who responded in a big way to the general strike called by the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions. Millions of workers belonging to different sectors, both organised and unorganised, joined the strike in support of the 16-point charter of demands. The strike, apart from the industrial sector, extended to the banks, insurance, state government and central government employees.

Mass organisations of the peasantry, agricultural workers, women, youth and students have also conducted various protest actions in support of their demands and in solidarity with the strike.