Workers of an electronics factory in the
Cavite ecozone are preparing to go on strike once more due to the mass
termination of all union officers. The all-women labor union at the Lakepower
Converter Inc. filed a notice of strike after mediation talks last Wednesday broke
down due to the refusal of management to reinstate eight union officers who
were terminated.
The Lakepower women workers went on a
five-month strike that started in December 2017 to demand a stop to the
harassment of union officers and members. The strike was settled last April due
to the intervention of the Department of Labor and Employment. As part of the
agreement, 64 union officers and members were to return to work.
“However, Lakepower reneged on the
agreement. It reinstated union members but immediately suspended union
officers. After a month-long suspension, they were then terminated. This is
obviously a case of union busting,” declared Rene Magtubo, chair of Partido
Manggagawa (PM), which is assisting the Lakepower women workers.
Lakepower is a Taiwanese-owned parts
supplier to global electronics companies like Recom Power, Arrow Electronics,
Asus and Texas Instruments. To avert another strike, the National Conciliation
and Mediation Board is calling the management and union to conciliation
meetings next week.
Magtubo asserted that union busting and
harassment of unionists in Lakepower is not an isolated case in the export
processing zones. Last week, PM condemned the posting of a “wanted list” of
unionists at the gate of the Mactan, Cebu Economic Zone and its security office.
Also last week, in the middle of negotiations for a collective bargaining
agreement (CBA), a union president and vice president were arrested due to a
criminal complaint in Valenzuela.
“We are alarmed at this disturbing
pattern of unionists being treated as criminals. Unionism is not a crime. But
with the prevailing culture of impunity, employers are emboldened to
criminalize unionists and treat them as terrorists,” asserted Magtubo. A global
union body had listed the Philippines as among the worst countries for workers
in its 2018 Global Rights Index.
Names and pictures of Myra Opada,
Luzelie Gesta and Aurelia Parangan were on the “wanted list” in the Mactan
ecozone. Opada is union president at Philippine Light Leather Corp. (PLLC),
Gesta is secretary of the union and Parangan is an active member. All three
have been terminated by PLLC management but the workers have filed cases of
union busting, unfair labor practice and illegal dismissal.
Meanwhile, the president and vice
president of the labor union at the Nation Paper Products and Printing Corp.
(NAPPCO) were arrested and detained at a Valenzuela police station for two
days. The CBA negotiations were cancelled as a result of the arrest and
detention.
July 6, 2018
