Ecozone workers slam “factory shutdown cum union busting”

Workers in the Cavite ecozone are slamming management schemes of busting unions by shutting down their factories. One garments factory temporarily shutdown last month and there are rumors of an electronics firm closing next month, both located at the Cavite Economic Zone in the town of Rosario.

However, workers are alleging that the shutdowns are motivated by union busting. On Monday, workers are holding a mass protest at the Cavite ecozone to highlight their demand for respect for freedom of association, and better wages and benefits.

“We call on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to intervene as these unfair labor practices by foreign capitalists are engendering workers discontent and labor disputes. Workers are unionizing to improve their working conditions but are being met by extreme interference from capitalists unwilling to share the fruits of production,” asserted Rene Magtubo, national chair of Partido Manggagawa (PM), which has been assisting the ecozone workers.

Last month, the garments factory Sein Together Phils. Inc. closed down and then reopen on October 23 according to a notice filed at the DOLE. However almost four hundred Sein Together workers have already been terminated after accepting a separation offer. Meanwhile at the electronics firm Lakepower Converter Inc., workers are concerned by stories from management personnel that it will shutdown temporarily next month. Starting this week, overtime was cancelled and workweek was reduced to only five days at Lakepower.

“The common denominator between Sein Together and Lakepower is that workers exercised their right to unionize so they could better their wages and working conditions. In the Korean-owned Sein Together, the response of management was to harass workers and force them to accept separation during the shutdown,” Magtubo explained.

Last month, media reported the exodus of Korean companies from the Philippines to Vietnam due allegedly to the high cost of doing business. Magtubo insisted though that some of the companies may just be relocating to avoid unionization.

He cited the case of Faremo International Inc., the biggest garments in the Cavite ecozone that shutdown in October last year, just four months after signing a collective bargaining agreement with the then newly-formed union. More than seven hundred workers were laid off because of the factory closure but the union maintained a picketline for three months inside the Cavite ecozone to demand the reopening of the factory. The dispute ended with the workers accepting an improved separation offer from Faremo, including the grant of sewing machines for a livelihood project.

Magtubo also mentioned the dispute at the Seung Yuen Technology Industries Corp., an electronics supplier at the Cavite ecozone that filed for closure after the workers voted yes to a  union in April 2016. After the union accepted an improved separation offer, the factory reopened immediately under a new name and with contractual and non-union workers.

“This modus operandi of closing a factory to bust the union and reopening under a new name is also practiced in the Mactan Cebu ecozone as can be gleaned from the very recent case of electronics factory Cebu Nisico Corp. Before negotiations with the union could begin, it shutdown last August, offered separation to almost 200 workers and then reopened after just two weeks with a new name,” Magtubo averred.

October 13, 2017

Months-long Cavite EPZA labor dispute settled

After more than three months, the labor dispute surrounding the closure of the biggest garments factory at the Cavite economic zone was finally settled. As the massive fire at the factory of the House Technology Industries burned last week, the management and union of Faremo International Inc. signed an agreement at the Cavite ecozone administration office to end the labor row.

“The deal provides for the rehiring of the workers if the factory reopens, a substantial financial assistance on top of the separation pay and the grant of several sewing machines for a livelihood project of the displaced employees. It was a resounding win for the workers,” declared Rene Magtubo, chairperson of Partido Manggagawa (PM).

PM assisted the Faremo workers in their months-long picketline inside the Cavite ecozone. Last October 26, some 1,000 workers of Faremo, majority of them women, were laid off when the factory closed down allegedly due to lack of orders. However, one of its customers, a major global garments brand, admitted that orders were increased not cancelled. This disclosure emboldened the resistance of the workers and bolstered the accusation of the union that the closure was illegal and meant to bust the union and break the collective bargaining agreement.

“Illegal closure is a weapon of last resort by employers in their union busting bag of tricks. Faremo is not the first and probably not the last. Last May, the Cavite ecozone electronics firm Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. filed for shutdown when its workers unionized but is still operating under a new name. The same modus operandi was done by the Mactan ecozone factory Blaze Manufacturing Corp. in 2011 to bust the two unions of its regular and contractual workers. We have reported these violations to the International Labor Organization Direct Contact Mission (DCM) that is in the Philippines at the moment,” Magtubo clarified.

The ILO DCM is a follow up to the High Level Mission conducted in 2009 to investigate the Philippine government’s violations of Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. The ILO DCM is holding a briefing this afternoon in Manila.

Jessel Autida, president of the Faremo labor union, said that “We owe this victory to the determination to fight of our members, and the solidarity of fellow trade unions and international labor rights advocates. We also thank our management for granting the demands of the union and even Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglungsod whose office patiently mediated the dispute until it was resolved.”

Autida revealed that the union will continue to exist as an organization for mutual aid and protection and to manage the garments production that they will undertake as a livelihood project. “We are asking the Department of Labor and Employment to help us in our garments making project. This is one way to sustain the livelihood of former Faremo employees and other displaced garments workers in the Cavite ecozone,” he explained.

The union has dismantled its picketline outside the Faremo factory and also withdrawn its pending cases at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board and the National Labor Relations Commission as part of the settlement agreement.

February 10. 2017

Cavite workers continue months-long picket as garments brand admits it didn’t cancel orders

As their labor dispute entered its third month, workers of the biggest garments factory at the Cavite economic zone vowed to win their fight against union busting. They have maintained a picketline outside the main gate of the factory Faremo International Inc. since 1,000 workers were laid off last October 27, 2016.

“Faremo shutdown allegedly due to lack of orders, a claim that has been debunked by the admission of its major client, the global garments brand Gap, that purchases have in fact been increased. We are not on strike and want to work but have been locked out. We have sustained a 24/7 picket at the factory to guard against machines being taken out of Faremo. We have survived Undas, Christmas and New Year on the picketline and we are ready for the Chinese New Year,” explained Jessel Autida, president of the Faremo workers union.

Gap made this public statement last November upon inquiry from international labor rights groups that are waging a solidarity campaign for Faremo workers. Faremo’s other customers, US-based companies JC Penney and Kohl’s, did not respond to letters. Faremo is owned by the Korean multinational Hansoll. [ [Gap's statement is posted at https://business-humanrights.org/en/philippines-faremo-intl-factory-closure-leaves-over-1000-without-work-union-suspects-shutdown-was-meant-to-suppress-organizing]

Autida insisted that “Since Faremo’s reason for closing has been exposed as lie, it is now obvious that the motive is to bust the union and destroy the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The CBA was concluded last June and just after four months the factory was shutdown.”

He explained that they formed a union in order to improve pay, benefits and working conditions and stop mistreatment like verbal abuse. Workers at Faremo, despite years of seniority, receive just the mandated minimum wage of P356.50, well below the daily cost of living which PM estimates at P1,100 per day. Pioneers at Faremo, who have worked since the factory started in 2003, receive just P1 higher than the rest of the workers.

“Faremo workers are paid so cheap they cannot buy the clothes they make yet Hansoll is a billion dollar global company. Hansoll declared USD 1.27 billion revenues in 2016 and targets a net profit of 10%,” Autida elaborated.

He added that “We also suspect that another garments factory in the Cavite ecozone is the runaway shop of Faremo. Both before and after Faremo’s closure, truckloads of machines were taken out and we know these equipment are now being used in this factory. Most of Faremo’s former managers have also transferred to this company.”

“Faremo’s spiriting way of machines is in violation of an agreement reached during mediation meetings called by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board and also of a Philippine Economic Zone Authority board resolution,” Autida averred.

January 20, 2017

Advisory: Possible confrontation today at Cavite ecozone picketline

Media Advisory

December 29, 2016

Contact Jessel Autida @ 09124749243

Possible confrontation today at Cavite ecozone picketline

Early this morning the management of the garments factory Faremo International Inc. at the Cavite ecozone in Rosario told workers at the picketline that two trucks loaded with machines will leave the factory today for shipment to Vietnam. The workers asserted that such will violate an agreement reached at the mediation meetings that no machines are to be taken out of the factory. The workers also asked for documents and permits for the shipment but none were presented by management.

Last December 16, a tense confrontation occurred when Faremo management also tried to spirit away machines. The PEZA police and industrial relations head Allan Datahan came to factory and threatened the workers with dispersal using a firetruck which was parked a corner away from the picketline. The workers insisted that the PEZA police cannot intervene in the dispute as per provisions of the DOLE-PNP-PEZA guidelines of 2011.

Tension at Cavite ecozone picketline

There was an hours-long standoff inside the Cavite economic zone in the town of Rosario yesterday as protesting workers stopped a container truck loaded with machines from leaving a dispute-bound factory. The tense situation ended only when the truck left early last night without its container load.

Workers of the garments factory Faremo International Inc. slammed its Korean owners for attempting to spirit away computerized sewing machines. They also condemned the industrial relations (IR) head of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority for conniving with management.

“We caught Faremo violating an agreement that it will not take out machines from the factory. Runaway shop is an unfair labor practice and illegal. Faremo closed down its organized factory to bust the union and is relocating to an unorganized plant whether in the Philippines or abroad,” averred Jessel Autida, president of the Faremo workers union.

Faremo is the biggest garments factory at the Cavite ecozone that shutdown last October 27 allegedly due to lack of orders, a claim that has been debunked by the admission of one of its clients that purchases have in fact been increased. Autida clarified that Faremo workers are not on strike and want to work but have been locked out. He explained that they are maintaining a 24/7 picket at the factory to guard against machines being taken out of Faremo.

Faremo is owned by the Korean multinational Hansoll and supplies to global garments brands Gap, JC Penney and Kohl’s. Faremo workers have been on the picketline for more than a month now. According to Autida, the union at Faremo was formed last year in a bid by workers to improve pay, benefits and working conditions and stop mistreatment like verbal abuse.

Autida also denounced PEZA IR official Allan Datahan and the PEZA police for threatening the protesting workers with criminal charges and dispersal using a firetruck for preventing the shipment of machines out of the factory.

He explained that “We are not scared with Datahan’s threats and we stood our ground for we are on the side of reason and law. It is Datahan and his PEZA police minions that are in breach of the DOLE-PNP-PEZA guidelines of 2011 that ban police, security guards and military from intervening in labor disputes.”

Meanwhile the militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) for the suspension of Datahan for his role in the tense standoff at the Faremo factory. “Once more Datahan, who is a public official, has been caught conniving with foreign investors who are trying to transgress our labor laws,” insisted Dennis Sequena, PM-Cavite coordinator.

December 16, 2016

Media Advisory: TENSE STANDOFF AT FAREMO PICKETLINE

ATM: TENSE STANDOFF AT FAREMO PICKETLINE

Contact Dennis Sequena @ 09301803072

A container van leaving the garments factory Faremo International Inc. (located at the Cavite export zone in Rosario, Cavite) was found full of computerized sewing machines after it was inspected by picketing workers. Two container vans had already left the factory earlier today.

Philippine Ecozone Authority (PEZA) labor relations head Allan Datahan and PEZA police came to the rescue, drove away supporters from the picketline, threatened the workers with charges for allegedly delaying the shipment and warned them that they would be dispersed by water from a firetruck. Workers stood their ground, insisting on an agreement last October during a Labor Department mediation that Faremo will not take out machines from the factory. The workers are also arguing that the police cannot meddle in a labor dispute as per provisions of the DOLE-PNP-PEZA Guidelines of 2011.

Faremo filed for closure last October due to alleged lack of orders and laid off some 1,000 workers. The workers alleges that the closure was meant to bust the union. A client of Faremo, the global garments brand Gap, has already admitted that it did not cancel orders and in fact, increased its purchase. Faremo also supplies to garments brands JC Penney and Kohl's. The union has been calling on Gap, JC Penney and Kohl's to remediate the code of conduct violations at their supplier factory Faremo.

High labor alert on--workers group

The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today declared that workers should be on high alert against violations of their rights during the holiday season. The group announced this as the PNP declared yesterday that the country is high terror alert.

“Wage theft and other labor rights abuse are a more pressing concern for workers rather than bombing threats from terrorist groups. First on the labor alert list are employers who plan to steal the 13^th month pay of their workers,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

PM reminded workers that all private sector employees, including contractuals and kasambahays, are entitled to receive the equivalent of 1/12 of their total basic pay for the calendar year no later than December 24 as entitlement.

“The only condition of the law is that workers have worked at least one month during 2016. Wag tularan ang mga abusadong kapitalista. Like the giant shipyard in Central Luzon, P100 is deducted from the 13^th month pay of its thousands of contractual workers for every day of absence within the year. Last month, an association of kasambahays estimate the half of domestic workers do not get 13^th month pay or the full amount due them,” Magtubo insisted.

He added that “Next on the labor alert list are employers who do not pay overtime and holiday pay even as they force workers to do extended work to meet production demand and rush deadlines. These abusive employers are wage thieves. Forced overtime is actually illegal and workers who refuse to work beyond eight hours should not be penalized.”

“We are also on the look out for companies who have closed down and trying to run away from their obligations to workers. They are Grinches stealing Christmas from workers. One example is VTCT Business Technology, a call center in Baguio City that suddenly closed last November 4 and left workers with at least one month unpaid wages. Another is a BPO company in Cebu City that shutdown abruptly a few days ago without paying its 213 employees two months of salaries,” Magtubo elucidated.

The group also cited the case of the garments firm Faremo International which shutdown in order to bust the union and whose workers will spend Christmas at the picketline in the Cavite economic zone. “Management filed for closure due to lack of orders but one of its clients, the global brand Gap, has already admitted that they actually increased purchases for this year. We call on Gap and Faremo’s other clients, JC Penney and Kohl’s, to act on the workers complaints according to the terms of their supplier code of conduct which mandates respect for the right to unionize,” Magtubo averred.

“Likewise on our list are employers who obstinately refuse to regularize their employees even as the DOLE issues praise releases about 25,000 contractuals allegedly made regular. Despite mediation by the DOLE, Philippine Airlines has resisted re-employing the PALEA 600 as provided by a settlement agreement. Meanwhile in the Cavite ecozone, a Japanese-owned electronics firm has snubbed a DOLE order to regularize hundreds of its contractual workers after being found guilty of labor-only contracting,” Magtubo stated.

He said that “Finally we are on heightened alert as the DOLE is set to issue this month a new order on contractualization. We warn the DOLE and the government against betraying its promise of ending endo by surrendering to the ‘win-win’ proposal of employers.”

December 2, 2016

Workers cry “End endo” and “Marcos Hindi Bayani” in Bonifacio Day rallies

Several thousand workers marched in key cities today to commemorate Bonifacio Day, demand a ban on contractualization and protest the hero’s burial of Marcos.

The nationwide rallies led by the labor coalition Nagkaisa were billed as a “National Day of Action Vs. Endo.” Partido Manggagawa (PM) together with other labor groups rejected the so-called “win-win” solution on contractualization and pushed for an “end endo” formula of prohibition of subcontracting of regular jobs.

“The misnamed win-win scheme proposed by employers, and promoted by the Trade and Labor Departments will not end endo. It is a scam that will lead to the utter proliferation of outsourcing and contracting out of regular jobs by the principal employers,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Member groups of Nagkaisa marched from Welcome Rotonda to Morayta where it held a program. Militant workers then joined other groups for another rally around noon at Mendiola to register labor’s condemnation of the surprise hero’s burial for Marcos. Labor organizations later participated in the broad protest at the People Power Monument called by the Coalition Against the Marcos Burial.

In Cebu City, workers marched from downtown Colon to Plaza Independencia. Industrial and sugar workers rallied at the Bacolod marker Araneta. In Davao City, workers marched from the Freedom Park to the Bonifacio Monument. 

To express labor’s twin demands, PM highlighted the slogan “Ilibing ang kontraktwalisasyon hindi ang kasalanan ni Marcos.” Magtubo averred that “Students have already made their stand known. Today workers voiced out too their position on the burning issues of our country.”

“A hero’s burial for the late dictator is a stepping stone for the return to power of another Marcos. We can’t move on to a future where the occupant of Malacanang is an unrepentant member of a family that pillaged the public treasury and burdened generations with debt,” he added.

Magtubo argued that “President Duterte is accountable for this mockery of justice. He is in fact simply paying a debt, probably not of gratitude. Duterte’s newfound respect for the letter of the law in the case of Marcos’ burial contrasts with his utter disregard for due process and human rights for most everything else, including the execution of a bloody war on drugs.”

November 30, 2016

Workers to Sec. Bello: Is DOLE really ending endo?

 

Restless over the likelihood of getting a watered down rules governing the conduct of contractualization, members of Palea, Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Church-Labor Conference (CLC) held another rally Wednesday at the DOLE offices in Intramuros Manila.  The action is part of Nagkaisa labor coalition’s week-long protest to demand an end to all forms of contractualization.

 

The rally coincides with the holding of another mediation conference between PAL and PALEA on the long-delayed implementation of the flag carrier’s commitment to re-employ Palea members under the 2013 Settlement Agreement. Said agreement ended the labor dispute over the massive outsourcing program unleashed by PAL in 2011.

 

Also on Thursday, the last leg of regional labor summits will be concluded in Cebu and after which, a new Department Order on endo is expected to be issued by DOLE.  

 

Partido Manggagawa Chair, Renato Magtubo, said consultations were already conducted where diametrically opposed positions between labor and capital were laid down. “Now is the time for the government to take side. Kaninong panig ba ang mas papaboran ng gubyerno? Ang end endo para sa manggagawa o ang win-win solution para sa kapitalista?”

 

According to Magtubo, a Department Order that deviates from the Labor Summit’s position on endo is unacceptable.  “The President has even threatened to kill endo lords. How can a new DO go softer than the President’s order of licking the plague of endo?”

 

Workers are apprehensive of DOLE’s likely preference for win-win solution due to the strong lobby of business groups, including the service providers/contractors who made big bucks under the previous regime of legalized contractualization and outsourcing.

 

“DOLE has a very bad record in regulating endo, hence, a stricter rule for prohibition is the best option to pursue,” said Magtubo. 

 

On his part Palea President, Gerry Rivera, said a decisive and conclusive government push for the implementation of PAL-PALEA Settlement Agreement on endo can serve as preview to the resoluteness of the administration’s anti-endo campaign.

 

“Limang taon na kaming nasa labas gayung kami ay dapat regular na empleyado ng PAL hanggang sa kasalukuyan. Hangad din namin ay hustisya dahil daig pa namin ang natokhang,” lamented Rivera.

 

Other than PALEA, there were also cases pending before DOLE that need immediate resolutions, especially those which are related to endo.

November 16, 2016

Advisory: Workers protest at DOLE today as buildup to national day of action vs endo:

Media Advisory

Contact: Rene Magtubo (PM Chair) 09178532905

Today, Nov. 16 (Wednesday), 10:00 am: Labor groups to rally at DOLE Intramuros

Workers are set to escalate protests as they call for an end to endo o contractualization. The DOLE is set to release by the end of the year a new order to regulate the practice of contractualization and labor groups are calling on the agency to prohibit contractualization of regular jobs, including outsourcing. The protests this week are a buildup to a national day of action later this month.

The rally today at the main office of the DOLE will include groups Partido Manggagawa, Church-Labor Coalition and PALEA.

A national day of action to end endo is set later this month.

Advisory: Workers protest vs. endo: At NCMB Cavite today, DOLE Intramuros tom

Media Advisory

Contact:

Dennis Sequena (PM Cavite) 09301803072

Rene Magtubo (PM Chair) 09178532905

Today, Nov. 15 (Tuesday), 2:00 pm:

Cavite workers to rally at NCMB Imus 

Tomorrow, Nov. 16 (Wednesday), 10:00 am: Labor groups to rally at DOLE Intramuros

Nov. 18 (Friday): Labor summit in Cebu City 

Workers are set to escalate protests as they call for an end to endo o contractualization. The DOLE is set to release by the end of the year a new order to regulate the practice of contractualization and labor groups are calling on the agency to prohibit contractualization of regular jobs, including outsourcing. The protests this week are a buildup to a national day of action later this month.

The protest today will be led by workers of the Faremo International Inc., the biggest garments company in the Cavite ecozone. Faremo workers are accusing management of union busting and planning to replace regular workers with contractual employees when the factory reopens.

The rally tomorrow at the main office of the DOLE will include groups Partido Manggagawa, Church-Labor Coalition and PALEA.

Gap does not confirm claim of lack of orders for Faremo’s closure

In Gap’s response regarding the labor dispute over the permanent closure of its supplier factory Faremo International Inc., it cites that the mother company Hansoll made such a “business decision” due to its “global business strategy.” This is in glaring contradiction to the allegation of Faremo management that it shutdown due to lack of orders from its buyers, among them Gap.

The legality of Faremo's closure is contingent on the veracity of its claim that it lacks orders from Gap, among others. In its notice of closure, in the mediation hearings, and in its meetings with the union, and even in Faremo general manager's letter to PM--they all say that Faremo lacks orders.

Now Hansoll says Faremo's closure is part of "global business strategy." This is in conflict with this claim of lack of orders. Gap is silent on the claim that they don't have any more orders from Faremo or Hansoll.

This lends credence to the assertion of the Faremo labor union that there are orders and yet Hansoll closed Faremo in order to bust the one-year old union and destroy the collective bargaining agreement concluded five months ago.

The Faremo labor union calls on Gap to remediate the violations of its supplier Faremo according to the provisions of its code of conduct. The complaints of the Faremo labor union of union busting and blacklisting of unionists are in breach of Gap’s commitment to respect freedom of association and non-discrimination.

Further the Faremo labor union wishes to inform Gap that the Faremo management had already notified its workers it will not pay their wages from Oct. 27 to Nov. 21 because of the “no work, no pay” principle even though it filed a notice of permanent closure only on Oct. 21 and thus is obligated to pay workers up to Nov. 21 based on the 30-day notice rule.

Finally, the Faremo labor union seeks to notify Gap that Faremo continues to operate to this day as admitted by management in the latest mediation hearing of Nov. 8. Although most workers were locked out on Oct. 26, scores of workers are still entering the factory to work. Faremo declared in the mediation that all work will cease only on Nov. 12.

November 10, 2016

Workers call on PEZA to suspend Cavite officer

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the newly appointed head of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Charito Plaza to suspend its Industrial Relations Department chief Allan Datahan for harassing workers who held a protest march yesterday. PM has learned that the PEZA Board is having a meeting today.

“We call on PEZA Director General Plaza to suspend Datahan for violating the terms of the DOLE-PNP-PEZA guidelines of September 2011 which protects the right of workers’ to freedom of assembly and expression during labor disputes,” asserted Dennis Sequena, coordinator of PM’s Cavite chapter.

The group averred that yesterday some 100 workers of Faremo International Inc. marched from their picketline to the main gate of the Cavite ecozone but was told to stop by PEZA police and ecozone security guards led by Datahan. When the marchers proceeded with the protest against union busting and contractual work, Datahan said to Faremo union president Jessel Autida they will not be allowed back in to the ecozone. After the protest, Faremo workers who tried to enter the Cavite ecozone were barred by guards at the gates.

Faremo is biggest garments factory at the Cavite ecozone that shutdown last October 27 allegedly due to lack of orders. “Management however has not shown any piece of paper to support its claim of lack of orders. Instead we believe that Faremo’s closure is a ruse to bust the union and replace regular workers with contractual employees,” Autida argued.

Sequena stated that “Datahan has a track record of violating workers’ rights. Earlier this year, in a labor dispute at the Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC), an electronics subcon at the Cavite ecozone, he interrogated a worker for her union activities. Later in a dialogue with SYTIC workers, he refused their request for a counsel, threatened them with cases for trespassing and negotiated with them as if he was a representative of management.”

He added “Further, SYTIC exposes the modus operandi of union busting via illegal closure that Datahan has mastered. SYTIC filed a notice of closure last April to force workers who had formed a union to accept separation pay. Yet the SYTIC factory is still operating today but under a new name and with agency employees.”

Autida clarified that Faremo workers are not on strike and want to work but have been locked out. He explained that they are maintaining a 24/7 picket at the factory to guard against machines being taken out of Faremo. According to Autida, the union at Faremo was formed last year in a bid by workers to improve pay, benefits and working conditions and stop mistreatment like verbal abuse.

“When Faremo first broached that they may shutdown temporarily and layoff workers, the union responded by proposing that work be rotated so that workers need not be retrenched. But such doable measures from the union fell on management’s deaf ears. It replied with a hardline position—close the factory and bust the union,” Autida said.

November 8, 2016

Laidoff workers march at Cavite harassed by PEZA

A protest march by laidoff workers of the biggest garments factory at the Cavite export processing zone pushed through today despite harassment by representatives of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

Some 100 workers of Faremo International Inc. marched from their picketline to the main gate of the Cavite ecozone but was told to stop by PEZA police and ecozone security guards led by PEZA industrial relations department head Allan Datahan. When the marchers proceeded with the protest, Datahan said to union president Jessel Autida they will not be allowed back in to the ecozone.

“We decry the harassment by the local PEZA of our peaceful protest against union busting and contractual work. The DOLE-PEZA-PNP guidelines of September 2011 explicitly protects the right to peaceful assembly and expression of workers involved in labor disputes,” Autida insisted.

The Faremo workers were met at the Cavite ecozone main gate by scores of supporters from community organizations and chapters of Partido Manggagawa (PM) where they held a program. Tomorrow another mediation meeting is scheduled by the DOLE-NCMB in Imus, Cavite to resolve the Faremo dispute.

“Faremo is shutting down to get rid of the union but will open again but with endo workers. This is not the first and last time that this union busting scheme was done by companies at the Cavite EPZA,” asserted Autida.

Autida cited the recent case of Seung Yuen Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC) which filed a notice of closure last April to force workers who had formed a union to accept separation pay but which is presently still in operation with agency employees. SYTIC is a Korean-owned plastics company that supplies to eletronics factories. [See DOLE-NCMB record at http://co.ncmb.ph/ncmb-region-iv-a-settles-dispute-at-seung-yeun-technology-industries-corp/?print=pdf]

Autida clarified that Faremo workers are not on strike and want to work but have been locked out. He explained that they are maintaining a 24/7 picket at the factory to protest the illegal closure and union busting, and to guard against machines being taken out of Faremo. According to Autida, the union at Faremo was formed last year in a bid by workers to improve pay, benefits and working conditions and stop mistreatment like verbal abuse.

“Faremo has not presented any evidence to back its allegation that it lacks orders from its customers and so has to shutdown. It is just feigning lack of customers and financial losses. Thus we suspect that Faremo will reopen using workers who are contractual and without a union,” averred Autida.

He added that “Faremo declared multimillion losses from 2011 to 2013 without ever shutting down. But just months after a collective bargaining agreement with the union was concluded last May, it suddenly closes.”

“When Faremo first broached that they may shutdown temporarily and layoff workers, the union responded by proposing that work be rotated so that workers need not be retrenched. But such doable measures from the union fell on management’s deaf ears. It replied with a hardline position—close the factory and bust the union,” argued Autida.

The management of Faremo filed a notice for permanent closure in October 21. In response the labor union filed a union busting complaint. Faremo is a subsidiary of the Korean textile multinational company Hansoll and supplies to global garments brands. ###

Protests of the protest march can be accessed at:

https://www.facebook.com/reynalin.coronel/posts/2149988331893412?pnref=story

https://www.facebook.com/gina.ensano/posts/1290918490981012?pnref=story

November 7, 2016

Advisory:Workers to march at Cavite EPZA today

MEDIA ADVISORY

November 7, 2016

Contact: Dennis Sequena @ 09301803072

Workers to march at Cavite EPZA today

WHAT: Protest march by labor groups and workers of Faremo International, a Cavite EPZA garments factory that shutdown and laidoff 1,000 workers

WHEN: Today, Monday, November 7, 2016, 8:00 am

WHERE: Main gate (Gate 1) of the Cavite ecozone, Rosario town

DETAILS:  Community groups will hold today a solidarity rally outside the main gate of the Cavite Economic Zone (EPZA). They will be joined by workers of the garments factory Faremo International Inc. who will march from the Cavite EPZA.

The workers are demanding the reopening of Faremo as they assert that the closure is just a union busting manuever and a scheme to replace regular workers with contractual or endo employees. The workers have asked management to present proof of lack of orders but Faremo has not presented any.

The Faremo workers have been on picketline for the second week. Some 1,000 workers were laidoff last October 27 as the factory shutdown and have been locked out.

Another mediation meeting is scheduled on Tuesday, November 8, to resolve the dispute surrounding the closure of the biggest garments factory at Cavite EPZA.

The union is alleging that the closure is illegal since it is meant to bust the union and destroy the CBA. Early last month, management filed for temporary closure and the union proposed work rotation to preserve jobs and prevents layoffs. Management ignored the proposal and responded with the permanent closure.

Faremo is owned by the Korean textile multinational Hansoll and supplies to global garments brands. A union was formed by workers at Faremo last year in a bid to redress grievances such a low pay, verbal abuse and lack of benefits. A collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was concluded just last May. ###

Workers to Donald Dee: Is ECOP an organization of madmen?

“In today's business environment, there is no such thing as permanent employment.  If they push that, no madman would do business here.”

 

For expressing this view, a worker’s group has turned the table against Donald Dee, the head of Employers' Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), who also has threatened to bring the government to court once it forces companies to make their employees regular or permanent.

 

“ECOP is in business and when Donald Dee said no madman would do business here without endo, it also goes to show that ECOP is, in essence, an organization of madmen.  If that is so, the more the need for the government to take the side of labor,” countered Partido Manggagawa (PM) Chair Renato Magtubo.

 

According to Magtubo:  “Endo or contractualization in its many form is an epidemic that must be purged to save the present and future generation of workers from sinking deeper into the gulf of terminal marginality.”

 

As to Dee’s threat to bring the government to court, Magtubo said: “ECOP should not make the courts its battlefield on endo.  It’s a policy issue.  You shouldn’t bother the court to resolve the issue on whether workers have the right to live a life of dignity over the right of capital to a fair return.”

 

Labor and business are at loggerheads over this issue as the government of President Duterte made it a pledge to end the pervasive practice of endo in the workplace.  The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is soon to come out with a new Order in place of the much criticized DO 18-A that regulates contracting and third party sub-contracting practices.  

 

PM likewise noted that pending bills in the House and in the Senate are more for regulation of allowable contracting rather than on prohibition.

 

Echoing the resounding and unanimous position of the October 17 Labor Summit, Partido Manggagawa under the Nagkaisa labor coalition, is for total prohibition of all forms of contractualization and fixed-term employment. 

 

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), however, is more inclined with the business proposal for a “win-win solution” which prescribes regularization done by third party service providers (manpower agencies and cooperatives) and not by principal companies -- a prescription vehemently opposed by labor.

 

PM is urging DOLE and Congress to principally consider the weight of the position taken by the Labor Summit. 

 

“A good policy may also mean an end of contract with madmen,” concludes Magtubo.

November 3, 2016