Press Release
January 20, 2015
The labor party Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the
workers of cigarette giant Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation (PMFTC) to
contest the legality of the retrenchment of almost half of the workforce at one
of its plant even as it lambasted the mass layoff as “objectionable and
unnecessary.”
PM announced that it is ready to support PMFTC workers who are
aggrieved by the mass firing as it contended that the company has numerous ways
of coping with declining sales short of sacrificing workers’ jobs.
News reports last week cited that
PMFTC will fire 640 workers in its Marikina
plant due to a 6% drop in market share that it lost to upstart Mighty Corp. “The
numbers speak for themselves. Despite the drop in sales, PMFTC is undeniably
profitable and continues to enjoy monopoly advantage, with 70% control over the
cigarette market,” argued Renato Magtubo, PM chair and past union president of
the erstwhile Fortune Tobacco Corp.
PM believes that the “hidden
agenda” behind the mass layoff is to weaken if not bust the union. Magtubo averred
that “PMFTC’s selection of employees to be terminated did not follow a fair and
reasonable criterion as all of those affected workers in the unionized Marikina factory and none
were in unorganized Batangas plant.”
He added “It is not done in good
faith. The retrenchment should have been tabled by management during the
negotiations for the collective bargaining agreement that was concluded just last
December. And so the mass layoff a few weeks after came as a complete surprise
to the clueless workers.”
Magtubo insisted that “The 1,000 unaffected
workers in Marikina cannot sleep soundly as a further 10% drop in PMFTC’s
market share would mean the termination of all the remaining positions, if we
follow management’s twisted retrenchment logic.”
Finally the group criticized the PMFTC union and its labor federation
for “surrendering to the mass layoff without even putting up a fight.” Magtubo explained
that “The union PMFTCLU-NAFLU-BMP simply capitulated and then handcuffed itself
by agreeing to management’s demand that it withhold assistance to workers who
will contest the mass layoff.”
“Even assuming the company’s assertions
are correct, PMFTC stands to lose some revenue but it will indisputably remain profitable
and a virtual monopoly. The 640 workers however stand to lose their regular livelihood
with not much hope in this jobless growth economy,” Magtubo emphasized.
