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
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