Workers of Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC) picketed this
afternoon the Intramuros office of the National Conciliation and Mediation
Board while mediation was ongoing between management and the union. Members of
the Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco Corp. Labor Union (PMFTCLU-NAFLU) and their supporters
carried placards that said “Job security not redundancy” and “Welga sagot sa
tanggalan.”
The leading cigarette manufacturer shut
down its Vigan, Ilocos Sur redrying plant affecting 90 workers and also laid
off 220 workers (a third of the 600 workforce) at Marikina factory last week. In
response the union filed notice of strike last Thursday and started protests.
“The Constitution mandates that workers receive their fair share
of the fruits of production. But at Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco, retrenchment
was the company’s reward for increased labor productivity and workers meeting key
performance indicators. What kind of system is this?,” argued Rene Magtubo,
chair of Partido Manggagawa and former president of the Marikina union.
Yesterday the Lucio Tan Group announced a P3.63 billion total income
for the first quarter of this year.
Some P2.35B or 65% of the total
income of the Lucio Tan Group came from its tobacco business.
The PMFTCLU is alleging unfair labor practice over the closure and
retrenchment. The union slammed the bad faith and deceit attending the
so-called right-sizing plan of management. The group believes that union
busting is the real agenda as the non-union sister factory in Sto. Tomas, Batangas
just regularized 100 contractual employees. In contrast, the Marikina and Vigan
plants are both unionized factories.
“Management told the union that the Vigan plant will be closed and
sold to another entity. No other details were given. This raises the suspicion
that this is another outsourcing program similar to the contractualization
scheme at Philippine Airlines,” declared Gerry Rivera, president of the
Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA-TUCP) and head of the newly
formed Kapatiran ng mga Unyon at Samahang Manggagawa. Both PALEA and PMFTCLU are
members of the Kapatiran.
He declared that “We express support for the fight of PMFTCLU for
job security and against union busting. Ang laban ng isa ay laban ng lahat.”
“PMFTC management has been absolutely opaque behind the misnamed
right-sizing plan. When management first discussed the plan before the union last
week, they withheld the names of workers affected, they did not disclose how
the termination process will proceed and finally they did not give any solid
basis for the closure and redundancy. And then just hours after the meeting
with the union, management unveiled its surprise gift to unsuspecting workers
who were cajoled into signing separation without the presence of union officers
who barred from entering the factory,” Magtubo elaborated.
Photos of the protests can be
accessed at PMFTCLU’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zpipsamonte/
August 15, 2018
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