SYTIC workers fight continues as company plans to shutdown

 

The workers of Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC), a subcontractor for big US electronics companies and is based in the Philippines’ biggest export zone, are once more facing a fight in their exercise of freedom of association. After 18 workers earlier dismissed for union activities were reinstated as part of an agreement to end a five-day strike, the management of SYTIC is pushing through with the shutdown of the company. Last April 25, management filed for permanent closure.

The SYTIC labor union , which comprise a majority of the workers and is in the process of being certified as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent, asserts that the closure is illegal because it is intended to subvert the exercise of freedom of association and bust the union.

In response, the SYTIC union has called for negotiations with management about the impending closure and the reported takeover by its customer C-Pak Pte Ltd, a Singaporean company. Moreover the SYTIC union is calling for the absorption of the present employees into the new company, should the takeover push through. C-Pak Pte Ltd is owned by the group Dou Yee of Singapore.

The Labor Department has called for a conciliation meeting on April 28 in an affort to resolve the brewing labor dispute. In the meeting, the union will table its twin demand of absorption of the present employees and their participation in the transition talks between SYTIC and C-Pak. The union’s call to participate in the transition talks is in line with the provision of the Philippine Constitution that workers shall be afforded the right to participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits.

April 26, 2016

Workers reinstated in deal to end Cavite EPZA strike

The five day strike at an electronics subcon in the Cavite EPZA, the country’s biggest export zone, ended yesterday with the reinstatement of workers earlier fired for union activities. Striking workers of Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC) will go back to work next week, including eighteen illegally terminated employees, in a deal reached at a mediation meeting convened by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Two retrenched workers earlier accepted the separation offer of management and are not covered by the agreement.

“We will report for work with our heads held up and with our dignity as workers recognized. We owe this victory to the determination of our union members who paralyzed the operations of SYTIC for almost a week and forced management to accede to our just demand for reinstatement. We hope this is the start of management’s change of heart that it needs to give workers their due and respect their rights,” stated Frederick Bayot, president of the SYTIC workers union.

The striking SYTIC workers earlier threatened to escalate protests inside and outside the Cavite EPZA if their demands were not met. More than a hundred members of the partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) and the union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) occupied the DOLE office in Imus, Cavite while the mediation meeting was ongoing yesterday. While Thursday night the SYTIC strikers and their supporters marched around the export zone and hopped from one factory to another to solicit support from EPZA workers.

Union officers and members were fired by SYTIC management in an attempt to bust the union that was formed to address numerous workplace issues. SYTIC workers complained of wages that partly are not paid in cash but in the form of meals, illegal deduction on wages for company events, non-payment of overtime due to an illegal compressed workweek schedule, and the lack of a company nurse, doctor and hospital bed, as provided for in the Labor Code.

“We call on the DOLE to act on the complaint we earlier filed at the provincial office about labor standards violations at SYTIC to ensure that they are appropriately and promptly addressed,” Bayot insisted.

He added that “We also would not have won without the solidarity of fellow workers in other EPZA factories and labor groups like PM, PALEA and Sentro who extended moral and logistical support for our picketline. The workers united will never be defeated.”

SYTIC manufactures plastic products that provide protection to integrated circuits and electronic components from physical and electrostatic discharge during storage and shipping. Its three biggest customers are ON Semiconductor Philippines Inc. in Carmona, Cavite, Analog Devices General Trias Inc. in the Gateway Business Park in General Trias, Cavite and Texas Instruments factories in Baguio and Clark ecozones. All are local subsidiaries of US multinational companies. ON Semiconductor is a spinoff of Motorola. SYTIC also supplies to Cavite-based factories of local subsidiaries of US electronics companies Maxim Integrated and Cypress. It exports part of its production to C-Pak Cergas in Malaysia.

April 16, 2016

Back-to-back rallies held in support of strikers in Cavite EPZA

Protest rallies were held today and yesterday in support of the demand of striking workers in the country’s biggest export zone for the reinstatement of illegally fired employees. The strike entered its fifth day as the Department of Labor and Employment convened another mediation meeting today between the union and management of the strikebound Seung Yeun Techonology Industries Corp. (SYTIC).

“We demand the reinstatement of the SYTIC 21 who were terminated for their union activities and the redress of labor standards violations. If not then protests inside and outside the Cavite EPZA will escalate,” stated Frederick Bayot, union president of the SYTIC workers.

This morning more than 100 members of the partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) and the union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) staged a solidarity rally to express for the striking workers while the mediation meeting was ongoing. Last night the SYTIC strikers and their supporters marched around the export zone and hopped from one factory to another to solicit support from EPZA workers.

Union officers and members were fired by SYTIC management in an attempt to bust the union that was formed to address numerous workplace issues. SYTIC workers complained of wages that partly are not paid in cash but in the form of meals, illegal deduction on wages for company events, non-payment of overtime due to an illegal compressed workweek schedule, and the lack of a company nurse, doctor and hospital bed, as provided for in the Labor Code.

“We call on SYTIC’s customers to make good on their code of conduct pledge. These big electronics companies have promised to respect freedom of association and labor standards in their supply chains, which includes SYTIC,” urged Bayot.

The three biggest customers of SYTIC are ON Semiconductor Philippines Inc. in Carmona, Cavite, Analog Devices General Trias Inc. in the Gateway Business Park in General Trias, Cavite and Texas Instruments factories in Baguio and Clark ecozones. All are local subsidiaries of US multinational companies. ON Semiconductor is a spinoff of Motorola. SYTIC also supplies to Cavite-based factories of local subsidiaries of US electronics companies Maxim Integrated and Cypress. All these companies are members of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) which pledges to uphold freedom of association and labor standards in their companies and its supply chains.

In its website, EICC avers that it is “a nonprofit coalition of electronics companies committed to supporting the rights and wellbeing of workers and communities affected by the global electronics supply chain.” EICC members are bound and accountable to a “code of conduct.” The code is a set of standards on social, environmental and ethical issues in the electronics industry supply chain.

“Partido Manggagawa (PM) through its allies and contacts have made representation to the EICC and directly to SYTIC’s customers about the ongoing dispute. We ask that they respond in accordance with the provisions of the EICC code of conduct,” explained Dennis Sequena, a PM-Cavite coordinator.

Since the strike begun last Monday, strikers were joined at the picketline by supporters from PM, PALEA, the labor center Sentro and workers from nearby EPZA factories.

Advisory: Militants to rally today while DOLE mediates dispute in Cavite EPZA factory

Protest march around the Cavite export zone

MEDIA ADVISORY

April 15, 2016

Contact: Dennis Sequena @ 09301803072

Militants to rally while DOLE mediates dispute in Cavite EPZA factory

WHAT: Members of PM and PALEA to hold solidarity rally during mediation meeting called by DOLE between union and management of strikebound factory

WHEN: Today, April 15, 2016, 9:00 a.m.

WHERE: NCMB Imus @ MYP GBY Building, Bayan Luma 7, Aguinaldo Highway

DETAILS:  The Department of Labor and Employment is convening a mediation meeting today between the union and management of strikebound factory of Seung Yeun Technology Industries Corp. (SYTIC). To coincide with the meeting, more than a 100 members members of Partido Manggagawa and the union Philippine Airlines Employees Association will hold a solidarity rally to express support for the striking workers.

           Last night the SYTIC strikers and workers from other EPZA factories held a protest march around the country's biggest export zone.

The SYTIC workers are now on their fifth day on strike. They are demanding the reinstatement of 21 workers illegally fired for union activities and the redress of labor standards violations.

The workers formed a union in an effort to address workplace problems including violations of labor standards.  Among the most egregious violations are that part of their wages are not paid in cash but in the form of meals, illegal deductions, non-payment of overtime due to an illegal compressed workweek schedule and the lack of a company nurse, doctor and hospital bed.

SYTIC is a Korean-owned plastics company that is part of the electronics industry supply chain. SYTIC’s main customers are local subsidiaries of big US multinationals like ON Semiconductor, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Maxim Integrated and Cypress.