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

 

Celestica agency workers hold protest to demand benefits

Press Release
July 30, 2009

Some 50 agency workers of Celestica, the big electronics firm at the Mactan Export Processing Zone I (MEPZ I) that is due to shutdown on August 31, today held a protest to demand termination pay similar to that will be received by regular employees. “Many of the less than 300 agency workers employed by Celestica have worked for several years doing the same work as regular employees, and under the control and direction of company management. By law and jurisprudence we are employees not of our agency, Cebu General Services, but of the principal, Celestica. Thus we deserve the same treatment and benefits as regular workers,” argued Romeo Moritcho, Jr., a leader of the protesting agency workers.

The agency workers did not report from work today and instead marched starting at 10 a.m. from Gate 1 to Gate 3 MEPZ I and then held a picket till noon. By 1 p.m. they trooped to the office of Cebu General Services at A. S. Fortuna, Mandaue City for another picket.

The contracts of the agency workers are to be terminated by Celestica on Friday and the Cebu General Services promises to redeploy them to new jobs at Pentax, which however is accepting only workers younger than 28 years while all the agency workers are above 30 years old. The agency workers are insisting that they receive the separation pay of 45 days per year of service to be given to regular Celestica workers.

The agency workers submitted a petition to Celestica management Thursday last week about their demands but the latter did not respond thus precipitating the protest today. Moritcho elaborated that “Filipino workers cannot be thrown out like rags by a giant multinational that generated almost US$8 billion in revenues last year after benefiting from our labor for many years on the superficial argument that we are the responsibility of our local agency. The ‘control test’ used in labor law jurisprudence makes us direct employees of Celestica not Cebu General Services which is in effect a labor-only contractor.”

Dennis Derige of Partido ng Manggagawa is appealing to Celestica to abide by its own “corporate social responsibility” and the Electronics Industry Code of Conduct (EICC). He added, “We are asking Celestica to follow its own statements. Craig Muhlhauser, Celestica President and Chief Executive Officer, said ‘Protecting and empowering people. Respecting the environment. Giving back to the community. Working with responsible partners. Our commitment to corporate social responsibility is pervasive in all we do.’ Also the EICC specifies that ‘Compensation paid to workers shall comply with all applicable wage laws, including those relating to minimum wages, overtime hours and legally mandated benefits.’ Agency workers deserve no more and no less than what are stipulated in these codes that Celestica bound itself to abide by.”