Labor groups hold Global Day of Action vs Lululemon brand

A Global Day of Action was held at the Boy Scout Circle I Quezon City this morning to apply more pressure against a global brand Lululemon, an activewear, loungewear and footwear products manufactured in the Philippines by Metrowear, a manufacturing firm inside the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) in Cebu.

 

Metrowear is embroiled in a prolonged dispute with workers who it prevented from organizing a union and then refused to recognize and negotiate CBA with the latter when they succeeded to unionize. 

 

Unions and solidarity groups joined hands in denouncing the anti-union policies of Metrowear and the Lululemon brand. As an expression of international worker solidarity, the action in Quezon City was joined by activists in garment producing countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, and also from Taiwan where Metrowear's owner is based.

 

The internationally coordinated action is joined by unions and labor organizations from around the world, including the Asia Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), Workers United, Solidarity International (SI), Australian People for Health, Education and Democracy Abroad (APHEDA), and the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC).

 

In Canada, labor groups such as the Canadian Labor Organization have also joined the movement by organizing protest actions at Lululemon retail outlets, highlighting the company's alleged labor rights violations.

 

Protests was also held yesterday at the gates of MEPZ 1, led by local solidarity groups including the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO Cebu), Partido Manggagawa (PM), and the Organization of Metrowear Employees for Emporwoerment ang Genuine Advoaciy – Pinag Isang Tinig at Lakas ng Anak Pawis -OMEGA–PIGLAS Union, who stand in firm support of the MetroWear workers and their fight for union recognition and workplace justice.

 

Student organizations have also lent their voices to the cause. Groups like Students for International Labor Solidarity (SILS) called on their educational institutions to review and reconsider their partnerships with Lululemon and to impose sanctions in response to the reported labor abuses in the Philippines.

 

Photos can be accessed at the FB pages of Partido Manggagawa (https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa) and Listen Up Lululemon (https://www.facebook.com/ListenUpLululemon). 

Labor group asks garment exporters group to name brand leaving the Philippines

Retrenched Mactan Apparel worker. Photo from PIO Lapu-Lapu City

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the Confederation of Wearables Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP) to name the global brand which it said pulled its orders from the Philippines. A few days ago, CONWEP Executive Director Maritess Jocson-Agoncillo was quoted in a news story that the unnamed global brand is shifting all its orders to Vietnam and Cambodia.

 

“We ask CONWEP to name the brand so that the 4,000 workers who have lost their jobs can demand an explanation from this multinational company. Corporate social responsibility dictates that global brands be transparent to their stakeholders, especially workers who have been loyally making garments for multinational companies,” stated Dennis Derige, spokesperson of the PM Cebu chapter.

 

Last month, the PESO of Lapu-Lapu confirmed that more than 4,000 workers were retrenched by the factories Mactan Apparel and First Flory. Both are locators in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) in Lapu-Lapu City, Metro City. Mactan Apparel is part of the Sports City conglomerate, the biggest employer in MEZ. Another 4,000 workers were laid off across the different Sports City garment factories at the height of the pandemic in September 2022 and then 4,000 more in September 2020.

 

“While we welcome the assistance of the Lapu-Lapu PESO and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) so that the laid-off workers can engage in livelihood projects, we cannot hide the bitter truth. Shifting from formal regular work to vulnerable, insecure informal work is a huge step backwards. The normative goal is transitioning from informal to formal work. The decent work diagnostics of the DOLE and the International Labour Organization clearly states that for growth to be inclusive, the country needs to increase formal regular employment,” explained Derige.

 

PM has been pushing for a public employment program to generate jobs and a more robust unemployment insurance provided by the Social Security System. “For workers of Mactan Apparel and First Glory, guaranteed public employment is a better option in the short-term to self-employment as home-based workers, which is the livelihood program of DOLE. In the long-term, it is imperative that we have industrial policy that promotes the domestic economy instead of dependence on foreign investments which is footloose and unregulated. As CONWEP themselves admit, global brands can shift their orders on a whim thereby upending the jobs of thousands of workers overnight,” Derige insisted.

Press Release

August 7, 2023

 

Ahead of SONA, labor group slams factory closures at Mactan Export Processing Zone

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the retrenchment of some 4,100 workers at Mactan Apparel Inc. and its satellite companies. “These are factory closures, not just mass layoffs. Even though the economy is growing, workers are suffering. More than 4,000 breadwinners have lost their jobs and their families will now have to deal with all the difficulties of joblessness,” declared Dennis Derige, spokesperson of the Cebu chapter of PM.

 

He added that “With President Bong Bong Marcos Jr. due to give his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, we demand of him: Trabaho at bigas sa Bagong Pilipinas! Kung walang trabahong regular and walang murang bigas, bigo ang Pilipinas sa iyong pamumuno.”

 

PM stated that the call for job security, wage hike and cheap prices are among their calls for the counter-SONA protest on Monday. A petition for a P100 minimum wage hike has been filed in Cebu and Bohol. The wage boards have set hearings on the P100 petition on July 26 in Metro Cebu and August 10 in Bohol.

 

Different labor groups are mobilizing hundreds of workers, students and urban poor for the counter-SONA. PM, along with groups SENTRO and Akbayan, will assemble in Plaza Independencia at 8:00 am on July 24. Then they will march onto the Cebu City Freedom Park and finally merge with other organizations for the main program in Metro Colon.

 

Mactan Apparel Inc. and its sister companies, MAI Printing and FIT printing are closing down. The three factories make sportswear exclusively for the global brand Adidas and is part of the Sports City conglomerate, which is the biggest employer in the Mactan Export Processing Zone. The retrenchment at Mactan Apparel is the third wave of mass layoffs at Sports City. Some 4,000 workers were laid off across the different Sports City garment factories in September 2022 and another 4,000 in September 2020 at the height of the pandemic.

 

“We call on global brand Adidas to explain why their supplier factories are closing down. Adidas should step up, be transparent and clarify to workers who made their sportswear why they are losing their jobs. Do not make the usual alibi for not doing anything that your supplier is complying with the minimum standards set by law. If Adidas is indeed a good corporate citizen, then it must exercise responsibility for the loss of livelihood of 4,000 workers,” insisted Derige.

 

PM also argued that the series of mass layoffs and factory closures at MEPZ exposed the vulnerability of a development model founded on foreign investment and export production. “We need a paradigm shift away from export orientation. Economic and social development should be founded on a planned industrial policy that prioritizes domestic production even as it takes advantage of export markets,” Derige explained.

Press Release

July 20, 2023

Ayuda for workers facing layoffs—labor group

 

In the face of an outbreak of mass layoffs, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the government for ayuda for the affected workers. “By ayuda, we do not just mean immediate assistance to the thousands of workers who will become jobless in the coming months but institutionalized social protection for the entire labor force. Sa harap ng epidemya ng tanggalan, ayudang sapat para sa lahat ang sagot,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and Marikina city councilor.

 

This was the group’s reaction to the estimate by the garments industry association Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP) that some 9,450 to 10,800 workers may be laid off. CONWEP even forecasted a worst scenario of 27,000 retrenched workers or 10% of the total labor force in the apparel and wearable goods sector.

 

Just two weeks ago, the Sports City group of companies fired some 4,000 workers or one-fourth of its total workforce allegedly due to reduced orders from its clients. Sports City supplies to global garment brands Adidas, Under Armour, Saucony, New Balance and Lululemon.

 

“Aside from the mass layoffs at Sports City, workers also lost their jobs due to the temporary closure of Coca-Cola plants in Iloilo, Bohol, Davao, Cavite, Zamboanga, and Camarines Sur. Employees of Shopee were also fired revealing that retrenchments are along all sectors from manufacturing to services,” Magtubo elaborated.

 

He added that “The worsening economic crisis demands that the government set in place social protection systems that mitigate the impact on jobs, income, health and well-being of people. Social protection is one response to this challenge.”

 

PM is an affiliate of the labor coalition Nagkaisa which at the height of the pandemic demanded public employment, preferably in climate jobs, for unemployed workers over a period of 100 days to nine months at minimum wages or P10,000, whichever is higher. The coalition also called for wage subsidies equivalent to 75% of the prevailing minimum wage to save jobs of workers in micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs).

 

“If huge companies like Sports City and Coca-Cola are reeling from economic shocks, what more MSMEs, which comprise 90% of the total number of enterprises. By providing wage subsidies to workers in MSMEs, the government incentives them against shedding their employees. This also protects the purchasing power of workers which enables the economy to float instead of sink due to the crisis,” explained Magtubo.

 

In response to the demand for employment guarantees and wage subsidies by Nagkaisa, the DOLE undertook a study of a social protection floor which has remained unimplemented. “The DOLE should act now and not wait for another Sports City, another Coca-Cola or another Shopee,” Magtubo insisted.

October 14, 2022

Workers have lost P82 in value of wages due to inflation

Photo from ING

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) declared that the real value of wages of workers in Metro Manila have been reduced by P82 due to worsening inflation. Yesterday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that headline inflation has risen to 6.9% for September 2022. “We call on Congress to raise wages by P100 across-the-broad so that workers can recover their lost purchasing power,” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary-general.

 

Based on the computations of the labor coalition Nagkaisa, the P570 minimum wage in Metro Manila is only worth P488 due to increases in prices of food, electricity and other basic commodities. The PSA noted that inflation for electricity and gas were among the highest.

 

In 2018, PM had already estimated that the daily cost of living is around P1,300. “Obviously we need to update this figure as inflation has ratcheted up in the past four years. Whatever the exact number, we need urgent action from the government and Congress. Thus, our call for a P100 wage hike within the first 100 days of the new government,” Miranda insisted.

 

She added that ““The focus now is on worsening inflation that has eroded workers' nominal wages. But we have not even tackled growing inequality due to the stagnation of real wages while productivity is booming. From 2001 to 2016, labor productivity grew by at least 50 percent, yet the real wages did not grow at all. Workers have been denied their fair share in the fruits of production.”

 

Aside from the specific wage hike demand, PM also asked for a comprehensive government response on the worsening economic crisis and other covariate shocks—man-made disasters that affect whole communities—that has led to mass layoffs. Some 4,000 garment workers were retrenched at Sports City in the Mactan Cebu export zone and a few thousand workers also lost their jobs due to the temporary closure of Coca-Cola plants in Iloilo, Bohol, Davao, Cavite, Zamboanga, and Camarines Sur. 

 

“The government must set in place social protection systems that mitigate the impact on jobs, income, health and well-being of people. Mass layoffs and strong typhoons are all covariate shocks and the new normal in our lives. Social protection is one response to this challenge,” Miranda explained.

 

PM is pushing for public employment, preferably in climate jobs, for unemployed workers over a period of 100 days to nine months at minimum wages or P10,000, whichever is higher. The group is also calling for wage subsidies equivalent to 75% of the prevailing minimum wage to save jobs of workers in micro, medium and small enterprises. 

October 6, 2022

Labor groups alarmed at MEPZ mass layoff

 

Labor groups Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) expressed their concern at the retrenchment of some 4,000 workers across five factories of the Sports City group of companies.

 

“This is alarming for workers in Cebu and elsewhere. For the biggest MEPZ employer to retrench 1/4 of of its workers may be a portent of worse things to come. What is the response of the government? Don't tell us ‘unity’,” exclaimed Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

 

Workers of garment firms Mactan Apparels, Inc.; Metro Wear, Inc.; Globalwear Manufacturing, Inc.; Feeder Apparel Corporation; and Vertex One Apparel Phils. Inc.—all owned by Sports City—were affected in the largest termination yet this year. Sports City is the biggest employer in the Mactan Economic Zone and supplies to global garment brands.

 

Both PM and SENTRO said that they will further investigate the claims of Sports City about the “sudden dropping and reduction of orders from our clients.” “We cannot take these claims at face value. In fact, factories traditionally increase their production in the ber months to meet the huge spike in demand during the holiday season. We will seek help from our allies abroad to check the veracity of these claims of diminished orders,” Derige insisted.

Sports City supplies apparel to global brands Adidas, Under Armour, Saucony, New Balance and Lululemon. 

 

He said that workers were caught off guard by the mass layoff. He explained that “There was no social dialogue between the employer and the employees. A better option is that negotiations transpire between employer and employee representatives so that workers have voice and participation in the basis and terms of the termination.”

 

Last year, unions were formed at Mactan Apparel, Metro Wear and Globalwear but were defeated in the certification election. PM had slammed the companies for delaying the elections for almost half a year even as an anti-union campaign was conducted using social media.

 

In the face of the mass layoff at the MEPZ and other companies, PM and SENTRO also called on the government to heed the demand for employment guarantees. The proposal of the labor coalition Nagkaisa calls for public employment, preferably in climate jobs, for unemployed workers over a period of 100 days to nine months at minimum wages or P10,000, whichever is higher. In response to this demand, the Department of Labor and Employment undertook a study of a social protection floor which has remained unimplemented.

 

“It is high time that the employment guarantee and other social protection mechanisms are enacted,” Derige ended

September 30, 2022

Group appeals for aid for Mactan ecozone workers in Cebu

The massive damage resulting from Typhoon Odette included the infrastructure of factories in Metro Cebu, the Mactan Economic Zone in Lapu-Lapu City and the southern part of the province. As a result, thousands of ecozone workers are temporarily out of work due to the damaged factories. “Thus, we are appealing for aid for the affected workers from the government as well as the companies too,” stated Dennis Derige, spokesperson of the Cebu chapter of the Partido Manggagawa (PM).

 

PM welcomed the announcement from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that it is extending assistance for some 25,000 informal workers worth P100 million through the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD). But Derige asserted that affected workers in the formal sector desperately need support too.

 

Citing informants from the Mactan Export Processing Zone Workers Association (MEPZWA), Derige reported that the factory of the biggest employer in the Mactan Ecozone has been damaged and as a result its more than 14,000 workers are without work until January 17. In contrast, just before Odette hit the Philippines, those workers were supposed to work through the Christmas holidays due to a large shipment of apparel. Another garment factory in the Mactan Ecozone employing more than 3,000 workers was also severely damaged and their workers too are on forced leave. Just these two companies already comprise almost a fifth of the total 100,000 workers in the Mactan Ecozone.

 

“Even outside of the Mactan Ecozone, other manufacturing and service establishments are not operating either due to actual damage from the typhoon or the lack of electricity. For example, one food processing company is closed in the meantime for lack of electricity and so its 130 employees are temporarily jobless without an assurance when they will be back at work,” Derige declared.

 

“It is the government that is in the position to provide immediate relief both to workers in the formal and informal sector. Everybody has suffered and no one must be left behind in the relief and rehabilitation effort. We hope that the DOLE hears the plea of MEPZWA and other Cebu workers,” Derige insisted.

 

He added that “Nonetheless we also ask companies to provide support to their own employees as they are more than capable. Just before Odette, Mactan Ecozone locators were already operating normally. And for a decade and half before the blip of the pandemic, business was booming for firms inside and outside the Mactan Ecozone. But while productivity rose by 50% and revenues doubled in 15 years, real wages have stagnated. At this dark hour of disaster, we call on employers to share the fruits of labor with their workers.”

 

Derige cited that one unionized mining company in Cebu already gave a P5,000 ayuda to all of its employees and extended a P20,000 calamity loan payable in one year without interest. This should be a model for others, he asserted.

December 27, 2021

MEPZ strike averted, workers to file case instead

 

A strike at the Mactan Economic Zone has been averted after several weeks of mediation led by Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Ahong Chan. Though the strike notice has been withdrawn, 76 workers of the garment factory First Glory Philippines will pursue their demands by filing a case for illegal dismissal and union busting. Last December, the First Glory labor union filed a notice of strike and later members voted yes to going on strike.

 

“The union is now preparing to file a case at the National Labor Relations Commission and with the assistance of Partido Manggagawa (PM), we are confident of winning our complaint for illegal dismissal and union busting,” explained Cristito Pangan, president of the First Glory labor union.

 

The labor dispute at First Glory started with the firing last November 27 of 300 workers, including the union president and other union officers. At the time of the mass layoff, the union had a pending petition for certification election. A rally of terminated First Glory workers last November 30 was broken up by police and led to the arrest of five labor organizers. The so-called MEPZ 5 were later released as their cases for “disobedience to person in authority” were dismissed.

 

“Aside from filing a case, the union is also preparing for the certification election scheduled on February 15. The union has been key in fighting for the jobs of the 76 workers who refused to accept the retrenchment. The victory of the union in the election will also be important in improving the wages and working conditions of the remaining 700 workers of First Glory,” Pangan insisted.

 

The union is arguing that there the mass layoff is illegal as its main customer, the US brand J.Crew, has already exited from bankruptcy in September. “The labor dispute at First Glory is symptomatic of the epidemic of labor rights violations during the time of covid. Employers are weaponizing the covid-19 crisis to bust unions and violate labor standards,” Pangan declared.

 

The firings at First Glory comes on the heels of mass layoffs at other garment firms in the Mactan ecozone. Earlier the Sports City group of companies retrenched 4,000 workers, Yuenthai fired 200 workers, FCO International laid off 100 workers and Kor Landa dismissed 67 workers including the union officers. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has announced that half of the 428,071 workers reported as laid off last year were fired in the last quarter of 2020. Meanwhile the DOLE has put in abeyance four petitions for certification elections at three Sports City factories due to an appeal by management. PM has slammed this as an existing rule prohibits delays in elections due to management appeals.

February 1, 2021

Workers slam suspension of union elections at biggest Mactan Ecozone firm

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa slammed the suspension of the proceedings for certification election at three Sports City factories at the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ). The Sports City group of companies employs some 14,000 workers and is the biggest employer at the MEZ.

 

“Sports City is using legal maneuvers to subvert the workers’ exercise of freedom of association and yesterday it succeeded in delaying the holding of an election at three of its factories on the basis of an appeal to the office of the Labor Secretary. We call on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to implement the law and the rules which absolutely guarantee the holding of a certification election despite an appeal by the employer,” stated Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

 

In a pre-election conference yesterday, the DOLE officer handling the petitions for certification election announced that the proceedings are held in abeyance pending the appeal to the Office of the Labor Secretary. Petitions for certification election by rank-and-file unions in Metrowear, Globalwear and Mactan Apparel, and a supervisory union in Globalwear were earlier granted and objections by management dismissed.

 

Derige added that “The certification election at Sports City is a test case for the respect for freedom of association in the ecozones. In MEZ not a single union exists with a collective bargaining agreement due to the pernicious union busting efforts of capitalists. This has led to wage stagnation for workers despite decades of economic growth and productivity rise.”

 

Aside from the four petitions in Sports City, another petition for certification election is pending at First Glory Philippines. All the unions formed at Sports City and First Glory are affiliated to PIGLAS-SENTRO. A labor dispute has erupted at First Glory after the mass layoff of 300 workers, including all of the union officers, last November 27. Last December 22, members of the First Glory labor union voted overwhelmingly to go on strike.

 

“First Glory management has taken a hardline position in all mediation meetings despite being unable to substantiate its claim of losses. We demand that First Glory reinstate all 300 workers that were retrenched as this was done in bad faith and for the purpose of busting the newly-formed union,” declared Cristito Pangan, president of First Glory labor union.

 

The latest mediation hearing yesterday, attended by no less than Lapu Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan, on the First Glory dispute again ended without any agreement. Workers in the Mactan Ecozone have been hit by a series of job losses: Sports City retrenched 4,000 workers, Yuenthai fired 2000 workers, FCO International laid off 100 workers and Kor Landa dismissed 67 workers including union officers.

 

PM however believes that “The mass layoffs and labor disputes at First Glory, Sports City and Arcya Glass in Calamba, Laguna are all symptomatic of the epidemic of labor rights violations during the time of covid. Employers are exploiting the covid-19 crisis to bust unions and shift to contract work.”

January 5, 2021

As Cebu labor organizers released from jail, DOLE asked to act on mass layoffs

 

Labor groups welcomed the release from detention of three labor organizers who were arrested in a workers rally at the Cebu Mactan Ecozone last November 30. Cases of “disobedience against a person in authority” lodged against Dennis Derige, Joksan Branzuela and Jonel Labrador were dismissed yesterday afternoon. Their colleagues Myra Opada and Cristito Pangan, both union leaders at the Mactan Ecozone, were released earlier.

 

Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) also asked the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for pro-active measures to stem the series of mass layoffs in the ecozones.

 

“We condemn the double standard of police in implementing the quarantine rules. Police turn a blind eye to Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque leading a mass gathering in Bantayan, Cebu last November 27 but without batting an eyelash arrest union leaders who were airing grievances on mass firings,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

Meanwhile Josua Mata, Sentro secretary-general stated that “I would like to laud the decision of the prosecutor in dismissing the cases against our organizers. It only shows that there are still people in our justice system who are courageous enough to uphold the constitutional rights of workers.”

 

Magtubo insisted that “Another double standard is DOLE’s inaction on employers engaging in mass layoffs for dubious reasons while police immediate suppress workers’ protests against indiscriminate firings. We demand that Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello remind police that existing DOLE-PEZA-PNP rules on labor disputes prohibit security personnel from harassing workers’ concerted actions. We also ask him to convene a dialogue with labor groups on the continued hemorrhage of jobs inside and outside of the ecozones.”

 

Last November 30, the so-called MEPZ 5 led more than a hundred recently terminated ecozone workers in rally at the Mactan ecozone gate. But police dispersed the rally and arrested the MEPZ 5.

 

On November 27, First Glory Apparel fired 300 workers. This comes on the heels of mass layoffs at other firms in the Mactan ecozone. Earlier the Sports City group of companies retrenched 4,000 workers, Yuenthai fired 2000 workers, FCO laid off 100 workers and Kor Landa terminated 67 workers.

December 2, 2020

Partido Manggagawa Demands the Release of Five Unionists Arrested in Cebu

As workers commemorated Bonifacio Day in a nationally coordinated action, Partido Manggagawa (Labor Party) demanded the release of unionists Dennis Derige, Myra Opada, Joksan Branzuela, Jonel Labrador, and Cristito Pangan.

 

Opada is the union president at Philippine Light Leather, Pangan is the union president at First Glory Apparel while Derige, Branzuela and Labrador are union organizers.

 

The Mactan Economic Zone has been a site of struggle between local labor and foreign capital.  Last Friday, Nov. 27th, some 300 workers of the First Glory Apparel were fired -- the latest in the surge of mass layoffs at garment firms in the zone in the past three months.  The Sports City group of companies laid off 4,000 workers, Yuenthai fired 200 workers, FCO laid off 100 workers and Kor Landa retrenched 67 workers.

 

To mark Bonifacio Day, members of the Mactan Ecozone Workers Alliance, Partido Manggagawa, and Sentro assembled at Gate 3 and marched to Gate 2 where they held a program highlighting the Zone capitalists' attack on the right of workers to unionize, bargain collectively, seek redress of grievance and assemble peacefully. However, police broke up the rally and arrested the five unionists.

 

Rene Magtubo of PM called for an end to the repression of labor rights and the harassment of human rights defenders.  "Activism is not terrorism," said Magtubo.  "This is precisely the theme of today's national and global commemoration of Bonifacio Day."

 

The arrest of the PM Cebu labor organizers underscores the escalating attacks on workers' rights in the country, said Magtubo.  "It adds to the unsolved killings of unionists, busting of unions, and red-tagging of union activists." 

 

Last year, PM-Cavite labor organizer Dennis Sequena was brutally murdered while facilitating a labor seminar.  No one has been arrested, much less charged with his murder.

 

The impunity with which workers are fired in economic zones like Mactan, in the middle of a pandemic, graphically illustrates the inability of the government to ensure job security for native labor, and its puppetry toward foreign capital.  As employment shrinks steadily and dramatically in the country, the brunt of the double blow of a recession and a pandemic is felt most grievously by the Philippine working class.

Arrest of Cebu labor organizers slammed

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) denounced the arrest of several of its leaders and organizers in Cebu during the Bonifacio Day action of workers in the gate of the Mactan Economic Zone.

 

“We call for the release of PM leaders Dennis Derige, Myra Opada, Joksan Branzuela, Jonel Labrador and Cristito Pangan. Activism is not terrorism. Repression of labor rights and harassment of human rights defenders must stop. This is precisely the theme of today’s national and global commemoration of Bonifacio Day,” declard Rene Magtubo.

 

Members of Mactan Ecozone Workers Alliance, Partido Manggagawa and Sentro assembled at the Gate 3 of the Mactan Economic Zone at 8:00 am then marched towards Gate 2 where they held a program that highlighted the attacks on workers’ rights to unionize, bargain collectively, seek redress of grievances, and peaceful assembly.

 

Retrenched workers of factories in the Mactan ecozone joined the Bonifacio Day commemoration in Cebu against repression of labor rights. Last Friday, some 300 workers of First Glory Apparel were fired. This comes on the heels of mass layoffs at other garment firms in the Mactan ecozone in the last three months—the Sports City group of companies retrenched 4,000 workers, Yuenthai fired 2000 workers and FCO laid off 100 workers.

 

Magtubo insisted that “The arrest of PM Cebu labor organizers puts a spotlight on the escalating attacks on workers’ rights in the country and adds to the unsolved killings of unionists, busting of unions and red-tagging of union activists. Last PM-Cavite labor organizer Dennis Sequena was brutally murdered last year while facilitating a labor seminar.” 

November 30, 2020

Cebu garment firm layoffs 300, workers hold protest today

A garment exporting firm in the Mactan Economic Zone yesterday laid off 300 employees in a move that surprised those affected. This morning hundreds of its workers protested at the factory gate of First Glory Apparel then marched around the ecozone complex to air their demand for reinstatement.

 

“First Glory management is a Grinch for firing workers weeks before Christmas. Ito ba ng pamaskong handog nila sa mga manggagawang tapat na nagsilbi sa kompanya?,” declared Cristito Pangan, one of the workers retrenched. The workers are refusing to accept the termination offer and demanding their reinstatement.

 

Pangan added that “First Glory is just using covid and the bankruptcy of its main client as alibi to replace regular workers with contract employees. Production has not decreased and in fact workers are asked to report for duty even on holidays and Sunday. This belies management’s claims. Likewise, we know that the main customer of First Glory has already exited bankruptcy this September and is operating normally in the US. That is also why we are making clothes for this global brand.”

 

The firings at First Glory comes on the heels of mass layoffs at other garment firms in the Mactan ecozone. Earlier the Sports City group of companies retrenched 4,000 workers, Yuenthai fired 2000 workers and FCO laid off 100 workers.

 

“The hemorrhage of jobs at the Mactan ecozone continues despite rosy reports from the government that the economy is recovering. Workers are facing the double whammy of job losses and high prices without letup even with Christmas just on the horizon and the covid vaccine nearing distribution stage,” declared Dennis Derige spokesperson of Partido Manggagawa-Cebu.

 

Derige announced that the coming Bonifacio Day action of workers will highlight the plight of workers in the Mactan ecozone along with the threat of the anti-terror law and other repressive measures in the time of covid. The November 30 action of workers in Cebu is nationally coordinated with other labor organizations and is also supported by global union federations.

 

“Without labor rights and civil liberties, workers will suffer under the despotism of capitalists intent on maximizing profits by squeezing their employees. Higher wages, better benefits, shorter hours and workplace safety are inseparable from the fight for democracy in society. This is the cry of workers today in the Mactan ecozone and in November 30 in Cebu and elsewhere,” Derige explained.

Photos of protest: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10158665246399323

Video here: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10158665217639323

November 28, 2020

Mother of all layoffs at Cebu ecozone slammed as 4,000 fired

 

Labor groups Partido Manggagawa (PM) and the MEPZ Workers Alliance slammed the surprise mass layoff of an estimated 4,000 workers in the Sports City group of companies in the Mactan Economic Zone. The firing started yesterday but are continuing today. The groups also heard that there was tension in the factory gates this morning over the terminations happening.

 

“Some 4,000 breadwinners had the surprise of their covid lives when they were unceremoniously terminated without any clear criteria. This is the single largest layoff in the Mactan Ecozone since the 2009 economic crisis,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM chair.

 

The two groups are calling on the affected workers to fight for their jobs and oppose the impromptu termination. PM is providing legal assistance to laid off workers and already held an online consultation a few days ago. Meanwhile the MEPZ Workers Alliance is asking workers to raise their grievances and concerns at their Facebook page.

 

PM is also assisting workers in the ecozones of Cavite and Laguna who were terminated, loss their jobs due to temporary closures and have not been paid their wages. A glass factory in Calamba, Laguna shutdown indefinitely in the middle of the lockdown and threw some 200 workers out of work. In the First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) in Dasmarinas, Cavite, a garments factory have not paid their workers their last salary and have put them on forced leave. Suspiciously, the company is already selling pieces of machines. Earlier, the Sejung garment factory also located in FCIE shutdown also without paying workers their salaries and benefits.

 

Magtubo stated that “We call for a timeout on retrenchments in the ecozones. We demand immediate action from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the local government units.”

 

“Majority of those blindsided by the termination are women with families to feed but little prospect of finding new jobs in this pandemic economy. As per our monitoring, several hundred workers are being fired in each of the following factories: Vertex One, Mactan Apparel, Globalwear Manufacturing and Feeder Apparel,” explained Cherry Abadilla, spokesperson for the MEPZ Workers Alliance.

 

She added that the mass layoff at Sports City follows earlier terminations at Yuenthai and Kor Landa where 200 and 67 workers were affected. “There is a common modus operandi in all of these layoffs. They were surprise firings without prior notice. This is inhumane and disruptive of workers’ lives,” Abadilla insisted.

 

Scores of Yuenthai workers are refusing the separation offer of the company. In Kor Landa, the union filed a notice of strike which has triggered the preventive mediation proceedings of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board. Abadilla herself was terminated last July 10 along with Kor Landa workers, a French-owned manufacturer of jewelry.

September 5, 2020

P10k quarantine pay asked as ecozone, businesses close in Cebu

Photo by SunStar

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on employers to grant paid quarantine of P10,000 per month to workers to be affected by the impending closure of businesses in the province and city of Cebu, and the Mactan ecozone in Lapu-Lapu. “Local employers and foreign investors should shoulder temporary losses due to the covid pandemic,” asserted Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu spokesperson.

The province of Cebu is imposing a lockdown starting tomorrow while Cebu City is doing so on Saturday and Lapu-Lapu on Sunday. The shutdown of the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) alone will lead to the loss of jobs of some 100,000 workers.

“There are already a number of locators in MEZ that are closing ahead of Sunday and all are throwing workers out of work without paid quarantine except for Fairchild Semiconductor (Philippines) Inc. which gave wages for the next 20 days that employees will be out of work. Even a giant garments company that supplies to global brands is refusing to give quarantine subsidy to some 17,000 employees and instead is applying for the DOLE assistance for formal workers. This is a giant company that can very well afford to bear losses by granting quarantine subsidy.” Derige explained.

He added that “Employers, including tourism businesses, have benefited from recent economic growth without sharing the bounty with their workers. This was revealed in a Department of Finance study showing labor productivity grew by at least 50 percent, yet real wages were stagnant from 2001 to 2016. Moreover, foreign investors in the ecozones enjoyed tax breaks and other privileges for years. Now that there is a crisis, employers are morally obliged not to pass on the burden to their hapless workers.”

Derige insisted that “We cannot accept that workers are the last to benefit from economic progress but the first to sacrifice in time of crisis.”

The group is proposing the following mitigation measures to lessen the impact of covid on workers and the people:

1.      Living pension for senior citizens since the elderly are more prone to infection;

2.      Shift build-build-build budget to health in order to build more hospitals, provide testing and treatment facilities, hire more health workers;

3.      Health tax on the wealthy—as part of CITIRA—to fund universal health care.

March 26, 2020

DOLE asked to act on factory closures, forced leaves

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to act with dispatch on other cases of factory closures and even forced leave of workers. The other day, it was announced by management that the Honda plant manufacturing cars in Laguna was to be closed down.

“Other than the 387 Honda workers in Laguna that will be laidoff as a result, Secretary Bello should also look into the thousands of workers who are also victims of forced leaves and factory closures in Cavite and Cebu,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

“The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should prepare relief and assistance to the displaced workers together with an investigation into the causes of the forced leaves and factory closures, including compliance with labor laws,” Magtubo explained.

He added that “Under the radar, there are more cases of workers losing incomes.” PM said that the Sports City group of companies in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) in Cebu that produce for global garments brands have been putting workers on forced leave due to reduced production.

The group also cited the declaration of electronics locators in MEZ that production is due to be affected by the ban on flights from China where parts and supplies come from. MEZ Deputy Administrator Atty. Rufino Ranulfo San Juan IV was quoted that at least one electronics company has said that it may close down if supplies from China do not arrive due to the impact of the CoVID-19 epidemic.

PM also cited the repeated temporary closure of a garments factory in Cavite which made 348 workers jobless since late last year. “DOLE should look into the Sejung Apparel Inc. firm which has closed down three times in October 2019, January 2020 and again this month. We believe this is intended to bust the union formed last year,” Magtubo insisted.

He furthered that “DOLE is also dragging its feet on releasing a compliance order on the dispute about Sejung management’s non-payment of 13^th month pay and the last salary of workers. The rule is crystal clear that the 13^th month pay should be given at most by December 24. Is the DOLE waiting for Holy Week before compelling a company to pay mandated Christmas benefits?”

February 24, 2020