BBM asked to demand reinstatement of visas of deported Pinoy seafarers

 

The militant group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the administration of President Bong Bong Marcos, Jr. to act on the continued deportations by the US of Filipino seafarers working on cruise ships. A total of 127 have been deported on trumped up charges of child pornography according to the US-based Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), which is spearheading the effort to support the Filipino seafarers.

 

“BBM should stand up to Donald Trump and fight for the rights of Filipino seafarers by demanding the reinstatement of their revoked working visas. Our kababayans are simply trying to earn a living but have fallen victim to Trump’s war on immigrants and migrant workers,” stated Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.

 

In the latest incident documented by PWC, four Filipino crew of the cruise ship Jewel of the Seas that was docked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and then deported. Deportation meant that their US working visas were revoked and they could not return to the US for 10 years.

 

Earlier on August 23, two Filipinos along with one Indonesia crew of the cruise ship Carnival Sunshine were taken for questioning by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The two Filipinos were released but not after being subjected to questioning for purported possession of child pornography videos on their cell phones. After this incident a wave of arrests and deportations followed.

 

According to PWC, the following were the latest incidents:

 

• July 9 & 11, 2025 – 13 Filipinos deported from Victory I and Victory II cruise ships, home port: Chicago’s Navy Pier.
• August 23, 2025 – 3 Filipinos from Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, port: Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
• August 30, 2025 – 4 individuals arrested (3 Filipinos and 1 Serbian), with 1 Filipino confirmed deported, Carnival Sunshine, Norfolk, Virginia.
• September 1, 2025 – 4 Filipinos deported from Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, port: Port Canaveral, Florida.
• September 6, 2025 – 4 Carnival Sunshine crew members deported, Norfolk, Virginia.
• September 7, 2025 – 5 deported (4 Filipinos and 1 Indonesian) from Carnival Pride, port: Baltimore, Maryland.
• September 14, 2025 – 1 Filipino deported from Carnival Sunshine, Norfolk, Virginia.
• September 26, 2025 - 4 Filipinos deported from Jewel of the Seas, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

 

PM has been coordinating with PWC to extend solidarity with the Filipino seafarers. PM member and lawyer Ian Seruelo is assisting on the US side while PM organizers are helping the cause of Filipino seafarers who have been deported back to the Philippines.

 

“The case of Korean migrant workers reveal that it is possible to stand up to Trump,” according to Miranda. Some 300 Korean workers employed in a Korean-owned electric vehicle battery factory were arrested by officers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in early September in Georgia, USA. This became a big issue in Korea because the workers who were deported were handcuffed and detained for hours. Korean businesses threatened to hold their investments in the US and as a result, the Trump administration apologized and promised to not blacklist the workers.

 

Miranda concluded that “Migrant workers in the US—whether Filipinos or Koreans—are being treated like criminals by the Trump regime. We call on migrant-sending countries to come together in defense of workers’ rights.”

 

Group slams DOLE intervention to stop strike at power plant

The group Partido Manggagawa slammed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for imposing an assumption of jurisdiction (AJ) order that stopped the union at the KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation) Cebu coal power plant from staging a work stoppage. The union has been deadlocked in its collective bargaining (CB) negotiations with the company.

 

“The DOLE’s AJ is favorable to the company as it prevents workers from exercising leverage to achieve its reasonable demands. Moreso, DOLE violated its own DO 40-H-13 in imposing an AJ without the following the required procedure. Both KEPCO and DOLE are pasaway (misbehaving) labor relations actors!,” stated Dennis Derige, union organizer of SENTRO and spokesperson for the PM chapter in Cebu.

 

The KEPCO union is an affiliate of SENTRO and its members voted overwhelmingly for a strike, as required by law. DOLE’s AJ was handed down on the eve of the planned strike . “Since the union could not legally go on strike, KEPCO remains hardline in its bargaining position as it felt relieved of the pressure of an impending work stoppage,” Derige added.

 

The deadlocked CB provisions included wage increase, medical allowance, signing bonus, union security, grievance procedures, agency fees and the formation of a just transition committee composed of the union and management.

 

Derige explained that “None of the union’s economic and political demands are controversial or excessive. In fact, the union has shown flexibility by reducing its initial demands. But KEPCO—despite being stable and profitable—has been intransigent and just disrespects the union.”

 

He added that DOLE DO 40-H-13 requires that an AJ can only be ordered if either both parties requested for an AJ or the DOLE first called for a conference of the two parties prior to the issuance of the AJ. Derige said that neither of these two conditions were satisfied.

 

According to latest information posted on the National Conciliation and Mediation Board’s website, the DOLE has already issued three AJ’s as of February this year. In comparison seven AJs were imposed for the whole year of 2024. The Philippine government has been the subject of complaints to the International Labour Organization for its indiscriminate use of AJs that results in the effective prohibition of the right to strike, aside from the killings of trade unionists and other forms of repression of the freedom to unionize.

April 4, 2025

Workers ask gov’t to reopen factory to make facemasks

Sejung factory gate is padlocked on April 10, 2020

Workers of a garments firm that has been shuttered for the past four months are asking the government to reopen the factory to produce facemasks. Sejung Apparel Inc., a Korean-owned firm in the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) in Dasmarinas, was shutdown in December last year.

“The Bayanihan Act gave the government the power to direct the operations of a company to respond to the covid pandemic. Thus we demand that 315 Sejung employees be put back to working to make PPE’s that are desperately needed at this time,” stated Jopay Odchimar, president of the labor union of Sejung workers.

She added that “We want to help others even as we lift ourselves by our own efforts. The government should not think twice about our appeal to reopen the factory and retool it for making washable facemasks.”

Last April 10, officials of the FCIE padlocked the factory gates.

The DOLE has rejected the application for assistance to Sejung workers since the factory shutdown was not due to the covid quarantine. Ironically, the Sejung workers are also not qualified for the social amelioration for informal workers since they are technically still employed by the company.

Sejung workers have been embroiled in a long-running dispute since last year. The labor dispute is due to non-payment of 13^th month pay, last salary and union busting.

Sejung declared temporary shutdowns several times. The first shutdown in October last year occurred just one week after the union submitted a collective bargaining proposal and just three weeks after the union won a certification election. The company reopened but once more closed in December 12 and has remained shutdown since then.

“For more than four months, the DOLE provincial and regional offices did not act on a clear case of labor standards violation despite undertaking an inspection in December 19. The case has dragged on for so long that the covid pandemic and the resulting quarantine further aggravated the sufferings of workers,” Odchimar explained.

April 13, 2020

Police disperse picketline using lockdown as alibi

A picketline of economic zone workers in Dasmarinas, Cavite was dispersed last night using the lockdown as an alibi. From 8:00 to 9:00 pm last night, two Dasmarinas police backed up with scores of tanods of Barangay Langkaan 1 and 2 and security guards threatened two workers in the picketline, Jackie Elorde and Amer Taluba, with arrest if they will not leave the picketline. Workers of Korean-owned Sejung Apparel Inc. in the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) have been on picket-protest since December for non-payment of 13^th month pay and other violations.

“We condemn the forcible dispersal of the picketline of Sejung workers in the dead of Black Friday night by modern Roman centurions—police, barangay tanods and security guards—in blatant violation of the law,” asserted Jopay Odchimar, president of the labor union of Sejung workers.

She asserted that the DOLE-PNP-PEZA Guidelines of 2011 and the expanded version of 2012 which specifically includes barangay tanods prohibit interference by any security personnel in labor disputes. “The guidelines and labor rights are not revoked or suspended just because a quarantine is in effect,” Odchimar insisted.

She added that “The dispersal is the culmination of a three-week long attempt by FCIE to harass and starve Jackie and Amer into submission. Since March 27, all attempts to bring food and water to Jackie and Amer were stopped by security guards allegedly upon orders of FCIE estate manager Raffy Malanyaon. Guards maintained a 24/7 cordon sanitaire around the picketline in violation of the guidelines which mandate that police, military and guards should be 50 meters away and not interfere in peaceful picketing.”

“For more than four months, the Department of Labor and Employment provincial and regional offices did not act on a clear case of labor standards violation despite undertaking an inspection. The case has dragged on for so long that the covid pandemic and the resulting quarantine further aggravated the sufferings of workers,” Odchimar explained.

The labor dispute is due to non-payment of 13^th month pay, last salary and union busting. Sejung declared temporary shutdowns several times. The first shutdown in October last year occurred just one week after the union submitted a collective bargaining proposal and just three weeks after the union won a certification election. The company reopened but once more closed in December and has remained shutdown since then.

April 11, 2020

Group condemns dispersal of picketline using lockdown as alibi

 The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the dispersal of a picketline of economic zone workers in Dasmarinas, Cavite last night. From 8:00 to 9:00 pm last night, two Dasmarinas police backed up with scores of tanods of Barangay Langkaan 1 and 2 and security guards threatened two workers in the picketline, Jackie Elorde and Amer Taluba, with arrest if they will not leave the picketline. Workers of Korean-owned Sejung Apparel Inc. in the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) have been on picket-protest since December for non-payment of 13^th month pay and other violations.

“We condemn the forcible dispersal of the picketline of Sejung workers in the dead of Black Friday night by modern Roman centurions—police, barangay tanods and security guards—in blatant violation of the law,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He asserted that the DOLE-PNP-PEZA Guidelines of 2011 and the expanded version of 2012 which specifically includes barangay tanods prohibit interference by any security personnel in labor disputes. “The guidelines and labor rights are not revoked or suspended just because a quarantine is in effect,” Magtubo insisted.

He added that “The dispersal is the culmination of a three-week long attempt by FCIE to harass and starve Jackie and Amer into submission. Since March 27, all attempts to bring food and water to Jackie and Amer were stopped by security guards allegedly upon orders of FCIE estate manager Raffy Malanyaon. Guards maintained a 24/7 cordon sanitaire around the picketline in violation of the guidelines which mandate that police, military and guards should be 50 meters away and not interfere in peaceful picketing.”

“For more than four months, the Department of Labor and Employment provincial and regional offices did not act on a clear case of labor standards violation despite undertaking an inspection. The case has dragged on for so long that the covid pandemic and the resulting quarantine further aggravated the sufferings of the workers,” Magtubo explained.

The labor dispute is due to non-payment of 13^th month pay, last salary and union busting. Sejung declared temporary shutdowns several times. The first shutdown in October last year occurred just one week after the union submitted a collective bargaining proposal and just three weeks after the union won a certification election. The company reopened but once more closed in December and has remained shutdown since then.

April 11, 2020

Strikers being starved using covid lockdown as cover

Workers of garments factory Sejung Apparel Inc. have been on picket-protest since December. In recognition of the need to maintain social distancing, the number of people at the picketline was reduced by the union. From March 27 until today, all attempts to bring food and water to Jackie Elorde and Amer Taluba, the two workers at the picketline, have been stopped by security guards.

Sejung Apparel is a Korean-owned garments factory at the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) in Dasmarinas, Cavite (part of the industrial region just outside the capital Metro Manila). Guards have maintained a 24/7 cordon sanitaire around the picketline in violation of the 2011 Guidelines on the Conduct of Security Personnel During Labor Disputes which mandate that police, military and guards should be 50 meters away and not interfere in peaceful picketing. It appears that FCIE wants to starve Jackie and Amer into submission so as to dismantle the picketline.

On the morning of March 27, the union president Jopay Odchimar was prevented by FCIE guards from returning to the picketline to bring food. The guards said that this was upon the orders of FCIE estate manager Raffy Malanyaon and alleged due to the covid quarantine. However, workers continued to go in and out of the FCIE that day as the export processing zone was not shuttered.

After a standoff from morning to afternoon, the union president agreed not to proceed to prevent further argument. That night, FCIE guards stopped water from being given by friends from nearby factories allegedly upon the orders of the estate manager.

This is a clear case of harassment by the FCIE estate manager under the cover of the covid lockdown. Freedom of association and labor rights—including the guidelines on the conduct of security personnel—have not been revoked or suspended just because a quarantine is in effect. From a labor dispute the case has morphed into humanitarian issue.

The labor dispute is due to union busting and also non-payment of 13^th month pay and last salary. For more than four months, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) provincial and regional office has not acted on the clear case of labor standards violation despite undertaking an inspection. The case has dragged on for so long that the covid pandemic and the resulting quarantine has further aggravated the sufferings of the workers.

Sejung Apparel has declared temporary shutdown for three times since October. The first shutdown occurred just one week after the union submitted a collective bargaining proposal and just three weeks after the union won the certification election. Again, the circumstances point to union busting by management. But action by the DOLE has been lacking to protect freedom of association at the export processing zones.

We call on the DOLE to act immediately to bring food and water to Jackie and Amer. Further, we call on FCIE to stop the harassment of the Sejung workers and respect the right to peaceful picketing. ###

April 8, 2020

DOLE asked to probe union busting at Cavite ecozone

With just a week to go before Labor Day, the partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to investigate complaints of union busting at the biggest export zone in the country. Workers of garments factories in the giant Cavite Economic Zone are complaining of union busting by their management.

“We ask Secretary Bello to act with dispatch as workers’ right to choose to be represented is being curtailed by foreign investors. With these cases of union busting, freedom of association will be among the highlights of workers’ commemoration of Labor Day on May 1,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The workers of Korean-owned Jisoo Garments Manufacturing Corp. are alleging that management is maneuvering to bust the union. Jisoo separated almost all of its regular work force last March ahead of a possible certification elections in April. Last April 14, some 100 workers in a motorcade of 50 motorcycles held a mass action at the main gate of the Cavite Economic Zone in support of the Jisoo union.

Magtubo reminded Sec. Bello that “Last May 2018, the Department of Labor and Employment convened a dialogue between labor groups and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to address complaints of violations of the right to unionize and labor standards in the major ecozones like in Cavite and Mactan Cebu. A technical working group was formed to resolve the allegations of union busting and other workplace grievances. Thus we ask Sec. Bello to put its commitment into action.”

“To pre-empt the certification election and bust the union, last March Jisoo management offered to separate its regular work force. The separation package was supposed to be voluntary but instead workers were called for one-on-one meetings in management offices and cajoled into accepting the offer. Almost all of the 350 regular workers were terminated and only a handful of union officers remained who resisted the offer. Recently, the union president was denied overtime as a way to harass the remaining holdouts,” Magtubo explained.

Meanwhile another union busting complaint, by workers in Daegyoung Apparel Inc., also Korean-owned, was settled last Monday during a hearing by the DOLE-National Conciliation and Mediation Board with management pledging not to interfere in their employees’ right to unionize. The Daegyoung union filed for preventive mediation because workers were being called by management to meetings and asked to sign statements that they will not join a union.

Magtubo declared that “We commend the management of Daegyoung for committing to respect freedom of association and will hold them to that promise. As far as we know, things have changed in the factory since the settlement of the union busting complaint.”

A union busting complaint filed by the Jisso labor union is presently pending. Jisoo supplies to well-known and global garments brands such as Marubeni of Japan, Cross Plus of Japan, Vuarnet of France, Michael Bastian of the US, 8Seconds of Korea and Tomato.

Photos of the riders protest at the Cavite ecozone can be accessed at

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10157074669864323?__xts__[0]=68.ARCNe8Xq2DOLfIoDmiOvTmmdL-gw9m6y4kEKWiSzaD0_wJnX3WzPLxABqjj5qRM7ZpljywAYDZDVioixOOblkpcSAvz0tgFoIKM4BTcKao1_b7UxfGK-HRMbsegXNlpcq0CM-vpThuUaCHPe1sDu6WaBYpUyMUW1zEA5zLzKSnLGs8Fb3r8urgcjk5Z46ES9MZxYLd64wmU5SeZUpgcuDWTQwB61Qahdk9_JDKRyqROGAllu3qO6-604MCgtkyPYV-NZhwzmjW2qpMeELJh0m5T7apHMw_NYVnBp4SvDojKegkTF4AZTEDl2zILQuw3EclpbSw8A2FjmgL1k8mcn&__tn__=-R

April 24, 2019

Women workers led protest vs abuses at Cavite ecozone

Women workers of the Taiwanese-owned electronics factory Lakepower Converter Inc. in the Cavite Economic Zone held a protest today against company abuses. Among their grievances is the removal of the door of the women’s restroom so that the company can spy on workers. Almost all of the 200 workers in the factory are women.

They are also outraged at the unreasonable limits on the use of the restroom which has led to cases of workers suffering from urinary tract infection. The dispute over the restroom is just the tip of the iceberg of worker grievances at Lakepower.

Aside from the dispute over the women’s restroom, workers are also complaining of excessive quota, discrimination against unionists resulting in suspensions and their exclusion from receiving Christmas packages.

“Management is reneging on an agreement reached a few months ago to redress our grievances. Before, we complained that the restroom door was always kept open. Through mediation, they agreed to close the door to protect the privacy of workers. But now, they removed the door entirely,” stated Mercy Tanginan, president of the Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Lakepower Converter Inc.

The picket today is the third protest at the Cavite ecozone over the last month. Earlier, garments workers held protest actions against “factory shutdown-cum-union busting.” After two protests and a strike threat, the union leaders at the Korean-owned garments factory Sein Together Phils. Inc. were eventually accepted back to work.

“ASEAN’s slogan of prosperity for all is just fake news as long as investors from Taiwan, Korea and others abuse and exploit Filipino workers. ASEAN is just facilitating a race to bottom in wages and working conditions with workers in the Philippines made to compete with workers in Vietnam, for example,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM chair.

Media reported the exodus of Korean companies from the Philippines to Vietnam due allegedly to the high cost of doing business. Workers insist that some of the companies may just be relocating to avoid unionization.

The groups are calling on the Department of Labor and Employment and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to intervene. Workers are unionizing to improve their working conditions but are being met by extreme interference from capitalists unwilling to share the fruits of production.

The picket also coincides with a “Global Day of Action against Union Repression” to be participated in by workers in Australia, Asia and North America. ###

Photos of the protest can be accessed at:

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10155777536464323

https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10155777572314323

16 November 2017

FOA issue at Tesco supplier in Philippines

Photo from Sein Together website

Workers of a garments factory in the biggest export zone in the Philippines are calling on apparel brands to uphold their code of conduct as they face harassment and interference in the exercise of the freedom of association. Among the major customers of the factory is Tesco of UK.

A union has been formed by workers of Sein Together International Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of the Korean garments firm Sein Together (http://www.seintogether.com/eng/main/main.php). However, they now face the challenge of management interference in their right to organize.

Union leaders have all been transferred to one production line about a month ago to separate them from the rest of the workers. The company also called for a meeting of its workers where an employee was allowed to speak against forming a union. The factory has been shutdown for more than a week now and will reopen later this month except for the line where the union leaders are located. Management has not announced when that line will be back in production.

The union demands a stop to the harassment, the transfer of union officers to their former production lines, the reopening of the factory as soon as possible and the immediate reemployment of unionists once it operates again.

The union has filed a complaint about unfair labor practice (a labor law term meaning violations of freedom of association) at the Labor Department and a hearing was held yesterday. In the mediation meeting yesterday, the company denied the charge of unfair labor practice but was called to task by the government mediator for convening an anti-union meeting.

The company said that the temporary shutdown was due to lack of orders. Management requested and the union agreed that negotiations be held on April 21 at the plant-level (without government mediation) to address the issue of reopening. The factory will partially reopen on April 20 according to management.

Tesco is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative which commits to uphold freedom of association in its supply chain. Aside from Tesco, Sein Together Phils. also supplies to Home Plus of Korea (which was formerly owned by Tesco) and Korean apparel brands Jisoo, Hue to Go, Daiz and Jaju.

Group slams PNoy for prioritizing Korean investments over workers’ concerns

Picketline at Tae Sung factory in February 2015

The labor party-list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) denounced President Benigno Aquino III for neglecting to raise urgent concerns of Filipino workers of Korean-owned companies in the country to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye at the just concluded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Media had reported that Aquino vowed to protect some one million Koreans residing in the Philippines as requested by Park.

Rene Magtubo, PM national chair, stated that “As we expected, when President Aquino met President Park, they talked about promoting trade and investments. Aquino spoke not a word about protecting union rights and decent pay for workers despite many ongoing labor rows involve Korean-owned factories in the Philippines.”

“On the specific case of Korea’s state-owned KEPCO coal plant in Cebu, the Office of the President had intervened to impose an assumption of jurisdiction (AJ) on the planned strike against illegal dismissals and union busting. These circumstances merit it being discussed between the two presidents if only to resolve the long-running dispute,” Magtubo added.

Workers from two Korean-owned companies now embroiled in labor disputes had challenged APEC on the issue of labor rights. Employees of power company KEPCO-Cebu and metal factory Tae Sung in Cavite have charged their managements with union busting and have pending labor disputes.

Lowell Sanchez, president of the KEPCO Cebu Supervisors Association (KCSA-WSN-Sentro), challenged the government to resolve the labor dispute. The KEPCO union filed a notice of strike last June for the unfair dismissal of Sanchez. The planned strike of the KEPCO workers was stopped by an AJ order so that it will not affect the APEC ministers meeting in Cebu last August. KEPCO operates coal plants in Cebu and Batangas.

Meanwhile, according to Charlie Piamonte, union president of Tae Sung Employees Association (TEA), they filed a notice of strike last November 12 for union busting. He explained that Tae Sung illegally fired union officer Joven Niviar, among other incidents of harassment of union members. The union is planning to conduct a strike vote within the next few days. Under the law, a union may launch a strike seven days after a majority of union members authorize it through a vote. Tae Sung is based in the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario, Cavite and produces metal parts for the supply chain of multinational companies like American Power Conversion-Schneider Electric, Honda, Mitsubishi, Caterpillar and Siemens.

“KEPCO and Tae Sung are crystal clear examples of how APEC has facilitated growth and profit for multinational corporations that operates across borders. And they also fully illustrate how workers have born the sacrifices for the phenomenal economic benefits that corporations have reaped due to APEC. Workers across APEC countries contend with low pay, contractual work and union suppression even as their labor created the doubling of real GDP within APEC between 1989 and 2013,” Magtubo ended.

November 20, 2015

Workers of Korean-owned companies with labor disputes ask: Can APEC protect labor rights?

Workers from two Korean-owned companies based in the country who are now embroiled in labor disputes are asking the leaders of the countries attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit if its agenda includes protection for labor rights. Employees of power company KEPCO-Cebu and metal factory Tae Sung in Cavite have charged their managements with union busting and have pending labor disputes.

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed APEC for “double-speak” as repression of workers’ rights belies its “inclusive growth tagline.” “Inclusive growth in APEC countries is impossible without respect for basic labor rights, including the right to unionize and receive living wages.” insisted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “When Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye meet at this APEC summit, they surely talk about promoting trade and investments. But we doubt they will even speak about protecting union rights and decent pay for workers of Korean-owned companies in the Philippines. APEC is all about business and nothing about workers.”

According to Charlie Piamonte, union president of Tae Sung Employees Association (TEA), they filed a notice of strike last November 12 for union busting. He explained that Tae Sung illegally fired union officer Joven Niviar, among other incidents of harassment of union members. The union is planning to conduct a strike vote within the next few days. Under the law, a union may launch a strike seven days after a majority of union members authorize it through a vote. Tae Sung is based in the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario, Cavite and produces metal parts for the supply chain of multinational companies like American Power Conversion-Schneider Electric, Honda, Mitsubishi, Caterpillar and Siemens.

Meanwhile, Lowell Sanchez, president of the KEPCO Cebu Supervisors Association (KCSA-WSN-Sentro), challenged the government to resolve the long-running labor row that is now the subject of an assumption of jurisdiction (AJ) order from Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. The KEPCO union filed a notice of strike last June for the unfair dismissal of Sanchez. The planned strike of the KEPCO workers was stopped by an AJ order so that it will not affect the APEC ministers meeting in Cebu last August. KEPCO is South Korea’s state-owned power company and operates coal plants in Cebu and Batangas.

“KEPCO and Tae Sung are crystal clear examples of how APEC has facilitated growth and profit for multinational corporations that operates across borders. And they also fully illustrate how workers have born the sacrifices for the phenomenal economic benefits that corporations have reaped due to APEC. Workers across APEC countries contend with low pay, contractual work and union suppression even as their labor created the doubling of real GDP within APEC between 1989 and 2013,” Magtubo averred.

November 17, 2015

Unionists harassed at big Cavite garments factory

Press Release

July 10, 2015

Workers who are building a labor union at the biggest garments factory at the Cavite economic zone in the town of Rosario are complaining of harassment and interference by management. One worker of Faremo International Inc. has already filed a formal complaint for harassment, unfair labor practice and illegal suspension.

“Despite alleged reforms initiated by the Department of Labor and Employment in the wake of the International Labor Organization High Level Mission in 2009 to investigate extra judicial killings of unionists and violations of the freedom of association, union busting and management interference in the workers right to organize is a reality in the Cavite ecozone and beyond,” asserted Rene Magtubo, Partido Manggagawa (PM) national chair.

PM organizers are assisting the Faremo workers in the exercise of their right to unionize. The workers started forming a union in May this year and by late June management had reacted by harassing active unionists and intimidating other workers against joining. More than a dozen workers were interrogated individually in management offices, asked to stop the unionization effort and offered money in return for “voluntary resignation.” Some four workers were forced in this way to resign.

Faremo worker Edwin Semeca was subjected three times to this “modus operandi” by management and after his third interrogation—in which he was virtually detained about eight hours in the company showroom and later in the human resource office—he decided to file a complaint last July 2. After the complaint reached management, he was then suspended for seven days for absence without leave. His complaint is due to be heard on Monday, July 13, at the DOLE office in Imus.

Faremo, with some 1,500 workers, mostly female and of which 800 are regular, is the largest garments manufacturer at the Cavite ecozone. It is a subsidiary of the Korean multinational Hansoll Textile Ltd. which operates other factories in Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Faremo produces apparel for famous American brands Gap, JC Penney and Kohl’s.

Apart from harassing active unionists, Semeca also stated that “Since June regular workers and contractual workers who are being regularized, are asked not to join the union and sign papers pledging to refuse unionization. This intimidation continues to this day. Also we also have reliable information that management is preparing to offer separation to a big number of workers to stop the unionization dead in its tracks.”

Magtubo challenged the DOLE to act immediately on union busting case at Faremo and called on the labor movement for solidarity. “The union at Faremo—and the dream of better life for workers—is a David fighting a Korean multinational Goliath. The Faremo workers want to form a union so as to improve their low pay and have a voice in the workplace but the greed for profit conflicts with labor’s inherent rights,” he insisted.

Labor group to Petilla: Ask KEPCO to grant workers demands to avert strike

Press Release

April 23, 2015

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla to ask the management of KEPCO-Salcon Power Corp. in Cebu to grant the demands of its workers in order to resolve the labor dispute. Petilla was quoted a few days ago as appealing to KEPCO workers not to proceed with a planned strike.

Yesterday KEPCO workers voted to hold a strike. PM announced its solidarity with the KEPCO workers and that the resolution of the labor dispute is among the demands for the coming Labor Day mobilization.

“If Secretary Petilla wants to solve the problem at KEPCO, he must focus on the cause not the effect. KEPCO workers’ legitimate use of the right to strike is simply a reaction to the union busting and unfair labor practice of its management. Petilla’s energy is better used exerting moral suasion on KEPCO to respect labor rights and start bargaining with the unions to improve workers wages and working conditions,” argued Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He added that “We ask KEPCO to moderate its greed. The power industry is the most profitable sector of the economy with the richest Filipinos and foreign investors like Korea’s KEPCO engaged in an industry that is structured in such a way that there is no possible way to lose money. Every cent of business expense is passed on to consumers, such as the middle class and the working poor, thus we have one of the most expensive electricity rates in world.”

Last week KEPCO workers together with supporters from PM and the labor center Sentro held a protest at the Naga, Cebu plant of KEPCO. The rank-and-file union KEPCO Cebu Employees Association and supervisors union KEPCO Cebu Supervisors Association, both affiliated to WSN-Sentro, filed notices of strike for unfair labor practice and union busting respectively last April 8.

PM avers that labor productivity in the power sector is the highest of all industries yet the fruits of labor appear not as wages for workers but as profit for capitalists. “According to the Census of Philippine Business and Industry in 2012, the power industry’s labor productivity is at PhP 4 million annually per worker. In contrast, KEPCO rank-and-file workers receive an average of just PhP 13,000 per month or PhP 169,000 per year. Thus workers wages at KEPCO amounts to just 4% of the industry’s labor productivity,” Magtubo explained.

He asserted that “The meager wages of KEPCO workers was the motive for them to unionize and bargain as a means of enhancing their working and living standards. But rather than respect labor’s right to self-organization and collective negotiations, KEPCO is busting the supervisors union and harassing rank-and-file workers whose union has already been certified as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent.”

Strike at Korean factory reveals myth of APEC’s “inclusive growth”

Press Release

February 12, 2015

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today slammed the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) theme of “inclusive growth” as a myth as it cited the strike at a Korean factory in Cavite as microcosm of labor’s plight. An APEC senior officials meeting just concluded last weekend in Clark, Pampanga.

“APEC, which includes the Philippines and South Korea, is all about investor rights and none about labor concerns. Thus its call for inclusive growth is just a marketing gimmick in the face of worsening inequality amidst economic development. A case in point is this Korean investor in the Philippines which refuses to share productivity gains to its struggling workers,” insisted Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

The strike at Tae Sung Philippines Co. Inc. in the Cavite economic zone entered its second day. A marathon mediation meeting yesterday failed to break the deadlock in negotiations. The union Tae Sung Employees Association asserts that management remains intransigent in bargaining and refuses to meet workers demands halfway. Another mediation session is scheduled this afternoon.

Fortaleza explained that “Tae Sung is earning more than USD 14 million (PhP 600 million) annually since 2011 but it is merely offering its 250 unionized workers a pittance of P3 million in wages and benefits or just half of one percent of the fruits of their employees’ labor!”

He added that “Tae Sung is the rule not the exception among investors in Philippine export zones and all across the industrial areas of Asia and the Pacific. Cheap labor and precarious work means a regime of exclusion and belies APEC’s lip service of inclusive growth.”

Production at Tae Sung remains paralyzed as regular workers are outside the factory picketing. Aside from bad faith bargaining, the union alleges that Tae Sung is attempting to weaken the union by firing eight union members, including one union officer, and suspending others including the union president and vice president. Workers have set up tents and a picketline outside the Tae Sung factory.

“Most of the Tae Sung workers earn just the floor wage of P315 plus allowance of P25.50 which is not even half of the cost of living in Calabarzon, which hardly differs from Metro Manila which we estimate is at least P1,000 per day for a family of five,”  Fortaleza argued.

Strike at Korean factory exposes bankruptcy of new wage system in Calabarzon

Press Release

February 11, 2015

A strike broke out today at a Korean-owned metal factory inside the Cavite Economic Zone, the biggest in the country, due to a dispute over wage increases during collective bargaining negotiations. The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) explained that the dispute exposes the bankruptcy of the two-tiered wage system being implemented in Calabarzon for the past few years.

“The two-tiered system pioneered in Calabarzon sets a very low floor wage—the new name for the minimum wage—and only productivity-based schemes allow workers to receive above the floor wage. But at Tae Sung and other export zone factories, despite yearly profits, capitalists refuse to share productivity gains to its workers. Thus most Tae Sung workers earn no more than the floor wage despite their company supplying metal parts to big electronics and auto multinationals like American Power Conversion, Honda, Caterpillar, Mitsubishi, Siemens and Deif of Denmark,” argued Wilson Fortaleza, PM national spokesperson.

Production at Tae Sung is now paralyzed as all regular workers for the 6:00 a.m. morning shift are now picketing company gates. Tae Sung's human resource manager has talked to the picketing workers and she was told that only a collective bargaining agreement will make them go back to work.

Fortaleza added that “How can a two-tiered wage system work—in which productivity-based pay are dependent on negotiations—when the vast majority of workers are unorganized and the few unionized are disadvantaged by weak enforcement of labor laws and the willing connivance of government officials—from the Labor Department to the local government units—with foreign and local capitalists? No wonder inclusive growth remains elusive and instead inequalities prosper despite the much-vaunted economic growth that is monopolized by big capitalists.”

The Tae Sung Employees Association, the union at the Korean factory, alleges that the company has been engaged in bad faith bargaining for the past seven months of negotiations. The union has reduced its wage demand from P100 each year for three years to P25 in a bid to reach an agreement but the Tae Sung management has barely moved from insisting on no increases to offering merely P5 each year for three years. Aside from wages, almost all provisions in the union contract proposal have been rejected by Tae Sung. Since 2011, Tae Sung has been earning annually more than USD 10 million, according to the union.

Aside from being hardline in negotiations, the union claims that Tae Sung is attempting to weaken the union by firing eight union members, including one union officer, and suspending others including the union president and vice president.

Labor groups picket Korean embassy

Press Release

January 10, 2014

PALEA

The labor groups Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) picketed the South Korean embassy today in protest at labor repression in Korea and Cambodia.

The picket-protest was in coordination with a general strike in South Korea. The groups also presented a letter of concern addressed to the Korean ambassador Hyuk Lee.

“The peril to labor rights and conditions in any country is a disadvantage to workers everywhere in this globalized world,” asserted Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.

In a joint statement, the groups declared their outrage that a South Korean firm, Yakjin Cambodia Inc., called for the intervention of the armed forces of Cambodia that ended in the killing of four garment workers and the wounding of 23 others last January 2 and 3.

The Philippine workers also expressed their solidarity with the Korean workers fight against rail privatization and for labor rights. Even as the strike of the railway workers ended last December 31, the South Korean government has continued to pursue criminal charges against leaders of the Korean Railway Workers Union (KRWU) and civil damages against the union in the amount of over 7.7 billion won. The Philippine groups are also concerned about the threat of dismissal and disciplinary action against some 490 KRWU members.

Together with the police raid on the office of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) last December 22, Rivera averred that “These events constitute a clear and present danger to workers rights in the Republic of Korea.”

In their letter to the Korean ambassador, the groups insisted on the demand for the:

1. withdrawal of criminal charges against KRWU leaders;
2. withdrawal of damage suit against KRWU;
3. stop to the dismissals and disciplinary actions against KRWU members;
4. end to labor repression in the Republic of Korea; and
5. end to rail privatization.

Rivera ended that “We serve notice to the Korean embassy that Philippine workers will be monitoring the developments in South Korea and will be ready to undertake solidarity actions in the Philippines in coordination with our brothers and sisters in Korea.”

Labor groups ask Korean government to take action on Hanjin’s labor rights violations in PH

PRESS RELEASE

29 June 2001

Labor groups belonging to an anti-contractualization group Koalisyon Laban sa Kontraktwalisasyon (Kontra), trooped to the Korean embassy in Makati City this morning to ask the Korean government to take immediate action on the growing number of employees’ deaths and accidents at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines, a South Korean owned shipyard located northwest of Manila.

“We urge the South Korean government to guide its shipbuilders operating abroad to strictly comply with safety regulations and other labor standards to avoid their shipyards being labelled as ‘graveyards of workers’ rights’ by the international labor community,” stated Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda.

Labor groups in the country are getting more incensed with the unabated cases of deaths and accidents at Hanjin, many of them reported and documented yet largely ignored by the company and government officials.  Aside from this, there are other major violations of labor standards at the shipyard that warrant immediate action from the government.

Miranda said the latest count puts the number of work related deaths at Hanjin to 31; 11 cases of maltreatment by Korean superiors; 63 illegal termination; and 20 illegal suspension. 

The giant shipyard also implements massive contractualization of its entire workforce, with 21,000 workers hired as contractual employees from 19 sub-contractors. It is the fourth largest ship-builder in the world, investing at least a billion dollars in the country. 

But the shipyard earned notoriety for its accident record and labor standard violations, prompting the Philippine Senate to conduct an inquiry.  The inquiry saw many lapses in safety and violated labor laws.  Unfortunately there was no sanction imposed on Hanjin.  Hence, accidents continued afterwards while strong-arm management rule reign upon its workers. Media coverage is also not allowed in the complex.

Miranda added that, “While we are not opposed to the entry of foreign investments in the country, the leniency extended towards Hanjin by the Philippine government should not be viewed by the Korean capitalists as a free ticket to maximum exploitation of Filipino labor.”

President Benigno Aquino III himself thanked Hanjin for investing some P24.2-B worth of investment in the country. 

“But that is no reason for the government to sleep on its job in enforcing safety and other labor standards in the country,” said Miranda. 

On July 3 the groups leading today’s rally will hold a “Caravan for Decent Jobs and Humane Working Conditions.” The caravan will proceed from Manila to Subic in order to highlight the dire plight of contractual workers especially in Hanjin.

The group said the government must review Hanjin and its contractors for compliance with safety regulations, payment of wages and benefits, observance of working hours, among others.